Well here I am, starting a new blog and a new chapter in my life. I am excited to invite you along to see glimpses of my hectic world as I try to balance marriage, the NFL, my family, and my new job as a producer for Samaritan’s Purse (SP) and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). In doing so, I want the world, and you the reader, to see that my life is different. It is not different because I was born with the name “Graham,” and it’s not different because my husband is NFL player, Corey Lynch. It’s different because I want to set myself apart from the world. I am a Christ-follower.
If you had asked me a couple of years ago if I thought I would work with my dad full -time, I probably would have said, “NO!” Working for your dad can have its perks, but it can also have its lows. I think I have worked in almost EVERY department at Samaritan’s Purse, including the mailroom and scanning papers all summer in the Finance Department. (That’s a long summer for a Communications girl like myself.)
My passion for the work of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has definitely grown over the years. When I was young, SP and BGEA were part of my daily life; I didn’t know anything different. As a teenager (of course) I wanted nothing to do with ministry or helping my dad. I thought I had my whole life planned out. Don’t we all at that age? I know my family just laughed at me.
Then, after my first year in college, I went on a trip around the world with my dad. In two weeks, we visited different projects and offices of Samaritan’s Purse. We went to Africa, Jordan, India, and Thailand. It was during that trip that I saw the way God worked through people who had decided to completely surrender their lives to serving Christ. I met doctors who had spent their entire careers serving the people of Angola. I saw a tuberculosis hospital in Jordan run by Aileen Colman, who has spent over 50 yrs serving the Bedouin people. I saw men receive fishing boats after the tsunami. And then I met two ladies in Thailand who left the comforts of home to run orphanages in Thailand. It was so much to see in just 14 days. But how could I return to the comforts of my own home and ignore what I saw or not be changed? These people had sacrificed it all in the Name of JESUS – a Name the world HATES.
But He commands us to go anyway. I decided to take a semester off and work in a babies home in northern Thailand. During those months my life was changed. It was a time I truly had to rely only on the Lord. Just me and Him. I can’t pinpoint a specific moment that changed my life, but during those months the Lord cured me of an eating disorder, which had haunted me for years, and he taught me the joy of living for His Glory every step of the day.
Since then, there is nowhere else I would want to work. I could go on and tell you why I love working at SP and BGEA, but I think if you continue to follow me on this life’s journey, you will see for yourself. My goal is to tell stories of people I meet along the way, show photos from around the world, and share my heart as I work in the Name of that Controversial Man… the Name I am not afraid to say, JESUS.