I had this idea that I was going home, which was a hundred miles away. I was walking on a highway, and three teenagers picked me up. They drove me about four miles down the road and dropped me off. Then another car stopped, and a man picked me up and took me to a George Webb restaurant. So now I’m sitting in this resturant, telling the waitress that I am going to hitchhike back to Milwaukee. As I’m sharing this, another man sat down next to me and apologized for listening in. He offered to drive me home. (I believe he was an angel.) Well, by 4:30 in the morning, I was walking into my house.
At this point, I was feeling really bad about myself, and I decided that my husband and children would be better off without me. So I decided to leave them. I asked a friend to take me to the bus station, and I bought a ticket to Las Vegas, where an uncle of mine lived. At this point, no one—except God—knew where I was.
When the bus stopped in Salt Lake City, there was a layover, so I decided to do a little sightseeing. I came to the Mormon Square, and I saw a hippie guy passing out pieces of paper. I thought he looked really weird, so I kept on walking. After another block or so, I saw a woman doing the same thing, only she looked more normal. By now I was curious, so I stopped and asked her what she was doing. She said she represented the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and she was there simply to share with people about Jesus. They weren’t discrediting the Mormons but just sharing about the Lord.
I said, “Well, I’m a Catholic, and I know everything there is to know about Jesus.” (Yeah, sure.) I think we stood there for more than two hours talking. She gave me a Billy Graham New Testament and some of his books. She never pressured me. I still remember her name—it was Nancy. She wrote something on the front page of the Bible she gave me.
I went back home and got right with my family. (At this point, I was still not saved.) One night, when my husband was gone and the children were in bed, I got out that Bible and decided to start with page one. In the front part of the Bible, Billy Graham had inserted “How to Become a Christian.” He had written out the four spiritual laws, and I read them, and then I came to the sinner’s prayer. I read it and thought, What does that mean? (I’m slow at understanding.) So I read it again, and all of a sudden the light came on, and I said, “Oh, that’s what that means!” So, then I read it a third time, but this time was different, because I read it from my heart and not just from my head. Jesus was waiting for a heart surrender.
Let me tell you, when I prayed that prayer a third time, my living room came alive with the presense of the Lord. He was so real—what was happening to me was so real. I could feel the burden of sin being lifted off of me, and my whole being was changed in an instant.
I will always have that sweet girl Nancy, from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, to thank for taking the time to talk to me. My salvation was sealed on June 25, 1972. This is the first time I’ve ever written out my testimony, and the first time I’ve given credit to the Billy Graham ministry. It was through his ministry that I first heard about being born again.
Thank you for letting me share my story.
Sandra
“DON’T FORGET TO GO TO CHURCH THIS SUNDAY”
One night in May 1984, I was in a desperate mental condition. I went into my bedroom in anguish and wept before God on my knees. I had looked for God in many different places and through different religions, but in my quest to find Him, I had always come up empty. All I could do at the time was cry out from the depths of my heart and plead for forgiveness for all my wrongdoing. I told God that I didn’t want to continue to live a life of sin and that I wanted to please Him and be like Jesus. I had been depressed and under heavy mental oppression, as I was suffering from paranoia and social anxiety disorder, and lived a very distressed and unhappy life at barely twenty-four years of age. Since my life had been disastrous up until that point, I went in desperation once more to seek God. As I pleaded, I suddenly felt the presence of someone in my room. I opened my eyes to look but saw no one. I instead felt a dumbfounding peace that engulfed me to the point where my anxiety subsided and I was able to think with clarity and go about my business. Glory be to God.
A couple of days later, in the middle of the week, I saw Billy Graham on television and felt an enormous compassion coming from him that melted me away and caught all of my attention. I don’t remember his message, but his words moved me to the point where I began to urgently desire what he was conveying. He made the altar call, and I saw people in a huge stadium running to the altar from everywhere to take what he’d been offering. I started to panic, because I wanted to run to the front, too, but couldn’t from my living room, and my heart sank in my chest with disappointment; but thank God for immediately moving Billy to say that if you were at home and couldn’t come up to the front, you could just do it at home by putting your hand on the TV as a point of contact. I was gratefully relieved as I did. He led me to the Lord at that moment and at the closing of his ministering, said: “And don’t forget to go to church this Sunday.” Those words stayed with me, and I sought out a friend and neighbor who had become a Christian before me and who lived on my same floor, and asked her if I could go to church with her that Sunday. She happily obliged.
I’ve been saved for twenty-three years now, by the grace and mercy of God, and during my most difficult times in my walk, when I felt unsure about continuing, and when I was tempted to walk away from Jesus, I would come across Billy Graham again on TV, and God would speak through him regarding my very situation and encourage me. Praise be to God. I love Billy with a special love and gratitude that I can only feel toward him, because it was him that God used so that I might receive the forgiveness of my sins and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Thank you for your love for the Lord, your commitment, and dedication, Billy. My life has never been the same since I saw that first telecast in 1984, and you’ve been a source of encouragement for me many times after that. You became selfless when you came to Christ and accepted His calling on your life, that I might one day receive newness of life, and I can’t thank you enough for sacrificing for me like that. I love you dearly and look forward to one day meeting with you in heaven.
Mayra
I KEEP PRAYING AND READING SCRIPTURE
Dear Mr. Graham: I heard you speak in Detroit, Michigan, when I was a teenager. I gave my heart to Jesus at your crusade but fell along the way. I believe I’m on the right track now. I attempted suicide in 2005 and believe that God gave me a miracle, because my life was spared with no residual effects. I give thanks to God every day for that! I keep praying and reading scripture every day in hopes that I will be forgiven, and I ask God to help me one day at a time. Your presence in my life as a teenager and at the present time (I’m now sixty-one) is what keeps me going each day. I thank you so very much for all that you have given me and this world. May God bless you and your family.
I COULD FEEL GOD’S LOVE THROUGH MY DAUGHTER’S BIRTH
During the free-spirited summer of 1969, at the young age of fourteen and while still a virgin, I found myself in a musky, dark apartment being violently raped by an older teenager. In retrospect, I believe I may have been very near to death through that experience, as I was “floating” above my own innocent, bloody, and defeated body. I remember feeling so sorry for “her.” I could see every single bad thing that was being done to me. It was both disgusting and horrifying to me, but I did survive. I awoke to find myself changed, permanently tainted (I thought), and on a direct path of careless self-destruction. My idea of love and affection was drastically skewed, and I lived the rest of my teenage years in a post-traumatic mental state. I hated myself, and I even hated my own name. As if I were not even alive, and now unable (without God) to make good life choices, I repeatedly mutilated my own body by allowing nearly every male I dated to abuse me sexually. Having no relationship with God, this was not a very hard thing for a girl to do, even though I despised every single thing about sex. Despised it. Sadly, because of these events, my heart and s
oul grew void and dark, beyond description. Deep depression and crying spells came.
At age nineteen, and in another abusive relationship, I became pregnant with my precious daughter. The day she was born, I somehow knew there was a God who loved me. My daughter’s birth was a miracle to me. I could feel God’s love through her! I could see it! I had a sudden, anxious hunger to be cleansed. I wanted to make everything in my life all right but didn’t know how to do it. I do not remember the specifics, but some wonderful Christian gave me Billy Graham’s book Peace With God, and I read it as quickly as I could. Not many days passed before I gave my heart and soul to Jesus Christ. Now at fifty-eight years old, I can say the journey has been long and not always easy, but I was cleansed and reconciled to the One who created me. I praise His sweet and Holy name for saving my life and soul.
Teresa Grace (I gave myself this middle name.)
MANY THANKS
I became born again in 1981. Since that time, I was fortunate enough to meet some young Christians who guided me in my journey. I have always watched Billy Graham on TV, when he was at many different crusades. I was honored to serve at one of Franklin Graham’s crusades in the 1990s at a small arena in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
It was a very difficult time in my life during that crusade. I was director of evangelism at a local church when I found out that my husband (now ex) was stealing money from our church and had borrowed money from some very close friends in the church, saying it was for me. Many so-called believers rejected me and turned their backs on me. It was a nightmare.
My husband was a very bad, compulsive gambler and had started a Gamblers Anonymous group at our church. But he could not break the habit and was charged with theft and was awaiting a jail sentence. During the time of the crusade, I was devastated and broken.
I volunteered at the office that was doing the work in preparation for the crusade. I served there and applied for a counselor’s position for the crusade. Never have I been closer to the Lord, and I wrote on my application that God was my breath (for indeed He is).
When I received an answer concerning my application for counselor, I was overwhelmed that I had been chosen to be a supervisor at the crusade. I felt very unworthy, particularly because of the embarrassment and humiliation I was suffering because of my husband.
When I went to the crusade, I was so shocked to be sitting with a group of pastors. The people who had rejected me saw that I was in that group, and that broke me how great God’s love is. I felt a bit like Christ, who was rejected and beaten.
I am so thankful to the Lord and the Billy Graham Evangelistic ministry. The crusade experience saved me and helped me heal my broken spirit. I was honored to pray with a young girl, share the steps to peace with God, and ultimately share in the joy of a new convert.
God is so good, and I thank you, Billy, and the rest of your team for a lifetime of ministry and how God has so richly blessed those who love Him.
ONE BOY LOOKING FOR THE CREATOR
God bless you, Billy Graham and family, for giving up each other’s time for the anointed calling in your lives. I lived my young life always on the road, staying (living) with many people. My mother was in hiding from her past. I was fortunate to have God come to me as my protector from things chasing my mother and me. God showed himself to me in a dream when I was a child—as a gigantic rainbow with a blinding glow. My mother was agnostic; therefore, we did not go to church or even watch it on television. However, I knew that rainbow from my dream was more than a dream, because the next day (after the dream), I started feeling a much higher presence than myself. A short time later, while watching TV, I heard Billy Graham speaking of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Time went by (unsure how much), and I crawled to the cross and into the arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, Billy, for giving the Holy Gospel the way it’s meant.
Chad
THE NIGHT GOD CAME INTO MY HEART
My name is Meg. My husband and I live in Kentucky, where he is an equine veterinarian. We have two wonderful children and have a very blessed life here. The Lord has been very good to us all of our lives. Growing up, I was raised in a Christian home and taken to church every Sunday and Wednesday. Of course, our home was not perfect, but we knew we were loved and that our parents cared for us very much.
I was the youngest of four children, and I was very softhearted. I watched the Billy Graham crusades on television quite regularly with my mother, whenever they would come on. One particular night, while watching a certain sermon, I became convicted by the Holy Spirit and started crying while listening to the message of Dr. Graham. He was preaching about our sins and how we were in need of a Savior. I knew that without Jesus, I would die in my sin and go to hell forever. I knew that I did not want to go there, so I prayed the sinner’s prayer and asked Jesus into my heart. After the broadcast was over, I talked with my mother more in length about the decision I had made, and I knew I was born again! I wrote to Dr. Graham and received the literature he sent to help me with my walk with Christ. Of course, I have never regretted that decision to follow Christ.
God has always been more than faithful and has seen me through some very tough times. He has blessed me with a Christian husband, and both of our children have accepted Christ into their hearts. Jesus is absolutely my very best and dearest friend. He has never left me, and I know He never will. To God be the glory!
Thank you, Dr. Billy Graham, for being obedient to the call to follow Christ and proclaim the message to the lost and dying. Because of your faithfulness, I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I will forever be grateful to you.
Thank You, Billy Graham … for Saving My Life
SAVED AT NIAGARA FALLS
In 1960, someone handed me a book with testimonies of some of the people who had been saved at a Billy Graham crusade. I was sitting in my car trying to get the courage to jump over Niagara Falls and end my life. As I read the testimonies, I thought that maybe Jesus could change my life, too. And I could always come back next week and jump.
I had a tract in my hand, and I prayed the prayer on the back and asked Jesus to forgive all my sins. God changed my life that day. For all these years, I have followed the Lord, reared eleven children, and have been in full-time ministry for many years. I have seen thousands of people saved through SOS Ministries USA, which my husband and I founded in 2001. Thank you, Billy Graham, for your faithfulness and being instumental in my life. Also, my son-in-law was saved watching you on TV. His family (five children) are now faithfully serving the Lord.
DELIVERED
My seventeen-year-old sister and I were living on the edge in San Diego. We were doing drugs, going from man to man, doing everything under the sun except serving God. We were raised in church, but we were as far away from that as we could get.
My sister was dating a guy who was using LSD. Before long, she was doing it, too. I was strictly into pills: uppers and downers. We would stay stoned from Friday to Monday morning, pulling it together only long enough to go to school and work.
One night, a nervous Johnny dropped my sister off and peeled off in his Camaro like the devil was chasing him. It turned out my sister was overdosing. She started screaming at the top of her lungs, clawing at her face and arms. “Get the spiders off,” she cried. “There’s a dead man! Make him get away! He’s come to get me! The skeletons! Skeletons are trying to eat me!” She cried like a baby. I held her through the night until she started to come down. It was horrible.
I didn’t have the presence of mind to take her to the hospital. I prayed for the first time in a long time. “Lord please help us.” Thank God, she didn’t die. However, that was just the beginning. She returned to that hellish place in her mind many, many times thereafter. Mostly without warning. Sometimes in public. She had to drop out of college.
It was fear that stopped me in my tracks that night. Your crusade was on TV. My mom sang in the choir at your Baton Rouge crusade. I remembered your literature coming to the h
ouse during my teenage years.
“It’s youth night,” the announcer said. You came on and immediately pulled out all the stops. It seemed you knew everything we’d been doing. By the end of your sermon, I was crying like a baby. I prayed the prayer. You said to get in a good church, so I started asking around. I hadn’t been in church in eleven years. One of our partying girlfriends told us about a church she had grown up with nearby. I went there the next day, even though it wasn’t Sunday. When I walked in the door of the Baptist church, some people were sitting around a table in a meeting room off the foyer. It turned out to be the board of trustees meeting.
“Can we help you?” asked a kind, older man. “My sister, she’s on drugs,” I said. “We need help.” I told them the story. They prayed and asked me to bring my sister. We went the next Sunday. That was the beginning of my walk with the Lord.
Today, I am rooted and grounded and established in the Lord. I’m a member of a church in Houston. I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind. He is the center around which everything flows. Life has not been a bed of roses. There’s a devil loose. However, I know without a shadow of a doubt that if you hadn’t been there that fateful night, neither my sister nor I would be alive today. Your message opened the door to a new world, to a new life. I am a new creature in Christ Jesus.
Tish
THE WORDS THAT SAVED MY LIFE
Thank You, Billy Graham Page 21