Ruth
Bell Graham
Best known as wife of evangelist Billy Graham and
much-loved author. She's been his closest adviser
and confidant. She's an incredible woman of her
own. The daughter of medical ministries, Southern
Presbyterian missionary and surgeon, L. Nelson
Bell. The Bells had been stationed in China since
1916. Ruth McCue Bell was born in China in 1920.
And it was a very happy childhood, although,
outside the walls were bandits and warlords and
overhead were Japanese bombers flying.
While China and Japan were at war. Ruth dreamed
of becoming a missionary in Tibet. At the young
age of 13 she dreamed of her future mate.
"And let his face have character, a
ruggedness of soul. And let his whole life show,
dear God, a singleness of goal."
But her parents said she was going to college.
So, dressed in hand-me-downs and saddle shoes,
Ruth headed to Wheaton College in Illinois. That
is where she met and later married that man of
her girlhood dreams, a young man she would help
become the most famous evangelist of the 20th
century, Billy Graham.
Ruth Graham is an experienced conference speaker
and Bible teacher known for her honesty and
authenticity as she shares her sometimes-painful
journey of faith. She is the author of "In
Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart", 'Legacy of
Love', "Clouds are the Dust of His
Feet" and many other books.
"I lay my whys before your cross in worship
kneeling, my mind too numb for thought, my heart
beyond all feeling: And worshipping, realize that
I in knowing you don't need a why." By Ruth
Bell Graham
In an interview Ruth's daughter Ann said of her
parents, "And she's an incredible woman. You
wouldn't have Billy Graham without Ruth Graham.
And I know that. He knows that, too."
Abigail Smith Adams
Abigail Smith Adams was born November 11, 1744,
in Weymouth, Massachusetts, to the Reverend
William and Elizabeth (Quincy) Smith. She had no
formal schooling, but her education included
reading works by Shakespeare, John Milton, and
Alexander Pope.
On October 25, 1764, she married John Adams, then
a young lawyer in Braintree. The couple had five
children, four of whom lived to adulthood,
including future president John Quincy Adams.
John Adams's absences from home often left
Abigail with the children to raise, a farm to
manage, the household and tenants to supervise,
and extended family and friends to care for-all
while the Revolution in Boston unfolded on her
doorstep.
The letters she exchanged with John and other
family members give an extraordinary view of
civilian life during the Revolution. She also
took an active interest in the political events
of her day; among her convictions: women should
have the right to vote and slavery was wrong. She
also believed in education for women that would
be the equal of what was provided for men.
In this short letter to her son John Quincy who
was sailing to France at a young age with his
father.
She counseled:
"You are in possession of a natural good
understanding and of spirits unbroken by
adversity, and untamed with care. Improve your
understanding for acquiring useful knowledge and
virtue, such as will render you an ornament to
society, an honor to your country, and a blessing
to your parents...and remember you are
accountable to your Maker for all your words and
actions."
Abigail Adams died October 28, 1818, at home in
Quincy.
'For there our captors asked us for songs, our
tormentors demanded songs of joy: they said,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion."'
Psalm 137:3
Catarinen or Catherine Blanchan DuBois
Born: Oct. 17, 1627 in France
Died: Oct. 18 1713 in Esopus, Kingston, Ulster
County, New York
Catherine married Louis DuBois on Oct. 10, 1655
in French Protestent Church, Mannheim, Germany.
In 1660 Catherine and Louis immigrated to America
from Germany.
Catherine DuBois is known for "Singing Her
Faith" One day in 1663 a band of Minnisink
Indians swept down from the Catskill Mountains
and captured Catharine and her daughter, along
with several other women and children.
After 10 weeks, the Indians, thinking they had
avoided reprisal, decided to celebrate their
success by putting Catharine and her baby
daughter Sara to death by fire. They placed the
captives on a pile of logs and lit the torch to
ignite them.
Instead of screaming at her tormentors and
cursing them, or God, for her plight, Catherine
DuBois burst into song! It was a Huguenot (see
note on back page) hymn she had learned in
France, and it was based on Psalm 137:3. The
Indians were so taken by her bravery and by the
song itself that they demanded another, then
another. And while Catherine was still singing,
her husband and a search party burst upon the
scene and rescued her.
Don't think this story is farfetched when applied
to your household just because the little
"fires" you face aren't usually life
threatening. There are many situations when a
little singing or a little humor, can extinguish
the flames of a dispute or a bit of tension in
the home and work place. In fact, parents who are
habitually humming or singing at home or their
places of work are surprisingly empowered to
defuse crises and problems.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our
Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us
eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage
your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed
and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NIV)
Catherine Marshall
Catherine Marshall, born in Tennessee in 1914 to
a Presbyterian minister, was a shy child who hid
from visitors. Yet as an adult she shared on such
a personal level that she was able to give
comfort, strength and encouragement to millions
of readers of her inspirational books.
Planning to teach and write Catherine studied at
Agnes Scott College in Georgia. But while there
she met the popular young bachelor pastor of
Westminster Church, Peter Marshall. After some
ups and downs in their courtship, they married in
November 1936, soon after her graduation. It must
have been difficult to move immediately to his
new parish in Washington, DC, one of the nation's
largest and most famous churches. But her deep
commitment to the Lord since childhood carried
her through. Three years later they had a son,
Peter John, and Peter Marshall's ministry was so
successful he later became Chaplain of the US
Senate.
Then in March 1943 Catherine contracted TB and
spent the next 2 years in bed fighting to regain
her health and struggling with a crisis of faith.
She learned the power of a "prayer of
relinquishment," and had a deep experience
of the presence of Christ, followed by a major
step toward eventual healing.
In March 1946 Peter had a heart attack, and in
January 1949 a second attack took his life. Once
more Catherine faced a crisis. The Lord enabled
her to carry on, and she began to use her writing
ability, first for a collection of her husband's
sermons and prayers--Mr. Jones, Meet the Master,
in 1949. A Man Called Peter, the story of his
life, was published in 1951. Catherine went on to
publish a total of more than 25 inspiring works,
including the novel Christy (1967), based on her
mother's life. She remarried in 1959 and died in
1983 of lung problems due to her earlier TB.
Catherine left a rich legacy of Christian
classics which should never be
forgotten.
Here is a brief quote from Catherine: "If
your every human plan and calculation has
miscarried, if, one by one, human props have been
knocked out, and doors have shut in your face,
take heart. God is trying to get a message
through to you, and the message is' Stop
depending on inadequate human resources. Let me
handle the matter.'"
Submitted by: Carol Morrisey
Frances Jane Crosby
Born: March 24, 1820, New York.
Died: February 12, 1915, Connecticut.
Fanny Crosby was probably the most prolific
hymnist in history. Though blinded by an
incompetent doctor at six weeks of age, she wrote
over 8,000 hymns. About her blindness, she said:
"It seemed intended by the blessed
providence of God that I should be blind all my
life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If
perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I
would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns
to the praise of God if I had been distracted by
the beautiful and interesting things about
me."
In her lifetime, Fanny Crosby was one of the best
known women in the United States. To this day,
the vast majority of American hymnals contain her
work.
When she died, her tombstone carried the words,
"Aunt Fanny" and "Blessed
assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of
glory divine". Eliza Hewitt memorialized
Fanny's passing in a poem:
Away to the country of sunshine and song,
Our songbird has taken her flight,
And she who has sung in the darkness so long
Now sings in the beautiful light.
Some of "Aunt Fanny's" hymns are: All
Glory Be Thine, As the Bird Flies Home, Be Thou
Exalted, Bless This Hour of Prayer, Blessed
Assurance, Blessed Redeemer, Close to Thee, and
Come to the Fountain
"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the
power and the glory and the majesty and the
splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is
Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; You are
exalted as head over all."
--I Chronicles 29:9-11
"The propitious smiles of Heaven can never
be expected
on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of
order and right
which Heaven itself has ordained."
President George Washington, First Inaugural
Address, April 30, 1789.
Mary Ball Washington
Born: Virginia in 1708
Died: Virginia August 25, 1789
George Washington, the first President of the
United States, was known for his strong will,
stubborn patience, and determination to overcome
obstacles which enabled him to lead the armies of
the new nation to victory in the American
Revolution. Credit for his strength of character
is often attributed to his mother, Mary Ball
Washington.
Mary was a self-assured woman with great
leadership potential. Though she is known to have
been stern with a high level of expectation, she
was also very kind and gentle. Mary conducted
herself throughout her life with virtue and
discretion worthy of the mother of the greatest
hero in American History.
The daughter of Joseph Ball and Mary Montague
Johnson Ball, Mary Ball grew up learning those
lessons every lady should know--sewing, knitting,
and cooking. Her mother also instilled in her a
strong faith in God.
In 1730 Mary married Augustine Washington. The
Washington family lived at Pope's Creek
Plantation, later called Wakefield. In 1736 the
family moved to Hunting Creek, which was later
renamed Mt. Vernon.
Since their plantation was isolated and Augustine
was often gone on business, Mary carried the
responsibility for overseeing the plantation and
caring for her family. This made Mary the
spiritual mentor of her children. She taught them
Bible stories and it was from the Bible that she
taught them to read and write. She also read to
them from the few other good books she had, and
she taught them Christian behavior, encouraging
their good character through training and
example.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Her sister wrote, "If I could use my pen as
you can, I would write something that would make
this whole nation feel what an accursed thing
slavery is". Harriet vowed to write
something. The result was Uncle Tom's Cabin. An
international bestseller, it was adored by
abolitionists but vilified by the South. It so
inflamed popular opinion that when she met
Abraham Lincoln during the War between the States
he said, "So this is the little lady who
made this big war!"
Harriet was born in Litchfield Connecticut on
June 14, 1811, the sixth child of Lyman Beecher,
an ardent Calvinist and Puritan. "Wisht it
had been a boy," remarked Lyman. Although he
doted on his daughters, he desired sons who could
become preachers and soul-winners.
Harriet grew up struggling with issues of faith.
But when she was fourteen, she cried to her
father that she had given herself to Christ.
Later in her marriage to Calvin Stowe, she would
plead with him to seek Christ with the same
burning devotion with which he sought knowledge.
Although Harriet wrote many other books and
stories, Uncle Tom's Cabin is the best. Blacks
are shown as fully human, and more importantly,
as in the image of Christ. Many of the
characters, such as Uncle Tom, Simon Legree, Eva
and Topsy are vivid and memorable. Eliza,
crossing the Ohio river by leaping from chunk to
chunk of ice, is an unforgettable picture and
based on the true account of a desperate
fugitive.
Harriet once said, "I wrote what I did
because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed
& broken-hearted, with the sorrows &
injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt
the dishonor to Christianity--because as a lover
of my country I trembled at the coming day of
wrath."
"I always tole God," "I'm gwine
[going] to hole stiddy on you,
an' you've got to see me through.' " Harriet
Tubman
Araminta Ross Or Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most well-known of
all the Underground Railroad's
"conductors". She was raised in slavery
in eastern Maryland but escaped in 1849. When she
first reached the North, she said later, "I
looked at my hands to see if I was de same person
now I was free. Dere was such a glory ober
eberything, de sun came like gold through de
trees and ober de fields, and I felt like I was
in heaven."
Tubman was not satisfied with her own freedom,
however. She made 19 return trips to the South
and helped deliver at least 300 fellow slaves,
boasting "I never lost a passenger."
Her guidance of so many to freedom earned her the
nickname "Moses."
Tubman's friends and fellow abolitionists claimed
that the source of her strength came from her
faith in God as deliverer and protector of the
weak. One of the songs Tubman often used to send
the word that it was time to go was "Steal
Away, Steal Away to Jesus.
Though infuriated slaveholders posted a $40,000
reward for her capture, she was never
apprehended. "I can't die but once"
became her motto, and with that philosophy she
went about her mission of deliverance.
When asked about the source of her fearless
strength, she would always say: "It wasn't
me, it was the Lord. I always told him, I trust
you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but
I expect you to lead me.¹ And he always
did." Harriet Tubman, the Black Moses, was
never captured, and there are countless stories
like these, and new stories are being told daily.
They are the stories of Christian people who
learn to lead because they keep rediscovering
what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Harriet Tubman lived into her nineties and died
peacefully on March 10, 1913.
A little local history - Jackson (my home town)
was "on the line", part of the
underground railroad.
"But the angel said to them, "Do not be
afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that
will be for all the people. Today in the town of
David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ
the Lord."
Luke 2:10-11
POCAHONTAS
This week's American Woman was not known for her
"Christianity" but her name is one
known by most through history lessons and movies.
Her birth name was MATOAKA. She was born about
1594, in the village of Werowocomoco, located on
the north shore of the Pamunkey River (now called
the York River), some eleven miles downstream
from the present city of West Point, VA. Her
Christian name was Rebecca Rolfe.
If you still haven't figured out who this lady
was you will recognize her better by her tribal
nickname given her by her father Powhatan, chief
over some forty Algonkian villages, POCAHONTAS
meaning "Playful little Girl".
In 1612 Pocahontas was captured and held ransom
in exchange for eight English held by her father
Powhatan. During the next year, she was in the
care of Alexander Whitaker, a Calvinist minister,
who began to instruct her in the Christian faith.
She also met John Rolfe. John fell in love with
Pocahontas and obtained permission from the
Governor to marry her. The Reverend Richard Buck
married her to John Rolfe in the Anglican Church
in Jamestown on April 5, 1614. She was first
baptized Rebecca. The couple left for England
with the Governor, a dozen Indians, and their
infant son Thomas in April 1616.
While in England, Pocahontas and her group of
Indians were the subject of much curiosity. She
was presented at the court of King James as
"the first Christian ever of the Virginian
nation".
In March 1617, the Rolfes prepared to return home
to America. At this stage Pocahontas' health was
deteriorating, suffering from tuberculosis, to
which the Indians appeared rather prone.
Pocahontas was brought ashore at Gravesend,
either dead or dying. It is thought she was
buried in the vault beneath the chancel of the
local parish church - St. George's. Her son,
Thomas Rolfe returned to Virginia where he was
raised and has has numerous descendants.
|
|
