Thank You, Billy Graham

by Jerushah Armfield

  I called my mother and father that night and told them, and two weeks later, I moved home. God was so good to me. He even had a job lined up for me when I got there. Due to that Billy Graham crusade, I found out how much I needed God. Since that day, I have understood that I depend on God every day of my life. I realized I can do nothing in my life without Him. I watch Billy Graham now every time I can. I tell this story often, especially if it might be to someone who needs to hear about God. I want to say thank you to him for just being there, as I know I’m not the only person who was changed for a lifetime by his hard work and his crusades.

  Sandra

  FOREVER CHANGED

  I was raised in a nominal Christian home. My mother often watched Billy Graham crusades on TV. One evening, I was in the family room alone and happened to switch channels to a station that was carrying a Billy Graham crusade. I decided to listen. It was not so much what Billy preached, but the passion with which he preached. I struggled with agnosticism, but that night his passion for the Lord actually made me reconsider. I thought to myself, This man really believes in what he is preaching. When the invitation was given and the choir began to sing “Just As I Am,” I made a decision. I went into my room, knelt down and prayed for forgiveness, asked God to reveal Himself to me, and made a commitment to Christ. The Holy Spirit spoke to me immediately and said that I must examine the evidence. I began to read the Bible daily, and my faith and understanding grew. The Lord led me to a wonderful church with a godly pastor, and I have served the Lord in many capacities throughout my life. I have taught Christian education, and I have been a leader in that ministry. I have worked in a group home.

  Thank you, Billy Graham, for being faithful to God and for your impact on my life.

  INSPIRATION

  Times were hard when I was growing up. I lived with fear on a daily basis. I knew there was a God, and when things got really bad for me, I would hide and pray. In the 1950s, I saw Billy Graham on TV at a friend’s house. I was not allowed to watch him at home. When Billy Graham spoke, I understood. It was like he was speaking only to me. He has been such an inspiration to me all of my life, and I am now sixty-six. As long as I can remember, I have wanted to tell him that. He helped a young child fight to survive and want to live. When I felt like I had no one, I knew that God loved me and would protect me. Billy Graham taught me that. I did survive. Thank you, Billy Graham.

  HOPE FOR THE TROUBLED HEART

  I was a sixteen-year-old mother and crazy in love with my son’s father, but we were not married. He played minor league baseball and traveled a lot, and I was home going to school full-time and working at night. Life was very hard, and once my boyfriend moved back to Asheville, our hometown, we started living together. I had been brought up in a home where we went to church but not consistently; however, I always had “a conviction” and even played church when I was a little girl. So I knew it was wrong we were living together outside of marriage, but I loved him so much I couldn’t let go. Well, I was working at a dental office and business was really slow, and I would sneak and read Hope for the Troubled Heart. During this time, I rededicated my life to my Lord and Savior. I went home and told my boyfriend and moved out of our bedroom until we were married thirty days later. I will always attribute my love and dedication to the Almighty using his faithful servant Billy Graham. Thank you, Billy.

  MY BROTHER

  My brother, Howard, was saved at one of your crusades in Memphis. He was a graduate of Annapolis and afterward taught at the Air Force Academy. He was planning to make a career in the service. He went to Vietnam because he did not want his son to have to fight in a war. Before he left, he told me that if he did not come back, to not worry about him … that he knew where he was going. At that time, it didn’t mean much to me, but after he was killed in Vietnam, I have recalled those words a million times. Since then, I also have been saved, and because of your crusade and my brother’s hearing the Gospel and going forward … praise God I will see him again. Words can never express my gratitude.

  AMONG UNBELIEVERS

  Many years ago, I was a young divorced woman raising two small children with no help. We were living in my parents’ basement at the time. My parents were unbelievers. We had a small TV in our apartment. One night, with all doors closed, I turned on Dr. Graham’s crusade. I learned so many spiritual things that night. I was so afraid that one of my parents would come downstairs and open the door. They never did. Two years later, a friend at work asked me to attend a Baptist church. I had to keep that secret, too. Then, one night, I attended a church softball game. There was a sweet retired Baptist preacher there. He sat down beside me on the sidelines and led me to the Lord. He shared the Bible verse, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We prayed together. I could feel the angels rejoicing that night, before I ever learned that the Bible says they rejoice whenever people get saved. Praise God for Billy Graham, who planted God’s seed in my heart and has forever changed my life.

  Cindy

  MY GRANDFATHER

  My grandfather was a great man. He and my grandmother provided the rudder with which I run my life now. Anything good in me comes from having lived with them.

  My grandfather was born in 1889 in the mountains of northern Georgia. He left a large family to be educated in college and with a fresh diploma became a schoolteacher in a two-room schoolhouse in southern Georgia. He was a fierce disciplinarian, as a few of his former students have told me, but was also regarded as a great scholar who saw education as a way to a better future for his pupils. He later became a farmer and a local politician, and helped establish the crop quota system and other significant farmland programs as a federal employee with the Department of Agriculture. He died in 1970 when I was eighteen years old. As I was going through some of his business papers a few years ago, I was amazed to discover he had actually had more than two thousand dollars in the bank during the Depression of the 1930s.

  One thing I remember most of him was his affection for Rev. Graham. He had the proud occasion to be a participant at one of the crusades, in either Atlanta or Washington, DC, in the 1950s or 1960s, and he would repeat to me how he stood and listened as Rev. Graham spoke and how impassioned the preaching was and his conviction of faith in Jesus Christ. This deeply affected my grandfather, and he told me the story several times. I’m not sure whether he just forgot he had already told me or if he wanted to imprint the dialogue in my brain; either way, it did make an impression on me.

  I also had the chance to participate in a Graham crusade in Atlanta during the 1990s. My beautiful daughter, Sarah, was five years old and she and I went forward when called, and I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I felt my grandfather’s presence and knew how proud he would be of me. More important, my young daughter was a witness in a way that I also was a witness to my grandfather’s faith.

  SINCERE THANKS

  Dr. Graham, I want to give you my sincere thanks for leading so many people to the Lord. I am one of them, even though I did not keep on the straight road for a long time. I am now fifty-eight years old and have truly given my life to Jesus Christ. He is faithful to His promises, which I see in my life. I owe this in large part to you. May the Lord richly bless you.

  GROWING IN MY FAITH IN JESUS

  Dear Billy: I was already a believer and follower of Jesus Christ when you came to Toronto in 1995. I signed up to become a counselor at this evangelical event. I went to the training every Saturday, and it was after this that I decided to get up early each morning before going to work and spend time with the Lord in the reading of His Word and in prayer. That practice has changed my life. It is wonderful to start each day praising the Lord, thanking the Lord, confessing my sin to the Lord, and crying out to the Lord for those things that concern me. I go to work lighter, knowing that I cast my worries and concerns upon the Lord Jesus my great High Priest, who intercedes to our heavenly Father on my behalf. It is wonderful to be able to pray for my family
, friends, and others, for the concerns of my church, the school where I work, and the things happening around me. This Christian journey is exciting, and I want to thank Billy for his influence on my growth as a Christian. Because of my involvment in his ministry, my relationship with Christ grew tremendously.

  ENCOUNTER IN NIGERIA

  While serving as national director of the Assemblies of God Women’s Ministries from 1976 to 1985, I was privileged to minister in several countries overseas, as well as in the United States. In May 1985, I traveled all over Nigeria for various women’s meetings, with Stella Ezigbo, the national Women’s Ministries leader. One day, we stopped at Stella’s home. At noon, I was seated in her living room with a Nigerian brother, and Stella brought us two avocados to share for lunch. In our conversation, I learned that this brother had come to Christ through reading one of Billy Graham’s books. He pointed to a van outside, well identified as a Gospel literature distribution vehicle. Sharing the Gospel was now his full-time occupation, and he was enthusiastic about it. I regret not getting his name, but God knows, and will see this Nigerian brother as another of the countless souls influenced by Billy Graham, along with those who come to Christ through this brother’s witness. Thank you, Billy, for your faithfulness.

  Elva

  WHAT A BLESSING!

  Dear Rev. Graham, you have been a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. You have given your life to Him, but He gave His life for you. I grew up watching your crusades on televison, and I still watch them today. To God be the glory. I hope to have your strength in my later years. The world has been blessed to have you. Your light will shine forever and ever.

  THANK YOU, BILLY

  I went forward at the 1964 Columbus crusade at Jet Stadium, and my life was forever changed. It’s been a long road with Jesus since then. He has cared for me, protected me, and helped me all along the way. Thanks to Billy and his team for staying on the straight road all these years. Their honesty and integrity throughout the years has glorifed our Father in heaven.

  CANCER

  When I was eighty years young, I had melanoma cancer. I had surgery and then radiation and chemotherapy. There were days when I was on radiation and chemo (I took radiation in the morning and chemo in the afternoon, five days a week for six months) and had a horrible life at times, but I never lost faith that God would heal me. Then my children stopped the treatment, because they felt it was killing me. We all prayed about this. I was supposed to take the chemo for six more months. I am now eighty-eight years young, and I am cancer free. I know God healed me. He still works miracles. I have watched every Billy Graham crusade that has been on TV. Dr. Graham, you were such an encouragment and a blessing when I was so sick. Thank you, Billy.

  Grace

  WORTH IT ALL

  As a twenty-two-year-old young married, I went to the crusade at the Atlanta ballpark in November 1950. I responded to Billy’s invitation to come forward, and did so, accepting Christ as my Savior. My wife had become a Christian the previous spring. We grew in the Lord during the next years, becoming active in church life. Twenty years later, we responded to the call to become missionaries and ended up with Wycliffe Bible Translators, first in Mexico and then in Peru, for a total of thirty-five years, before returning to the US and serving at the JAARS center for a couple of years before retiring. Billy, I praise the Lord for your faithfulness to His call in preaching the Gospel. I don’t know just where I would be in this world if I had not responded at that opportunity.

  Vernon

  MY JIM’S SALVATION

  I have been a Christian since I was seven years old. I was saved at a Southern Baptist revival in a tiny town in Oklahoma, where my entire family on both sides attended the Baptist church. Christ has always been a friend and a blessing to me. I moved with my family to Oklahoma City in 1949, when I was thirteen. Many years later, on a Wednesday evening, we were in our prayer meeting when our pastor said he had a guest and had asked him to speak that evening. It was Billy Graham. He wasn’t so well known then, but I knew who he was and thought I knew the path he would follow. And I did.

  I fell in love when I was sixteen with a boy who had been raised in the Catholic Church and educated by their schools. He was a wonderful, loving, caring boy, who just made my heart do flips. We married on April 3, 1956.

  In 1957, we attended a crusade at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds on a stormy Sunday evening. Billy walked up to the pulpit to a standing ovation, looked up at the sky, and simply said, “If it’s all right with you, God, we had rather not get too wet tonight.” This is the truth—the storm quickly moved on by, and no rain fell. To make the evening even more memorable, my young husband, Jim, was converted and baptized. My family and I had prayed many times that he would come to know Christ as we did. Our prayers were answered that stormy Sunday. I have chills now just writing about it.

  What a soldier for God Billy Graham has been. I know the feeling of loss he has with the loss of his beloved Ruth. I lost my Jim seventeen years ago, but thanks to a message delivered by Billy Graham, I know I will see him again. God bless him and all of his family.

  FAITHFUL SERVANT

  I deeply appreciate all Billy Graham has done to honor our Father in heaven. With his wisdom, I have learned to walk by faith in all aspects of my life. Each story or excerpt that Billy has written gives me encouragment to share my story as God shows me when and how. I have been saved by Billy Graham, for without his knowledge, and leaps of faith in our heavenly Father, I too would be struggling to find a deeper connection to God. With Billy’s help, I have attained new growth, and my salvation is an outpouring to those around me. I will always remember Billy as the one who led me to God, and he will be someone I will see in heaven.

  WITH GRATITUDE AND BLESSINGS!

  Dear Dr. Billy Graham, it is with much gratitude and joy that my husband and I pass on blessings in the fullest measure to you. We have been ministered to greatly through the Decision magazine we receive once a month and the Day By Day devotional, personally written by you. The Lord has taken the words you have written to speak very tenderly to our hearts, affirming us over and over again that Jesus is closer than our very breath and we can trust Him. We love your challenge not to take anyone else’s word for God and to find Him for ourselves so that we, too, can know Him by the warm tugs on our heartstrings. He is there, and absolutely nothing can separate us from His love. From reading your devotional over the past couple of years, I feel as if you are the “spiritual grandfather” we never had, and one we have come to adopt and love as our very own, with much gratitude.

  Blessings, “Grandfather” Billy. “Your love has given [us] great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people” (Philemon 1:7 NIV).

  —Judy and Ron (your new adopted grandchildren)

  GOD IS GREAT!

  Between fifth and sixth grade, more than forty-four years ago, I listened to Billy Graham on television and sent away for Christian literature and started reading a red-letter-edition Bible. In so doing, I realized that I was a sinner and needed to accept Christ as my personal Savior. In fifth grade, I was lying, fighting, cheating, and getting C’s and D’s in school. After accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, during the sixth grade, I did not get into one fight; I stopped lying and cheating, and received A’s and B’s in all my classes. At the end of sixth grade, I received an award as the most improved student for the year.

  During my college years, I attended Explo ’72 in Dallas, started a Bible study, and distributed Bibles on campus. I received a master’s in social work and was hired by the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities to help move hundreds of people locked in institutions to family care homes in the community. As the district family care coordinator, I was able to encourage many Christians to participate in the ministry of hospitality. I recently retired at fifty-five years of age, and we just started a donation-funded street school, Eagle Wings Academy, this past fall. We consid
er ourselves full-time urban missionaries, having eight staff and twelve volunteers working with twenty children who want, but cannot afford, a Christian education. My hope is that the children will have a similar opportunity as the one that Billy Graham gave me forty-four years ago.

  —David

  MAN OF GOD

  Thank you, Billy Graham. I am a fifty-nine-year-old widow, and I have a great faith. I am a Christian Catholic, and your words and your life have had a great impact on my life. For years, God gave you a wonderful gift of reaching to the whole world; to me, the Holy Spirit dwells in us all, and you brought Him to life in many of us. I only know that you will see the face of God one day, and I pray that your wife, Ruth, will be there to hold you once again in paradise. We thank God for sending to us a great man to fill us up with what is the only importance … faith, love, and charity. I love you. God bless you, and thank you for being a part of, and changing, my life.

  HE IS WELL PLEASED

  Dr. Graham, I want to write you a quick note to say thank you. I was saved at nineteen at a camp meeting in Ohio. Shortly thereafter, you came to Cooper Stadium in Columbus and held a meeting. I was raised in a church that basically taught salvation through works and not the precious blood of our Savior. I want to say thank you for your unwillingness to yield to the pressures of this world to ever be less than God intended you to be.