For more than 60 years, Reverend Billy Graham was married to Ruth Bell Graham.
He once described her as the best Christian in his family and gave her all the credit for raising their five children.
"I heard him praying and I thought, 'there's a man who knows to whom he is speaking.' I remember getting on my knees that night and just saying, 'Lord, if you will let me spend the rest of my life serving you with him, I will consider it the greatest privilege.' And I didn't know at the time all it would imply. I wouldn't have had the nerve to pray it," Ruth Graham said of her husband before she died.
She remembers a prayer from her days at Wheaton College. That's when she met the man who would go on to be her husband for decades.
In a taped interview with her daughter Anne Graham Lotz in 1997, she discussed her husband's kindness and sense of humor. But she says those two things, while important, were not the strongest factors in their relationship, which required them to spend so much time apart. The greatest help came from a shared belief.
"Faith in the Lord. I mean you have to. We would have never gotten together in the first place. We wouldn't have lasted this long without the Lord."
If Billy Graham's call was to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Ruth felt her call was to take care of everything at home, including their children. Ever so, she did appear at many occasions and she wrote several books sharing her faith. She never did seek the public spotlight, though. Her role was to be the close confidante, maybe the one who kept America's pastor focused.
"Bill and I were having dinner alone one evening with President and Mrs. Johnson at the White House. And the president hadn't decided who to choose for a running mate, and so he asked Daddy. And I kicked Daddy under the table. Instead of taking the hint, he said, 'What did you kick me for?' And the president looked at me expectantly and I said to Daddy, 'Because you're supposed to limit your advice to spiritual and more issues!' Daddy and the president agreed, and as we were going out the door, I went out with Lady Bird, and the president hung back. And the president said, 'Now that she's out of the room, what do you really think?'
They met many fascinating people together, while traveling the world and spreading the gospel and being responsible for five children, 19 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
It's a life that began for Ruth Bell Graham when God answered a prayer, one she eloquently remembered years later in poetry.
But let his head be high, dear Lord, and let his eye be clear, his shoulder straight. Whatever his state, whatever his earthly sphere. And let his face have character, a ruggedness of soul, and let his whole life show, dear God, a singleness of gold that when he comes as he will come, with quiet eyes aglow. I'll understand he's the man I prayed for long ago.
