Thank You, Billy Graham

by Jerushah Armfield

  Assurance of my salvation was immediate and has never left. Awareness of God’s hearing and answering my prayers began and has never left. And His book became a love letter to me! Since that time, my husband has been saved, and all five children (we had one more in 1972), and now we have twenty-one grandchildren who are all saved as well! My “religious” mother got saved on her deathbed in October 2005, and my dad just two months before his death in October 1980. To tell the continuing story would take a book, but I thank you and praise God, Dr. Graham, for your faithful preaching of the saving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I met you once in person some years later at a crusade, and I look forward to meeting you again in heaven!

  Thank You, Billy Graham … for Helping My Marriage

  YOU SAVED MY PARENTS’ MARRIAGE

  I am telling this story for my mother. My mom and dad were going through a difficult time. My dad had been unfaithful to my mother and they were split up. One evening, my mom was watching a Billy Graham special on TV. My mom loves Billy Graham and always has. I know it is a dream of hers to see Billy Graham in person. Well, after the TV program was over, Mom shut off the TV and was getting ready to go to bed. As she got up and headed out of the living room, she said Mr. Graham showed up on the TV and told her not to give up, to stay in there, and hang on. Her marriage was going to survive and all would be okay. Mom walked back to the television to make sure she had turned it off, and sure enough she had. She knew that message was for her! She trusted what Mr. Graham told her because she knows he is a mighty man of God. That was probably five or six years ago. My mom and dad have since mended things and are back together. It has not been easy; in fact, she has had to truly grow in the Lord to forgive my dad for what he did and to be with him. I don’t know what happened with my dad during that time, but he began to go to church with my mom, and I know that he found God during that time. I want to thank God for using Mr. Graham on that lonely night to speak to my mom, and also thank God for my dad finding his way into God’s presence. I have heard that Mr. Graham is hoping to put together one more crusade. I pray that God will be merciful and gracious enough to make a way for my mom to go to that crusade to thank Mr. Graham and God in person. Thank you, Mr. Graham, for saving my mom and dad!

  ONE NIGHT CHANGED OUR LIVES FOREVER

  Dear Billy, I hope it’s okay to call you Billy. Although we’ve never met, I feel like you are a great friend. Through you, God offered my husband and me the most precious gift we will ever own—a treasured possession—our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are forever grateful to you, Billy, for that one night, when darkness surrounded our souls.

  Back in the winter of 1979, my husband and I were in the process of a divorce. We were like two passing ships in the wind, waving and yelling hi to each other but never docking so that we could experience an intimate relationship.

  After serving ten years with the US Navy, my husband decided to leave the military and begin a new career as a civilian. We both rushed to find jobs so that we could pay our bills, find a home to live in, and provide food for our family. Tim became a dedicated police officer working different shifts, and I worked whatever hours I could get at Safeway as a checker/stocker.

  One evening, Tim had a night off, while I had a four-hour shift at Safeway. On this special night, ordained of the Lord, God chose you, Billy Graham, to give a message that changed our lives forever. A night we’ll never forget that caused the angels in heaven to rejoice over this one man, my husband, who humbled himself before God in front of the television and wept.

  Billy, you preached a salvation message as you always do, that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, and God reached in and grabbed my husband’s heart right through that TV screen. The message pierced Tim’s soul as he listened to every word coming from your mouth, explaining what Jesus had done for him—how He suffered, poured out His blood, and died for him, a sinner.

  That night, Tim was born again. He was a brand-new man. The heaviness left his heart, and he stood tall, shoulders back, knowing that God would work in our marriage. The following day, he told me, “God told me you aren’t going anywhere.”

  I looked at him so strangely. I wondered if he was losing it upstairs. A few seconds passed as I thought about what he’d said. I placed a soft touch on his arm and said, “Don’t be too sure.” I tried to be gentle. We were both trying to be careful of each other’s feelings while traveling this rough road that was leading to living separate lives. We didn’t want our kids to suffer more than necessary. Our daughter was only four, and our son was six. When we did argue, it was over our kids. We both wanted them.

  One day, a comment slipped from Tim that caught me off guard. He said it was a sin to divorce. For some reason, that really bothered me. I didn’t have a religious background, but I did belong to a book club, had ordered a Bible once, and kept it in my drawer. I took it out, and though it was difficult, I found scriptures that talked about how God hates divorce.

  Tim asked me one day if I would be willing to go to church with him. I said okay, just to keep the peace. The first time he brought the kids to Sunday school he came right back. “Hey,” he said. “They have Sunday school for adults, too. Want to go?”

  I gave Tim a puzzled look. “They actually have Sunday school for adults?”

  Again to keep the peace, I said I’d go. When we arrived, a nice elderly couple took us under their wing.

  The Holy Spirit touched my heart ever so slightly, gently, but persistently. He wouldn’t let go of me. He wooed me; He showed me the Savior, and the heart of our heavenly Father, leading me to the path of righteousness.

  One Sunday, there was a song being sung while the pastor gave the invitation: “The Savior is waiting to enter your heart, why don’t you let Him come in. There’s nothing in this world to keep you apart, why don’t you let him come in.”

  Tim nudged me as the song was sung. I was on the end of the pew, and he wanted to go up to the front. I thought he was nudging me to go up with him. Fear gripped my heart, and I strong-armed the pew and wouldn’t let him pass. No way was I going up to the front. Tim said, “No, not you, me—I want to go up.”

  I sighed relief and immediately released my arms, dropping them to my side and allowing him an exit to the front. He always teases me that right when the song came to the line, “There’s nothing in the world to keep you apart,” was when I forbade him passage. We still laugh at that.

  I wasn’t ready to make a public declaration yet. It was difficult for me to surrender my life to the Lord. I was having the hardest time praying out loud and confessing my sin. I wanted to clean up my act before I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. I knew what a sinner I was and thought I could clean myself up. I laugh at that now.

  The couple that helped to disciple us explained to me that I didn’t have to clean up my life. They said I just had to surrender to the Lord, confess my sin, and repent, and I would be saved. They said that God takes you just as you are. I finally got up the courage to speak a prayer out loud, and the following Sunday I walked up front to the pastor. All I could do was cry. I couldn’t say a word. The pastor, so kind and patient, asked me all the necessary things I should have said. Between sobs and tears, I nodded my head. I joined the congregation of the saints, I was a part of God’s family, and the angels rejoiced in heaven over this sinner, too.

  Billy, I want to say thank you so much. May the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob richly bless you for the years you’ve been obedient to Him and His Word. Because you answered His call, my husband and I have a new life in Christ and a restored marriage. Saved from the pain of losing one or the other parent as a result of divorce, our children avoided much suffering. Thank you, Billy, for serving God with a humble heart and a willing spirit.

  SCRAMBLED EGGS

  After divorce and remarriage to an unbeliever, I was suffering from the guilt of divorce and being unequally yoked. I had asked for forgiveness but struggled with the sin. One evening, while I was watching a Bi
lly Graham crusade, Dr. Graham commented on those who have divorced and remarried. He said, “You can’t unscramble scrambled eggs, but the Lord can make a wonderful meal, which will feed many.” It spoke right to my heart, and I never looked back. Realizing that God could use me freed me from the guilt. I was determined to become an example to my husband. Thank you, Dr. Graham; that was twenty-six years ago. A few years later, my husband was saved, and we have been serving the Lord ever since.

  I HAVE A FUTURE NOW

  I grew up in a middle-class family. We weren’t a Christian home, but we followed morals in many areas of our lives. Growing up brought some painful situations, including some abuse (not by my parents, but others) and my parents’ eventual divorce. I always felt responsible to make sure everyone was okay. That isn’t something that a person should take upon themselves, but I didn’t know that until later.

  Long story short, I felt a lot of pressure and didn’t know where to go with it, so I started to drink at the age of sixteen. I was able to drink large amounts of alcohol without ever getting sick or hungover later. That was a very bad thing, because I blacked out more times than I can count, and put myself in some very vulnerable and bad situations. I made some very poor personal decisions and soon found myself pregnant, at nineteen, with my boyfriend’s child. He did not want to marry at first, so we just lived together. (We ended up getting married after our daughter was born.)

  Being a parent caused me to look at life differently. I wanted to change. I wanted to go back to the person I used to be … the innocent one. But I thought I had already done too much, too publicly, and that it just wasn’t possible. Even going to church, I felt ashamed of how I’d lived. None of it ever seemed to reach where I was, yet I continued to go. I became pregnant with our second child in 1991. One night, while I was riding my exercise bike, I turned to a Billy Graham crusade. Normally, I would have turned the channel, but this day was different. I had always figured it was just for “religious people,” but this day, I was curious. Maybe I would hear something that would give me some hope. I felt like my life was all over, as far as success was concerned, because of the poor decisions I had made.

  As I watched and Billy began to preach, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing: there was hope for me. I was reluctant to even believe that I could really start over. It seemed too good to be true! But I called a phone counselor and explained my life situation, and they prayed with me. I couldn’t believe that God would still accept me! I could not remember ever hearing about being “born again,” but I wanted it! My life began to turn around that night. In short, after a few years, my husband was also saved, and God restored our marriage. We now have three beautiful girls who know the Lord and are beginning to serve Him on their own. God has revealed Himself to me in so many ways, and I am so very grateful. I never could have hoped for the life that He has given me!

  Thank you, Billy Graham, for living a life of integrity and leading hopeless people to the God who is more than enough for them to begin again!

  I HEARD GOD SPEAK TO ME

  I was going through a very difficult time in my marriage. As I put my five children to bed early one night, I was wondering what was going to become of us. I turned on the TV, and Billy Graham was on. I listened to him, and when he gave the invitation to receive Christ, I prayed with him. I really didn’t know that anything had happened to me, but the next morning as I woke up, I heard God speak to me, telling me to take my husband back. I did, and it eventually led to his getting saved. He died the next year, but I know where he is! How God worked with me and my children these past thirty years is so like our great God! I thank you, Billy, for your faithfulness to His calling. You truly are God’s messenger to the lost and hopeless of this world.

  FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

  I am an American currently living in the country of Croatia. I would like to share my testimony of how I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior through a Billy Graham telecast.

  It was the autumn of 1973. My husband and I had been married fourteen months and were the proud parents of a beautiful seven-month-old baby girl. However, our marriage, our family, and our lives were in horrible disarray. We desired a change in our hippie lifestyle. We tried to stop drinking, smoking pot, occasionally using drugs, and going to parties because we wanted to have a healthy lifestyle for our precious little baby. We were also doing Transcendental Meditation, with hopes that this would wean us off of the use of drugs, but everything we tried didn’t work. There was still a lot of stress between my husband and me and a huge empty spot in my heart.

  Although I had no religious background and seldom went to church, I remember many times kneeling in the bathroom of our home and crying out, “God help me!” as dark depression, anxiousness, and desperation closed in around me. I remember calling a priest one time to ask if my husband and I could come in to see him and talk about our problems. He said, “Of course,” but there was a fee to pay. We didn’t have the money to pay the fee, so we never went to him for help.

  I was so unhappy that I eventually called my father, who lived seven hundred miles away, and told him I wanted to leave my husband. He said he would put a check in the mail for me to use to purchase a bus ticket for my daughter and me to come to where he lived and try to figure out what I wanted to do. I didn’t tell my husband about the phone call to my dad.

  My husband came home from work that night and immediately switched on the television. Billy Graham was speaking to a large crowd somewhere. Usually, if anything religious came on television, we would quickly turn the channel as we had no interest in watching TV preachers. However, this time it was different as Billy Graham was telling the story of a young man who had a lifestyle very similar to the one my husband and I were living. He was lost out in a forest and cried out to God for help. The story immediately captured my husband’s and my attention. After listening to Reverend Graham tell the story, my husband turned off the television, looked right at me and said, “Maybe that is what we need. Maybe we need God in our lives.”

  As soon as he said that, I knew he was right. Although I didn’t accept Jesus that night, the next day I called a friend from my high school years, who I knew “went to church and was religious.” She immediately came to see me and brought the Living New Testament to give to me. I was amazed that she knew I wanted to talk to her about God. She led me in the sinner’s prayer and gave me the Bible, encouraging me to read it every day. I immediately felt a warmth and peace descend upon me.

  I didn’t really understand what had happened, but I knew that asking Jesus into my heart was exactly what I needed. My husband came home from work that evening to a different woman! I told him everything that had happened. He observed me closely, and we talked a lot about God for the next three weeks, and he then gave his heart to the Lord as well. Over the course of about six months, we stopped doing drugs, drinking, and partying. By the time the check arrived in the mail from my father, I had decided not to leave my husband and to allow God to build our marriage the way He wanted it to be. We surrendered our marriage to the Lord, which God has totally transformed over the years. That was thirty-four years ago.

  God has been so faithful to us. There is no telling where my husband and I would be today if the Billy Graham crusade had not been telecast that evening in the fall of 1973. It is because of that Billy Graham telecast that my husband and I are serving the Lord today. Billy Graham has always been a tremendous inspiration to us and a man we deeply respect and admire because of his integrity and lifestyle. Thank you, Reverend Graham, for your faithfulness to God and for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with us. We love you!

  Lynne

  Thank You, Billy Graham … for Touching My Life When I Was a Child

  GAVE MY LIFE TO JESUS

  I was just seven years old when Billy had his crusade at the State Fair in Minnesota. I was raised in a Christian home but hadn’t made the decision to follow Jesus until that night. They started playing “Just As I Am,” and I
started walking toward the stage. Thank you, Billy Graham, for pointing me to Jesus as the Savior of my soul. God bless you.

  HONOR

  Dear Rev. Graham, as a child growing up in Minneapolis, I heard your name often. My sweet, precious little Baptist grandma and aunt were wonderful Christian women. They were both consistent supporters of your ministry, which was then located in Minneapolis. They didn’t have much, but what they had they gave to the work of the Lord.

  As I was growing up in the 1950s, televisions were becoming part of almost every household, but not in my grandma’s home. But around 1960 or so, she and my aunt decided they were going to buy a television set for one thing—to watch the Billy Graham crusades.

  I grew up in an alcoholic household, and it affected me as I grew older. My dad often beat and abused my mother and us kids, and as a result, I had a lot of issues to deal with. Not a lot of happy memories growing up, except for those times with my grandma. I would think of her and my aunt watching you on their little black-and-white TV, and I would smile.

  My grandma always prayed for her family. It was because of her prayers—and you—that I yielded my life to Jesus when I was eight years old. So I just want to say thank you. If it hadn’t been for my little Baptist grandma and aunt and their devotion to your ministry, I don’t think I would have ever heard about Jesus. I can’t imagine how my life would have gone without Him in it. You have touched so many lives, and I know that God has a special place for you. Your integrity and honor are something to be admired. Few people in history have walked with the Lord and been so consistent in every way. Thank you for being such a man of honor.