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    The Beautiful Life Of Ruth Bell Graham: Happy With The Common Things

    9.5KViews Modified: Jul 18, 2021 · Published: Feb 4, 2014
    By Jacqueline 6 Comments

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    Happy With The Common Things, ironing board, 50s

    “Happy Christians, Ruth once said, were a part of her heritage. Her parents, Dr. Nelson and Virginia Bell, were medical missionaries at Love and Mercy Hospital in Tsingkiangpu, China, in the difficult years from 1916 until World War II began.  A 1911 revolution had overthrown a regime that had held power since 1644. Foreign countries had exploited the nation in the 1800s, and, as a result, the Chinese people resented all foreigners, calling them “foreign devils.” 

    Prayers for Newlyweds
    Download your PDF: Prayers for Newlyweds!

     

    “The Bells demonstrated to their children a great love for Jesus Christ and a dedication to the medical and evangelistic work of the hospital. Dr. Bell was surgical chief and administrative superintendent at the hospital, but Bell made the healing of souls a priority in his work, gently explaining the Gospel to his patients. This atmosphere of love for Jesus, for family and for the Chinese people, helped shape the woman that Ruth Bell Graham would become.” (source)

     

    She was homeschooled until 13 but the norm of the day was to send  missionary children away to school and her parents sent her to Pyeng Yang Foreign School in what is now Pyongyang, North Korea. Homesickness and illness was her bootcamp, she said, and taught her to find solace in the Lord’s presence during what would be a lifetime of separations from loved ones.

    “In 1937, Shanghai, the capital of China, fell to the Japanese. The missionaries were urged to go north to Haichow, where a United States Navy destroyer would take them to the port city of Tsingtao. Reluctantly, they made the difficult journey by canal and train. Dr. Bell arranged passage for Ruth on a United States troopship that was evacuating military families. On Oct. 22, Ruth said goodbye to her family and left China. It would be decades before Ruth returned to the land of her birth.” (Source)

    In the summer of 1941, Ruth McCue Bell, a 21-year-old college graduate with a razor-sharp mind, made a decision that today might seem, as they say in her adopted state of North Carolina, somewhat peculiar.

    She planned to become a missionary and return to China. Then her good-looking preacher boyfriend asked her to marry him. “Woman was created to be a wife and mother,” he told her.

    “Not I”, she responded. But several agonizing weeks later Ruth said yes, and she spent the rest of her life as a Ruth Bell Graham, preacher’s wife, sculpting and polishing the raw talent of the Rev. Billy Graham.

     

    Her life was filled with common things, but she was no ordinary woman. Rather, she was extraordinary in that she trusted God explicitly. Most people don’t realize what a difficult life Ruth Bell Graham had. Because Billy traveled all the time, she was essentially a “single mom” in many ways.

    This video can tell Ruth Bell Graham’s story far better than I ever could!

    For an absolutely memorable read on Ruth Bell Graham, go to her Memorial web page. 

    Ruth Graham and children

    (source)

     

    The Common Things

    Lord, let mine be a common place
    while here.
    His was a common one;
    He seems so near
    when I am working
    at some ordinary task.
    Lord, let mine be
    a common one, I ask.
    Give me things to do
    that others shun,
    I am not so gifted or so poised,
    Lord, as some.
    I am best fitted
    for the common things,
    and I am happy so.
    It always brings
    a sense of fellowship
    with Him who learned
    to do the lowly things
    that others spurned:
    to wear simple clothes,
    the common dress,
    to gather in His arms
    and gently bless
    (and He was busy, too)
    a little child,
    to lay His hand upon
    the one defiled,
    to walk with sinners
    down some narrow street,
    to kneel Himself
    and wash men’s dusty feet.
    To ride a common foal,
    to work with wood,
    to dwell with common folk,
    eat common food;
    and then upon the city dump
    to die for me

    Lord, common things
    are all I ask
    of Thee.

    From Ruth Bell Graham’s Collected Poems

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    The Beautiful Life Of Ruth Bell Graham: Happy With The Common Things. poetry

    Books by Ruth and a biography about her years as a child with her parents in China:

    • A Foreign Devil in China: The Story of Dr. L. Nelson Bell (Ruth’s father) by John Charles Pollock (*highly recommended)
    • One Wintry Night (Wonderful for children nearing Christmas!)
    • Prayers from a Mother’s Heart
     
    • Footprints of a Pilgrim: The Life and Loves of Ruth Bell Graham 
    • Letters from Ruth’s Attic: 31 Daily Insights for Knowing God’s Love
    • Prodigals and Those Who Love Them: Words of Encouragement for Those Who Wait

    books

    Quotes by Ruth Graham Bell: 

    “Worship and worry cannot live in the same heart: they are mutually exclusive.”

    “God has not always answered my prayers. If He had, I would have married the wrong man — several times!”

    “A successful marriage is made up of two good forgivers.”

    “If our children have the background of a godly, happy home and this unshakable faith that the Bible is indeed the Word of God, they will have a foundation that the forces of hell cannot shake.”

    “Temptation and testing (or a trial) are two sides of the same coin. Satan uses an occasion or a person to tempt us to fall; God uses the same to try us and make us stronger.” 

    The Beautiful Life Of Ruth Bell Graham: Happy With The Common Things. Ruth reading to her children

    (source)

    “It takes more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God.” ~Ruth Graham
     
    “It is a foolish woman who expects her husband to be to her that which only Jesus Christ Himself can be: always ready to forgive, totally understanding, unendingly patient, invariably tender and loving, unfailing in every area, anticipating every need, and making more than adequate provision. Such expectations put a man under an impossible strain.” ~Ruth Graham
    The Beautiful Life Of Ruth Bell Graham: Happy With The Common Things. ironing
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    Hi! I’m Jacqueline!

    Thanks for being part of this journey with me.
    Welcome to my own little place on the internet! Home is where I love to be. I feel there is no greater place to incubate souls. These days you’ll find me using my experiences here to write about herbal remedies and natural health research — a big passion of mine. But being a wife and mother is not easy. It is challenging and potentially lonely. I get that. I wanted to create a place to connect with and support other moms for creating a natural, healthy, and fulfilling home life.
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jeannette

      July 10, 2020 at 8:15 am

      What remarkable insights and encouragement!

      Reply
      • Jacqueline

        July 10, 2020 at 10:52 am

        Jeannette,
        I wonder if this culture today would insist she was terribly wrong to support her husband, and cancel out the good that Billy Graham did for hundreds of thousands because she let him lead! God will always use a submitted heart!

        Reply
    2. Lauren

      September 12, 2020 at 9:53 am

      Thank you for posting this! I’m going through a testing period right now and am uplifted reading about Ruth. I will definitely be getting her book to learn more about her!

      Reply
      • Jacqueline

        September 12, 2020 at 11:47 am

        Lauren, I am praying as I read your words, dear one. May the Lord uplift and encourage you and give you peace in this journey! He is with you now and always. I also recommend
        ‘A Lineage of Grace: Biblical Stories of 5 Women in the Lineage of Jesus – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, & Mary’ by Francine Rivers. It helped me realize the grace and mercy of God is with us in all ages through time!
        Hugs, Jacque

        Reply
    3. Geri

      March 07, 2022 at 9:33 pm

      “Prodigals & Those Who Love Them” – whew! That and the book of Psalm got me through difficulties with a teenage daughter. A book that helped me keep my sanity.

      Reply
      • Jacqueline

        March 07, 2022 at 10:43 pm

        Geri, I have had others tell me how much it helped them, too! I need to get it, too! ~J

        Reply

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