A model to follow...

Ruth Bell Graham (wife of Billy) passed away recently, and her funeral was held yesterday. She left behind a great testimony of a life lived for Jesus. One of the things that really hit me was the testimony of her children. One of her daughters summed things up this way:

Anne Graham Lotz, second daughter
“I would go down to my mother’s room early in the morning. Her light would be on, and I would find her at her big, flat-top desk. She would be reading and studying her Bible, with about 14 different translations spread out around her.

“When I would go down to her room late at night, I would see the light on underneath the door and I’d go in, and she would be on her knees in prayer.

“As I look back on my childhood, I cannot remember any impression whatsoever that my mother was ever lonely. She may have been lonely, but I never saw it.

“I believe that our heavenly Father, our Savior, saved my mother from loneliness because of her daily walk with the Lord Jesus, He was the love of her life. I saw that in her life. It was her love for the Lord Jesus, with whom she walks every day, that made me want to love Him and walk with Him like that.”

- Quote courtesy of Christianity Today

What a great witness to her children.

As I read through all the tributes on the CT website, there were interesting things that came out about her marriage to her husband, and I don't know whether that's a model that I would want to emulate. Phrases like "for all practical purposes, as a single parent". On the one hand, she was praised for her role as the "rock" to her husband, and the love the couple shared is beyond question. But her children make it clear that there were long periods when they were without a father, as he went away on his many crusades around the world.

I don't know. I'm still thinking through this. God used BG greatly to bring many people to know Christ (including my grandparents). His work was incredibly valuable, and there's no doubting the importance of evangelism. Maybe that was rightly priority number one. Maybe I'm just looking through the worldly eyes of a mother and wife who'd find it difficult being away from her other half for so long. I guess God gave her the gifts she'd need for the task she had, and from the sounds of it her children benefitted by her ministry, too.