Emily Compagno:  The USO [United Service Organizations] has obviously been present for decades, and USO tours have been a really vital part of improving, boosting, and securing troop morale for decades. I remember when I first arrived in Iraq as an NFL [National Football League] cheerleader being struck by how young so many of the servicemen and women were. I was just so struck by these earnest and selfless and determined men and women who were serving on behalf of our country so that we could enjoy our freedoms.  

Echoes of Courage, Whispers of Grace: Emily Compagno & Brooke Martin – Episode #460

Narrator: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. This week, we’re joined by Emily Compagno, an attorney, television host, and advocate for those who serve. From her time as an NFL cheerleader on a USO tour in Iraq, to her work honoring the faith and sacrifice of service members, Emily shares powerful stories of courage, loss, and the unshakable presence of God in the midst of battle.

Later in the episode, we’ll hear from author, speaker, and former news anchor Brooke Martin. Brooke reached a point in life where she had nearly everything she had hoped for—a thriving career as a news anchor, a loving family, and a future that seemed bright. But everything changed in an instant when she received devastating news about her unborn daughter. Faced with a heartbreaking loss, Brooke and her husband made a courageous decision—one that would redefine their faith and deepen their understanding of God.

Let’s begin with Emily’s story. 

Emily Compagno: My name is Emily Compagno, and I am the co-host of Outnumbered on Fox News. I’m the number one bestselling author, by the grace of God, of Under His Wings, and I’m an attorney. My career prior to joining Fox was that of a federal and criminal law attorney, and I cheered in the NFL as well. 

I was born in Oakland, California, and raised in the Bay Area. I lived in Illinois for a couple years as my father was a commander in the United States Navy. I have the honor of coming from a strong military family going back generations. I have two older sisters, and we were sort of raised in this tight ship military family, but it was so loving, it was so warm. 

By the time I was five, we were back in Northern California, and my mother was battling cancer at the time. All three of us were under the age of ten when she was diagnosed with a severe case of breast cancer that had spread. We call her our “family’s miracle”, because while she was given a prognosis of it being terminal, she survived.  

I grew up in a loving household where I was encouraged to be who I was, whatever that looked like. My mom says her philosophy was that of a gardener—not a sculptor—in that she planted and then sat back and watched the garden grow, rather than sculpting out what she wanted us to look like. And so we were given the privilege and the honor of exploration. I went to a ranch camp every summer. I’ve been dancing since the age of three, played the piano since I was four, and so many other things. I had the benefit of these two older sisters, too, under whose wings I really thrived and felt safe to explore and be myself.  

“My mom says her philosophy was that of a gardener—not a sculptor—in that she planted and then sat back and watched the garden grow, rather than sculpting out what she wanted us to look like.” – Emily Compagno

As I grew a little older and truly solidified my goals, I wanted to be a fighter pilot and an astronaut. So I went to Space Academy, an Aviation Challenge, I went to the United States Air Force Academy summer scientific seminar. I had an internship in the astrophysics department of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in high school, and really pursued all avenues to be, in my mind, a United States Air Force fighter pilot, then an astronaut, and then a test pilot for NASA [National Aeronautics and Space Administration]. 

I ended up getting a scholarship to college through ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps]. And then right up until the dotted line, when I was told I was too short to be a fighter pilot, I loved it. I loved learning everything about it, and being part of the military. I was in a sorority too, and was really active in other activities like intramural soccer and snowboarding and stuff. I got out of ROTC after completing those two years. I sailed around the world and went to about thirteen countries, many of which were Third World. I felt upon returning home that the way to be of service and to help affect change here was to honor my immigrant family and my military family by availing myself of the education afforded here in this country. I felt that by going to law school, I could help affect change at this macro level, and I went to law school and got into litigation and criminal law. 

I love to inspire and educate and inform others through the lens of my experience—truly as someone that could help inspire others. I became a legal analyst, which was my articulated goal, and then sort of rose up through the ranks and in different networks. I did it for sports and for news, and then—obviously a long story short—became a full-time host here at Fox News. 

Under His Wings

I remember when I first arrived in Iraq as an NFL cheerleader being struck by how young so many of the servicemen and women were. So many of them were younger than I was, and I was struck as well by the breadth of reasons for them entering service. Some reasons were financial, some reasons were out of hardship and desperation, some were patriotism and duty. 

I was just so struck by these earnest and selfless and determined men and women who were serving on behalf of our country so that we could enjoy our freedoms. I’m just grateful, too, for the fellowship that I see in soldiers. 

“I was just so struck by these earnest and selfless and determined men and women who were serving on behalf of our country so that we could enjoy our freedoms.” – Emily Compagno 

The USO has obviously been present for decades, and USO tours have been a really vital part of improving and boosting and securing troop morale for decades. Of course, we all know Bob Hope, who dedicated his life, really, to ensuring that the public never forgot our brave men and women who were serving abroad in deployment and dedicated his professional career to ensuring those men and women felt seen and heard and were entertained—wanting them to know that there was a slice of home that was always there present with them while serving. 

The Oakland Raiders were a part of that when I went to Iraq and Kuwait in 2009. We have a long-standing history of service to those men and women who serve our country, as do many of the franchises in the NFL. At that time, it was such an extraordinary experience for me. I was so just deeply honored to be a part of that, to have the honor of representing millions of Americans back home who were supporting these men and women who were deployed and in combat in Iraq at the time and through Kuwait. 

At one point, our itinerary included going to the Sadr City Joint Security Station forward operating base, and at the time, we didn’t know where we were going. When we got there, everyone was like, “Wait, you guys are going to Sadr City? No way, no way.” And everyone kept expressing total shock that we were going, and everyone said, “No one ever goes there—no celebrities, no VIPs. It’s particularly dangerous, particularly urban, and that’s gotta be a mistake.” Lo and behold, it was not a mistake, and we definitely arrived. I learned later that those guys there were also shocked. They’re like, “There’s no way these girls are coming here. We never get any celebrities. We never get any VIPs. Any visitors are unwanted.”

When we arrived, those guys were just so excited that they got to have this celebrity entertainment. The Black Hawk that was supposed to take us back home to the main base after our visit there was diverted for a medevac, and we were effectively stranded, because when that happens, there’s no return time. It’s not on a schedule where they say, “Oh, we’re delayed and we’ll be there in an hour.” It’s like, “We’ve got to use your Black Hawk, and we’ll just let you know when we can come back.” I’ll never forget the then-commander in charge—he was a Lieutenant Colonel at the time—Tim Karcher said, “I’ve got three daughters at home, and I’m not going to sleep until you girls are safe and sound out of here.” And what started then—it sort of kicked off this Sadr City slumber party as we called it. And we hung out all night with those guys outside. 

It was awesome because some of those visits were just a performance by us, or a very short meet and greet, and some visits were much more extensive, and we got to spend a lot of time with the guys. This was supposed to be sort of a short visit, and it ended up—as I said—being all night. Getting to spend time with all of those guys in such a casual, authentic way was like summer camp, where you come away feeling like family. We stayed up all night, we never went to sleep, and we just hung out outside in the courtyard laughing and talking and making jokes, you know, like you do. We all forgot, I think, for a second where we were, or at least for a moment. I hope that those guys did too, and of course, never forgetting their roles there and the element of security needed and the realities of war around them.  

And finally, the Black Hawk came back, and we had to run out. Literally, the Black Hawk lands in the middle of essentially a median of a highway-type road. The guys run out and secure the road—meaning they stop all the traffic—and then we run across and get in the helicopter and fly away. Later, I found out it was all the guys could talk about. For three days after, all they could talk about was—and for many days before—us being there and how much fun they had and how awesome it was. 

Three days later, those men ran over an IED [Improvised Explosive Device]. Tim Karcher lost his legs, and on the way back from his medevac out, there was a dust storm, so I don’t think they could even use a helicopter for him. On the way back from that, the team ran over another IED, and Sergeant Timothy David lost his life. He was younger than I was, and he was on his sixth tour of duty.  

The lesson for me—the fragility of life, the realities of combat, the realities of war, how sacred every moment is, how God is in control of everything no matter what, our questions that we don’t have answers to, only God does, how important prayer is, and how important faith is. Because as Tim Karcher says, “Prayer is what saved my life multiple times.” By the way, he died multiple times, each time being resuscitated. The reality is eternal life—our earthly lives pale in comparison to that. As he again says, “God promised me eternal salvation, not eternal legs.” And that is something that inspires me as a Christian, as a human, to hear of that kind of faith and be encouraged by it. I’m honored to call him a friend, and I’m honored always by that night and by those brave men and women who are serving for our freedoms and who risk their lives every day.  

I will not presume to speak for those incredible veterans who have such a special inner strength that enables them to stare death in the face. Every single individual has a unique voice as to what inspires them and what encourages them and what ultimately leads to their faith and to their relationship with God. I’m a messenger to their voices, and they tell their stories in their authentic and true ways and their voices. I hope I’ve honored them as such. There’s often, I think, many questions we’ll never get the answer to in this earthly life, other than to know it’s God that has those answers and the comfort that faith in Him provides. 

“I will not presume to speak for those incredible veterans who have such a special inner strength that enables them to stare death in the face. Every single individual has a unique voice as to what inspires them and what encourages them and what ultimately leads to their faith and to their relationship with God.” – Emily Compagno 

You can never predict what happens on the earthly side, and certainly in war, but when you know where you’re going, when your soul is saved, then you know and have that surety and can proceed knowing exactly how it will end either way. I thank Him and I rejoice all day, every day, and I remind myself every day, all day, that my provision and my source comes from Him.  

In this arguably crazy world of breaking news, in this tragic world of the criminal law and the criminal justice system, in the aching world of politics, so much that we cover here involves the tragedy of our earthly life. I am cognizant of and rejoicing in how blessed I am to be here and to serve as a messenger for those angels among us who are doing good works. All of that ties in with, hopefully, a strong humility throughout every single day, and an appreciation for where I am and what I’m doing.  

“You can never predict what happens on the earthly side, and certainly in war, but when you know where you’re going, when your soul is saved, then you know and have that surety and can proceed knowing exactly how it will end either way. I am cognizant of and rejoicing in how blessed I am to be here and to serve as a messenger for those angels among us who are doing good works.” – Emily Compagno

And part of that, by the way, is reinforced every morning. I read my Jesus Calling devotional, and I now have one at work in addition to the one at home. I listen to daily sermons on my way into work and I continue to remain as close as possible to God. That’s the only way. I can’t imagine navigating this life without it, and I certainly can’t imagine living the life I live now without thanking God every day, all day, for the privilege of my existence. 

It would be my pleasure to share an excerpt of a prayer from Sarah Young’s prayer devotional, Jesus Listens, October 20th:

Merciful Jesus,

I want to make You the focal point of my search for security. In my private thoughts, I’ve been trying to order my world so that it’s predictable and feels safe. However, I realize this is an impossible goal; it’s also counterproductive to my spiritual growth.

I’ve been yearning for a problem-free life, but You’ve been showing me that trouble can highlight my awareness of Your Presence. In the darkness of adversity, the radiance of Your Face shines brightly—beaming out encouragement and comfort. Please enable me to view the problems in my life as beneficial, considering it pure joy whenever I face trials of many kinds. No matter what is happening, I can always rejoice that I have an eternity of trouble-free living awaiting me in heaven!

In Your amazing Name, 

Amen

Narrator: To learn more about Emily, follow her on social media, and be sure to check out her book, Under His Wings, at your favorite retailer.  

Stay tuned to Brooke Martin’s story after a brief message.

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Jesus Calling for Moms & Graduates

Are you looking for inspiration and encouragement for the moms or graduates in your life—or maybe even for yourself? We’ve got the perfect gift to help you grow in faith and confidence during life’s big transitions.

Let’s start with Jesus Calling for Moms. This heartfelt devotional by Sarah Young includes 50 days of uplifting reflections designed to strengthen and comfort moms in every season of life. Whether you’re balancing a busy household, navigating challenges, or seeking peace, it is a reminder of God’s love and guidance just for you.

And for graduates as they step into life’s next big chapter, Jesus Calling for Graduates delivers wisdom and encouragement through 150 specially chosen devotions. Covering topics like trust, identity, and self-worth, it’s the perfect companion to help graduates build their faith and find clarity in uncertain times.

Both of these devotionals are more than books—they’re tools to strengthen your spiritual connection and provide lasting encouragement. Whether you’re gifting a loved one or treating yourself, these devotionals are perfect for celebrating the special seasons of life.

Visit FaithGateway.com today and look for Jesus Calling for Moms and an exclusive edition of Jesus Calling for Graduates.

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Our next guest is Brooke Martin. Life was everything Brooke had hoped for—a thriving career as a news anchor, a loving family, and a future that seemed bright. But everything changed in an instant when she received devastating news about her unborn daughter. Faced with an unthinkable loss, Brooke and her husband made a courageous decision—one that would redefine their faith and deepen their understanding of God.

Brooke Martin: My name is Brooke Martin. I am an author, speaker, homeschool mom, and wife to my husband. I was a news anchor for fifteen years in many different cities across the country. I loved my job, but about three years ago, I felt that God was calling me out of my career to step into the unknown, and here we are. 

I grew up in a wonderful church and family in Amish country, Lancaster, Pennsylvania—a very idyllic childhood with my mother, my father, and my brother. When it came time to choose a college, I ended up deciding on broadcasting as my major. I went to Temple University in Philadelphia to study broadcasting and political science and just never looked back. That started my career in news, and it led me on a journey for fifteen years.

A Heartbreaking Discovery

My husband and I and our two-year-old son were living in Indianapolis at the time. I was the evening news anchor at a local station here. It was a dream job. We lived in our dream city. We had this dreamy little boy. And so life just felt really shiny and bright. And then one fall day, I was pregnant with our second child when they made a really terrible discovery. It was that our baby had anencephaly, a condition where the baby develops just fine and on schedule, except its skull doesn’t close at the end of development. It has a zero percent chance of survival. I remember lying on the ultrasound table after the nurse practitioner walked back out, and tears just started flooding my face. It was in that solitude that I heard the name “Emmanuel” whispered over and over and over in my heart. It made me even stop crying for a split second because I knew that I was hearing the voice of God, but I was so confused as to what it meant. 

I found out in that ultrasound room that it was a girl and that we might have some time—whether that’s a few minutes or a couple of days or she could pass in utero at any time. We just didn’t know. I remember we sat on the couch, and my husband and I decided to carry our baby full term. We prayed one prayer together. It was three words, and it was simply, “God be glorified.” We had no idea what this would mean for us, for our family, for our marriage, for our daughter. The only hope we had was that in some way, in some form, that God would be glorified through it. 

Realizing The True Meaning of Emmanuel

We began to walk a road that we never saw coming, and we recorded a video for viewers because at that point I had already announced my pregnancy on-air to the viewers. 

The truth is there are an incredible number of people who walk through infant loss. For most people, it is an incredibly lonely experience because it’s different even from other deaths in that others almost are timid to go there with you. So, all of a sudden I went from telling everyone else’s stories on the news to sharing our own. For six months as my belly grew, I just made a determined effort to be very transparent, sharing the highs and the lows and everything in between for the remainder of my pregnancy. We had the support of our family and close friends, but one of the most surprising support systems actually came from strangers—people who are willing to step into the fire with you and hold your hand. You can’t be anything but profoundly grateful.

Through it all, I started to understand this message of Emmanuel, God with us. I think sometimes when we grow up with a faith, or even a faith tradition, sometimes names or scripture or truths, they can kind of just become stale in our minds. Through my pregnancy, the truth of Emmanuel, God with us, became so living and active. 

March 15th of 2019, I had a scheduled c-section, and we walked into that hospital on the prayers of thousands, and we felt overwhelming peace in the surgery room. Emma was born alive, and the nurse handed her to Cole first. I watched him with furrowed brow, stare at his daughter in his arms. The nurse remarked that when I answered a question from the anesthesiologist, she turned her head to look at me, recognizing my voice from the womb. That’s when Cole handed her to me, and I got to tell her things that I had waited a long time to tell her—that she was so loved, that I was so proud of her, and finally, I told her that she could go. I handed her back to Cole and that’s where she passed twenty-one minutes later. 

I had been through a diagnosis, a pregnancy, the delivery, and even her death. And yet the day that I dreaded most was the day that I had to leave her because I couldn’t understand how it’s physically possible for a mother to walk out of a hospital and leave her baby behind. The morning of our discharge, I woke up with tears just already streaming down my face, like I had been crying in my sleep. I woke up and I cried out to God and said, “I can’t do this.” And I meant it with every ounce of my being, like this is going to physically break my heart. In that very instant, I felt a surge of strength start in my toes and rush through my body, and then I felt a tangible weight of peace fall on top of me, like from the heavens. It just blanketed me and it drowned out all of my fear, and I was overcome with this supernatural peace. 

Cole and I rocked Emma that morning, and when it was time, we handed her to the nurse who continued to rock her as we walked out of the hospital. We got in our car, buckled our seatbelts,  we looked at each other, and we smiled. It wasn’t that the grief was gone, far from that. It was that we just realized that everything we said we believed as Christians was true—that Jesus defeated death and rendered it powerless over us.

Our Chance to Share in Others’ Suffering

What I experienced in the hospital room made me realize that I had been taking a penny when God had been offering me the riches of heaven, that I was very lukewarm in my faith. When that fire roared through our lives, the death of our daughter, it burned away everything else, and it left me just passionate for Jesus and desperate for more of Him. My prayer life has changed so much because heaven is so much more real to me.  

“What I experienced in the hospital room made me realize that I had been taking a penny when God had been offering me the riches of heaven.” – Brooke Martin

I heard it said once that, “A lot of times we’re offered encouragement about what’s to come, about eternity in heaven, where there will be no more tears and no more sadness and no more pain.” And while that reality is so true and so promising and so hopeful, it also means that this time on earth is our chance to share in the sufferings of Christ. We will not have that opportunity again, and it is in the here and the now that Jesus comes so close to us that He says, “Relate to me as I will relate to you, empathize with Me as I will empathize with you.”

It’s like so often we want the risen to life part without the being crucified with Christ part. And, Jesus says, “You will be asked to pick up your cross and follow me.” The Bible is very clear that suffering is a part of life. And that can be really hard to say to someone in suffering, but it’s true. Once you remove truth from the equation and you start to become your own judge of determining what God should allow or what He shouldn’t allow—or is God really good because this happened—when you start to play that game, you’re just going right back to the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They wanted to know things of God. They wanted to have the insight, have the knowledge that God has. And ultimately, that is not for us because that leads to deconstruction of faith. Because there is no proof that is strong enough to truly answer the questions of the heart. The only thing that will satisfy is God’s presence. It’s not to say that questions are bad or the culprit. Questions and wrestling are totally understandable, and God wants us to bring Him our authentic concerns and heartfelt questions. But ultimately you have to ask yourself, “Am I going after proof of His goodness before I will trust Him in the fire, or am I going after His presence?” And His presence will satisfy every single time.

“It’s like so often we want the risen to life part without the being crucified with Christ part. And, Jesus says, “You will be asked to pick up your cross and follow me.” The Bible is very clear that suffering is a part of life…there is no proof that is strong enough to truly answer the questions of the heart. The only thing that will satisfy is God’s presence…Questions and wrestling are totally understandable, and God wants us to bring Him our authentic concerns and heartfelt questions. But ultimately you have to ask yourself, ‘Am I going after proof of His goodness before I will trust Him in the fire, or am I going after His presence?’“ – Brooke Martin

Something happens when we are able to empathize with Jesus and His suffering. There is an intimacy that is born and it changes your prayer life because it changes your relationship. Jesus Calling is just a beautiful way for us to practically live that out and to take the time intentionally, set it aside, to get heart-to-heart with the Savior and to continue to know Him. It’s limitless, and that’s what’s so exciting—there’s no end to the revelation of Jesus, there’s no end to relationship. To be able to start your day with that awareness—that He is Emmanuel, He is with us, and that He is enough—it allows us to take on whatever each day brings with confidence and hope.

“Something happens when we are able to empathize with Jesus and His suffering. There is an intimacy that is born and it changes your prayer life because it changes your relationship.” – Brooke Martin

Narrator: To learn more about Brooke Martin visit, www.morewithbrookemartin.com, and be sure to check out her new book, Controlled Burn: Rising From the Ashes to Forge an Unshakable Faith, at your favorite retailer.

If you’d like to hear more stories about faith forged in the fire, check out our interview with Scotty Hasting on the Jesus Calling YouTube channel.

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Next week: Tauren Wells

Next time on the Jesus Calling Podcast, we will hear from Christian singer/songwriter and author Tauren Wells, who shares how after years of searching, he found true joy.

Tauren Wells: We end up heaping all of this pressure on ourselves to develop our kids, pressure on ourselves to develop our careers, and you can fill in the blank with whatever rhymes for you. And that compounding pressure of always elevating, always trying to find the next good thing sometimes leaves our soul in a state of despair because we’ve been focusing on the wrong things, as opposed to the way that Jesus unlocks joy for us.