Ruth Bell Graham was born on June 10, 1920, in Qingjiang, Kiangsu, China, to medical missionary parents, Dr. Nelson and Virginia Bell. At the time, China was embroiled in political upheaval as the nation was descending into Communist rule. Ruth grew up being very familiar with the sound of gunfire as she fell asleep, yet her family did not live in fear. They focused on the mission they were there to do.

Illness in the Bell household was also an accepted norm. Each month, at least one member of the family was sick with a cold, the flu, or a virus. Additionally, Ruth’s mother was plagued with migraines, worsened by stress, and spent many days resting in her darkened bedroom. Likewise, death was common among the missionary families and was accepted as God’s will.

Even with the hardships, Ruth loved her home. When she had to leave it to go to boarding school in what is now North Korea, she cried and begged God to let her die rather than leave. But, God had a better plan for young Ruth, and she left her childhood home to get her high school education.

Following her graduation from high school, Ruth returned briefly to China. Her parents wanted her to attend college in America. Leaving China this time, however, would prove to be more difficult. By this point, the political situation had become more than dangerous. At one point in the journey to Tsingtao, where Ruth was to catch a boat to America, the train they were on was nearly bombed by the Japanese. The train stopped on the tracks, and many of the passengers hid in the nearby fields; however, Ruth and her parents remained on the train, praying for God’s protection. As the planes approached, heavy clouds descended over the track, obscuring the train from view and saving it from the deadly onslaught it might otherwise have had.

In October 1937, Ruth boarded a ship in Tsingtao and watched the land of her birth fade in the distance as she crossed the Yellow Sea and on to her future. Little did she know, it would be nearly 40 years before she would return to this land she loved.

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