JUST BLESSED
I grew up in a church that did not teach the Bible. I was fervent, often attending services daily, even as a teen, but I did not know Christ. During my first year of college, I got into an argument with a student on campus about how to get to God. I told him I could get to God anytime I wanted. He told me that we can only get to God through Jesus Christ and quoted John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
I turned away from him and left. But that verse would not leave my mind. All that night, I heard it in my mind. I heard it in the morning and at lunchtime. It went to class with me, and dinner. No one sat with me at dinner. Just a voice in my spirit, saying that verse again and again …
That night, by myself, I got down on my knees and asked Jesus to forgive me for all my sins and to come into my heart to be my Lord and Savior. Nobody had ever taught me to pray like this; there just seemed to be a leading in my spirit.
I was saved, but I didn’t know it. I just knew that the presence of God seemed so close to me—right behind me, at my side. It seemed that if I turned around quickly enough I would see Him. One time I even tried! But I didn’t know how to grow. For the next few years, I tried to pick up my Bible and read. I would start in Genesis, but usually all my efforts would die somewhere around Numbers. Or, I would play “Bible roulette,” asking God for a verse and opening my Bible randomly. I was a baby!
I married, graduated from college, and moved to New Mexico. We heard that Billy Graham was coming to town. I was still going to a church in the denomination I had grown up in, but I felt I needed to go, so I went. At the end, when Rev. Graham gave the invitation, I knew I needed to stand and recommit my life to Jesus Christ. Here is where help came! Not only were counselors available to talk with me, but they also invited me to sign up for a Bible study.
How I loved those Bible studies! I filled them out and sent them back. Sometimes it took awhile before I sent back a study. I was now a busy mother with two children. But the counselors who received my booklets were always gracious. They sent back kind words and encouragement. I realize now that they were praying for me. I went through the whole series, and the last book included a copy of the Four Spiritual Laws. I thought, I can’t just learn this and set it aside.
That night, at a party at my home, one of my husband’s students asked how she could be saved, and I didn’t know what to say to her. I was so chagrined. I took the booklet and gave it to her, but I felt so bad that I couldn’t present the Gospel to her as I should have. I decided then that this would never happen again. If someone wanted to know how to be saved, I would be able to tell them. I got another copy of the Four Spiritual Laws and studied it. And I began sharing it.
Years later, Campus Crusade for Christ’s “I Found It” campaign came to Albuquerque. I signed up, and God used me to present the Gospel to others. What a gift to bring someone to Christ! There can be no better blessing! I also kept reading my Bible. I went on to become a Sunday school teacher and to help others grow in Christ. I am still teaching God’s Word today.
I am grateful. I have been so blessed by Billy Graham and his amazing organization, and I just want to say thank you.
Thank You, Billy Graham … for How You Touched My Family
AT MY WITS’ END …
I was in Augusta, Georgia, in 1996, with my three-year-old daughter, and I was at my wits end. I called in to the 800 number and asked the Lord into my life. Since then, Billy Graham has been an inspiration to me. I was in Nashville when he preached there, and I was again led to renew my vows with my Savior. My then seven-year-old daughter also gave her life to Jesus. We have been blessed all these years. It has been a struggle, but my faith remains that God has good things in store for us. I praise God for all Billy Graham and his family have done for everyone out there. He is my hero.
JASON’S CONVERSION
I took my three children to a crusade in Little Rock, Arkansas, when my son, Jason, was nine or ten years old. He was never an outspoken kid, he didn’t tell you what was on his mind. When the altar call was made, I was very surprised when Jason went forward to be saved. I cried and cried with happiness that he was reached by Rev. Graham’s message of salvation to give his life to Jesus.
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER BORN AGAIN THROUGH TV CRUSADE
I want to let Billy Graham know the effect he had on my life and my family through his television crusades. I apologize for not writing him sooner and telling him the effect his ministry had on my life.
I was raised as a Lutheran and was in Sunday school by the age of three. I always enjoyed the stories about Jesus, and I believed He died on the cross for me and my forgiveness and eternal life. In seventh and eighth grade, I went to confirmation classes and was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. I always enjoyed talking about Jesus. Many nights in my room, I would talk to Him and cry because of my life being full of sin. My parents went to church on Sunday mornings, but that was it. No Bible reading at home, no prayer, except bedtime with my sisters. My family drank alcohol and went to bars and dances, so as a teenager I would drink on weekends with friends and went to dances.
I married right out of high school to a Lutheran farm boy. We attended a large Lutheran church. Praying only took place if there was a major problem or emergency in the family. I would get the Bible out to read but put it away if I heard my husband coming. I felt embarrassed, like he wouldn’t approve of me. We were married five years and then came the birth of our son, and eighteen months later a daughter.
I always was irritated when Billy Graham was on TV. It took off my favorite programs. I can’t remember the exact date, but one day in 1973 or 1974, I clicked on TV and Billy Graham was preaching. Instead of getting irritated, this time I chose to listen. I had never heard of asking Jesus into my heart and life—to be born again. Billy said you may have been a Sunday school teacher or gone to church all your life, but have you ever had a personal relationship with Jesus—asking Him into your heart and life?
The next day, I thought more about it and decided to get on my knees and said, “Lord I already believe you died for me, but I didn’t know I should ask you into my heart and life. Please come in, and I give you my life.” I didn’t see lights or have a feeling-type experience, but from that day on I noticed a change in what I valued and how I looked at life and my decisions and choices. Jesus was changing me. I read the Bible daily and received literature from the Billy Graham organization to help me grow spiritually.
When my daughter was fifteen, I talked to her about giving her heart fully to Jesus. She said, “I believe, but I’ll do that after I’m grown. Otherwise, I might not have fun now as a teenager.” A couple days later, in the evening, I was watching Billy Graham on TV and she was in the living room with me and was watching. I received a phone call and left the room. Some time passed, and when I returned to the living room, I found that my daughter had just prayed the closing prayer with Billy Graham to received Jesus into her heart and life as he closed his crusade meeting.
So you see, the Billy Graham ministry impacted both me and my daughter, and it carried over to my son. At age twenty-one, he fully gave his heart and life to Jesus and is now a mighty man of God. My son and daughter are both married and today are still following the Lord with their spouses and children. Thank you, Billy Graham, for your obedience to the call and for touching me and my family with the truth of the Gospel. I pray you will get to read this letter personally.
Betty Jean
MY WIFE, NORMA
I had been asking God to give me a helpmate who loved Him first. When I met Norma, she was not a Christian, but I was in love with her, and I asked God to open her heart, because she would not listen to me. Norma is from Mexico, and at the time she spoke very little English. One of the people she knew was a Bible-believing Christian, and he had invited her to the Billy Graham crusade in San Antonio. Unfortunately, for the first two nights, Norma had to work. Finally, on the third night, she called me and
told me she was going to the crusade. I lived in Houston at the time. The first thing I did was go home and get on my knees before the Lord. After two hours of prayer, He let me know that it was a done deal.
Here’s Norma’s account of the crusade: “I went to the crusade, the atmosphere was one of love, the singers sang their songs, and then that old man got up and began to preach in English, and I could not understand one word he was saying. I was so tired that I fell sound asleep. In the middle of the message, I awoke, and was clearly hearing the old man speak directly to me in Spanish.”
Long story short, that night, Norma was convicted by the Lord and accepted Christ as her Savior. Later that year, we were married.
Today, we have three children. For years, the doctors had told me I was sterile and would never father a child. Yet, by God’s grace, I have fathered three children. Today, we are involved in ministry. We want to take this opportunity to thank “that old man.” Brother Billy, we love you and pray for you always. Thank you for being a willing servant. You have no idea how many people that crusade in San Antonio has touched through Norma.
HE TOLD ME I NEEDED A CHURCH FAMILY
I can remember listening to Billy Graham when I was a small child. My parents watched him on the TV. I grew up in a very abusive home. Dad was a mean alcoholic. My mom died when I was thirteen of a brain aneurysm. I was pretty much on my own, with twin brothers who were months younger. It was tough. I met and married my own alcoholic husband, and we have two sons. We have been married for almost thirty-four years.
I was saved at the age of eight or nine. I had gone to Sunday school and church (though I was afraid of the screaming preacher). I learned from a Sunday school teacher that Jesus loved me and that He would take care of me. I was sitting by myself in a swing outside one night, about nine or ten o’clock, listening to my parents fighting, and I prayed to Jesus that one of them—and it didn’t matter which one—would go to jail for fighting and hurting us all like that. About twenty minutes later, Dad was taken to jail. (He got out the next morning.) I knew in my heart that Jesus was listening to me that night, and I have known from that night that He would always protect me.
When my dad was old and in bad health, his doctor asked me if I attended church. I said, “No, but I am saved.” He told me I needed a church family and that the day would come when my dad would die from his drinking and I would need that church family. I did not want to go to church. I had too many problems with all the drinkers in my family, I had two teenage sons, and I had a job. I did not think church was necessary. I even wrote to the Billy Graham Association to see if this was really necessary. They wrote back and told me that I did need to go to church and have a church family.
When Dad died, I was not in a church, and his body was donated to science. There was no closure to his death, and it was very hard on me for a long time.
My youngest son left home at eighteen, and I prayed for his safe return. I told God that I would do anything He wanted me to do if He would return my son to me. God did bring my son back home, and I asked God what did He want me to do? The Holy Spirit let me know that God wanted me to go to church. I asked Him, “Which church?” He led me to go to the small church where my oldest son had been saved years before. It was close to my home, and I had an old friend who attended there. I have been in church for ten years now, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I met a Jewish man at church one night, and he told me he was led to the Lord by Billy Graham in El Paso, Texas, a long time ago. My husband has been sober for seven or eight years now. My youngest son, who had turned to drugs, entered a faith-based treatment center that did not charge a penny, and he has been clean and sober for two years. He so loves the Lord that he is a youth leader in his church, and he is there every time the doors are open. Yes, God is good, and He loves us all. Thank you, Billy, for introducing me to the Lord.
MY DADDY WAS BROUGHT TO TEARS
I prayed and asked Almighty God to speak to you, Billy Graham, through His Spirit in me tonight. I am a fifty-six-year-old woman who was raised in a wonderful Christian Lutheran family, very close to my grandparents as my father was an only child. My grandfather was a prominent business owner in the automotive industry, yet always taught Sunday school. My father was a well-educated design engineer in the automotive industry—Michigan’s primary industry—yet always a teen small-group leader and an evangelist. You, Mr. Graham, were more highly esteemed and respected by these two men than I can express to you.
I remember the excitement in our home as we gathered to watch the Billy Graham crusade, and as we sat in anticipation, yet with the utmost respect for your passion for God and God’s beloved people. I watched two grown men brought to tears as you asked all the lost children of God to come forward and make Jesus the Lord of their lives. As a child, I watched my precious daddy and grampa drawn to your calling, inspired by your conviction to glorify their beloved heavenly Father. I saw their humility as they prayed with you for those making their way up the aisles, at the sound of “Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me …” Thank you for inspiring the two earthly men in my life, whom I loved more than anything; now I realize that I was loving Jesus in them.
My son was nine years old in 1998, when we attended your crusade in Tampa. We walked forward, and my son asked Jesus into his young heart. My son now has a strong faith, strong leadership traits, and is not afraid to be a Christ follower; he’s on his way in obedience in this generation today! God has a real plan for my son’s life, and your diligent obedience to God started the process in 1998. Thank you, Billy.
Thank You, Billy Graham … for Helping Me Deal with Adversity
A WHOLE NEW ME
I did a lot of things in my younger life that I’m not proud of. These things affected who I was and who I became. When you don’t know God can help you through your life, you make a lot of bad decisions and do a lot of dumb stuff.
Both my parents loved me in their quiet way. I went to church all my childhood and teen years, but I did not understand that I could have a relationship with God. I was a quiet child, but I did not feel good about myself. I had a low self-esteem for some reason. Finally, when a boy showed me some attention, I thought this was what I needed. When I dated, I ignored God’s promptings to wait for the man God had planned for me. I wanted to make all my own decisions. I did not want anyone controlling me.
I was sad most of my adult life over my marriage problems, mainly because my husband belittled me by name-calling and later cursing at me. To make matters worse, he thought he was right in every situation. I blamed my husband and God for all my unhappy circumstances. I wasn’t such a bad person, so why did I deserve this meanness? So I looked at everything as an attack against me. I became even more negative. Because my husband said a lot of mean things to me, I started to say mean things back to him, and my heart became hardened just like his.
I didn’t know what to do to fix my marriage. I wanted out after twenty-five years. I had tried everything I knew to fix my problems. But my husband did not see any problem; he didn’t even know I was unhappy! It was just me who had the problem. I was very depressed. It seems that I had to first hit the bottom for things to change. All this led to severe depression that lasted for the next ten years of my marriage.
In November and December of 2004, I began searching for something else, but not knowing what I needed. I tried a hypnotist to “cure” all my problems. That was a flop. But, thankfully, I was searching for help. I went home and got my childhood Bible. Then one night in January 2005, while my husband was in the other room watching TV, I turned on my kitchen TV, which got only three channels. I happened to stop on a Billy Graham crusade. I was curious and watched it. I cried out for God to help me, because I had tried to fix everything that was wrong in my marriage and I could not do it anymore. I needed Him. I finally gave up.
God was just waiting for me to call upon His name. He waited until I was done trying everything, and I finally gave up and asked Hi
m for His help. He was ready and waiting to help me. I felt like He reached down from heaven and gave me His hand and pulled me out of the pit I had put myself in. I asked Him to forgive all my sins. I even confessed every sin I could remember since I was a little girl (I was now fifty-eight).That day, my whole life changed. First of all, I got a sliver of hope. God took my hardened heart and gave me a new heart and a new attitude, and peace flowed over me. I finally knew that God really loved me, and I believed it in my heart, and I had a desire to please God. He forgave me of so much that night that I was so exceedingly thankful for what He did for me. I now wake each day and end each day and go through the entire day praying to Him and focused on Him. He did a total transformation of my life. I am a whole new me.
I still have the same circumstances; however, I feel God’s presence helping me to cope and to respond now in a way pleasing to Him. It has been an uphill climb, and I am not there yet, but I try not to go around the same mountain so that I learn to press on toward God’s goal for my life. God is an awesome God.
I am so humbled when I say that I give God the glory, and I thank Him for his faithful servant, the Rev. Billy Graham. Thank you, Billy, for being faithful to God’s direction in your life. I was forever changed.
Dawn
A YEAR OF NEW BEGINNINGS
In June 1972, I was twenty-nine years old. My life was a mess. I had reached the bottom of the barrel. One night, my husband and I had been out drinking and had gotten in a fight. We were at his parents’ house. I stormed out the door at midnight and just started walking. No one ran out to bring me back in, so I kept walking. I remember looking up at the stars, and in my half-stupor state, I said, “God, help me.” Those three words saved my life, because with what happened next, no one would have ever seen me or heard from me again.
Thank You, Billy Graham Page 20