“I had goosebumps on my arms as Franklin began to speak to the crowd… Before he was halfway through his message, I knew I would be giving my life to Christ that night. It was a feeling unlike anything I had ever experienced before or since. I knew that evening my life was changed forever.” – Betty Beaton
Most of 1995 was a dark, hopeless time filled with numerical marital and medical troubles for 37-year-old Betty Beaton.
Betty’s relationship with her husband Alex, then 43, was souring. Their troubles reach the point that they discussed separating, but they never took that step, in part because they wanted to focus on helping one of their children, who is having difficulty in post secondary School studies.
Betty had also developed a painful case of carpal tunnel syndrome. It was so debilitating that she had to go on five months of medical leave from her job as a paralegal in Saskatoon.
Subscribe to Decision
Get your own subscription, or renewal, or bless someone by giving Decision Magazine as a gift.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
“We were kind of we were at kind of an impasse and there was a lot of arguing,” recalled Alex, now 67. “Every marriage goes through that, but it was excessive with us. We were perhaps staying together more for the children than for us.”
Part of the impasse was faith related. They attended church occasionally, Alex had even committed his life to Christ in 1992, but he hadn’t told Betty, in part because of her negative experiences with religion and her challenging workplace.
“I worked mostly with agnostics and atheists, close quotation” said Betty, now 61. “In that environment, it’s really difficult to stand firm on a faith base.” Out of the blue, Betty received an invitation from Geri, one of her few Christian colleagues, inviting her and Alex to go with Geri and her husband to a Franklin Graham Crusade in Saskatoon in October 1995.
I said, ‘No thanks, I’m not a real fan,’ and I wasn’t that interested in going anywhere with Alex,” she remembered.
“But after Geri’s call, I had this nagging thought that I should do this for Alex. He had been raised listening to Billy Graham’s messages. His grandfather and aunt were avid followers of Mr. Graham.”
Somebody told Alex about the invitation–and he instantly agreed to go. It turned out Geri and her husband couldn’t attend the Crusade, but they offered to set up Betty and Alex with their friends Dick and Donna.
“I nearly said no but simply couldn’t bring myself to decline,” Betty said.
So, they went. And God transformed everything in her life.
“I had goosebumps on my arms as Franklin began to speak to the crowd,” Betty said. “Before he was halfway through his message, I knew I would be giving my life to Christ that night. It was a feeling unlike anything I had ever experienced before or since. I knew that evening that my life was forever changed.”
Betty said yes to Franklin’s invitation to trust in the Lord’s promise to “forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). She went forward arm in arm with Alex, Dick, and Donna to the front of the stage to pray with a volunteer counsellor.
To be honest, I didn’t think a miracle like that would happen that night,” Alex said. “So I was just flabbergasted.”
Betty and Alex attended the next night of the Crusade – when Billy Graham himself spoke – taking their daughter with them and watching in joy as she, too, committed her life and her future to “the Son of Man [who] came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10).
“I honestly don’t know how I would’ve been able to live through those traumas without the faith in Jesus Christ,”
“Going back the next night confirm for me the right this of my decision,” Betty said.
Betty and Alex have faced many difficult chances challenges since then, including:
• The unexpected death of Betty’s diabetic mother, Mary, in late 2002.
• The death of Betty’s older sister, Judy, from ovarian cancer less than two years later.
• Three years of estrangement from one of Betty’s other siblings.
“I honestly don’t know how I would’ve been able to live through those traumas without the faith in Jesus Christ,” Betty said. “I’ve seen people go through ordeals and come out with a lot of bitterness, anger, and resentment. I don’t have that. I’ve had times of asking ‘God, where are you?’ But it never lasts.”
Even in the midst of their pain filled struggles, God provided Betty and Alex with moments of peace, mostly because her mother Mary and sister Judy were Christians.
“I was able to talk with Judy extensively about the new home she would have in heaven, and I know it gave her and her children a sense of peace,” Betty said. Meanwhile the years of separation from her sibling bracket who has become a strong Christ follower bracket ended long ago.
“No matter the challenges life has thrown my way, I’ve known since that night – October 28, 1995 – that God loves me.” – Betty Beaton
Alex is grateful to God for how he used the Franklin Graham crusade to save their marriage.
“It was pretty much a 180-degree change,” he said. “It was incredible, and I was surprised it happened that quickly. (After the Crusade), there was much greater understanding and patience with me on Betty’s part and also with the children. It was like she took on a different personality.”
“All the praise and glory go to God,” Betty said.
>> Read more from Decision Magazine
Give To Where Most Needed
