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H. Richard Hall, April 6, 1920 - January 14, 2002 |
by Nora Stanley
My mother, an alcoholic, would go to a certain small grocery store where she and her cronies would sit on beer cases, drink beer and talk. The store-owner's wife, Evelyn, who was a Christian, would "preach" to them. Most of them made fun of her and laughed at her, making her life as miserable as possible, but Mother felt sorry for her. Her husband, Laney, the store-owner, was a cruel, selfish man who often beat her and refused to let her go anywhere - she had to buy her clothes from catalogs because she could not even go shopping; but occasionally he would allow her to go to hear Bro. Hall when he was holding a revival there in Greenwood, Mississippi.
When Bro. Hall was in Greenwood, he always went by to visit Evelyn and pray with her. One day as my mother sat there on the beer cases, Bro. Hall walked into the store. Mother said that she had a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other hand; and when he looked at her with those dark eyes and solemn expression, she wanted the floor to open and let her fall through. Much later, Bro. Hall said that when he walked in and saw her sitting there, he silently prayed that God would let him win her soul.
Some time after that, Bro. Hall again held a meeting in Greenwood and Evelyn invited Mother to attend. Mother agreed to go, but the night of the meeting, Laney would not allow Evelyn to go. Mother did not want to go alone, but she had heard so much about Bro. Hall and his preaching that she didn't want to miss; so she asked a teen-aged Christian girl who lived next door to the store to go with her. That night she gave her heart to Jesus, and she never drank an alcoholic drink again. Six months later she received the Holy Ghost and was delivered from cigarettes. That was in 1952 and she never smoked or drank again. She died in 1998.
Because of
Bro. Hall's little prayer, my mother was saved and because of that, my
grandmother, my father and I were also saved, then my children and now
my grandchildren - four generations of Christians because one man prayed
and was faithful in what God sent him to do.
God grant us more Bro. Halls!
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