He Came for Me
By Tammy Hopson
Mitchell County
Seated high up in the stadium sat a six-year-old girl in a yellow sundress. She stirred, somewhat impatiently, waiting to hear the man that had come to speak to her and the other 73,999 people inside the great arena that evening in May. The little girl’s mother sat close by and had heard that the great crusade was coming to Seattle and both were excited to attend. The little girl understood that the man was coming to speak about God and His great love for the whole world.
A large stage sat far below in the middle of the ground floor. The girl and her mother faced the stage from several floors up. The program began with opening prayers and music but before long the announcer introduced the Reverend Billy Graham. The Reverend took center stage and began to speak about the love of God, the forgiveness of sin, and the necessity to be “Born Again”. The little girl sat wide-eyed and captivated amongst the large crowd. When the preacher was finished, he invited all who were willing to come down to the stage to pray the prayer of salvation.
The little girl fidgeted in her seat, “Do you want to go down?” asked her mother. Loudly the evangelist called out again “Come down and we will pray with you.” “God loves you!” The little girl felt her legs begin to move. Soon she found herself slowly stepping down each tall step until she finally reached the ground floor. She walked up to the throng of people. A kind blonde woman who was a staffed counselor with the crusade quickly came and asked the girl if she wanted to pray. The little girl gently nodded.
The carpeted floor felt so rough on her knees as she bent down and lowered her little head. The woman led her in a short prayer. Out of her young mouth flowed a soft confession of belief as she asked Jesus to come into her heart. When she whispered “amen” her heart swelled with happiness and her little legs climbed up the huge steps and back to her smiling mother.
As you might have guessed, that little girl was me. I was saved one evening in 1976 at a Billy Graham Crusade held at the Seattle Kingdome. Because I was so young some would say that I came to God early in life, but in my heart, I know without a doubt that He came for me first. He came for me through my mother’s words who spoke about His love for me. He came to find me the night of this crusade to draw me to Himself through the faithfulness of another. He planned and orchestrated the events long before I knew I was even coming. And I know without a doubt that although 73,999 other people were there that night if none of them had gone forward to become His child, my Father still would have come just for me. That’s how deep His love is. My birthday is this month and I love to celebrate it all month long, but for all of eternity, I will be celebrating being born again on that day in May. Because June is also Father’s Day it is a perfect time to share my salvation story with you! For if this night had not happened to me, I wouldn’t know my Heavenly Father.
He knew the night He was coming for me and He knew I would take those steps and walk to Him when He called. AND since then and in different ways He has come to my daughters, my sons, my granddaughters, and grandsons! I am so grateful that He came for me and them! Through this testimony, and to all the mothers and fathers I want to say, suffer your little children to come, point them to the Father, and believe in your heart that when the time is right all that the Father has, will come and when your children’s little legs begin to fidget and they slowly take those huge steps towards our Father, smile and know that He was there already, He has been calling and He came for them.
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Tammy Hopson has been a Mitchell County resident since 1992 and lives in Red Hill with her family. She is a mother of six children and grandmother of 14. She has been a member of Hoyle Memorial Christian Fellowship in Lawndale, NC since 1992 and helps lead The HMCF Youth Group.
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