LOUISE BRADDY GRAY

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem
and in all Judea
and In Samaria,
and to the end of the earth.

I Have Been Blessed To Know
Beautiful People

Louise served Jesus faithfully as a wife, a mother, a SS teacher, a Sunbeam leader, a personal witness to the saving power of her Savior in everything she did.

 I have been richly blessed
to know godly, and so
beautiful people
who walk quietly
among us, yet in their
joy in sharing the Gospel
inspire us who notice
just how faithfully
they tell others
constantly
about Jesus who

Louise enjoyed witnessing for Jesus throughout her very beautiful life.

who longs to become
their Lord and their Savior
as He redeems them
by the power
of His blood
and by His death on the Cross
and through His
glorious resurrection power.

It has always fascinated me in this life how we talk so much about those who so proudly speak about themselves and their accomplishments.  Yet, we talk so little about what they do,  but rather point to Jesus who is their Savior.  How odd! It seems like we have our priorities upside-down. Still, I have known beautiful people who lived out their lives wonderfully caught up in doing everything they could and in speaking every word of praise for Jesus whenever they did something noteworthy. For them witnessing to Jesus and His power to save seemed as natural as breathing every breath they took. For them it was truly ALL ABOUT JESUS.

Louise Gray lived a marvelous life, pretty much unknown to the greater world (much to their pity). She was born on December 23, 1921 to Lonnie and Jessie Braddy. Her father served as a Baptist Pastor, as had his own father. Louise finished school at Gadsden High in 1938. As a seventeen year-old she went to work as a

Billy and Louise married in New Orleans as he was returning from World War II.

telephone operator. She met Billy Gray, her husband-to-be during this time. He had grown up on a farm in Whorton’s Bend outside Gadsden. Billy served in World War II, and they married in New Orleans after he returned from overseas. They attended North Gadsden Baptist Church where her father served as the Pastor. They had two children, Rodney and Sherry.

When they moved to Glencoe, they joined the First Baptist Church. Louise soon got involved as a children’s Sunday School teacher and also as a Sunbeam leader. During these years, as she raised her children, Louise became one of those beautiful people, who so love the Lord Jesus, they find great joy in telling everyone around them the Good News about how He came to save everyone of us. Louise never hesitated to share her witness about His love and His power to transform lives. At the time I really got to know her, as I prepared to go to Nigeria as a missionary, she seemed busy every day going out and witnessing and distributing Gospel tracts to businesses in Glencoe and in Gadsden. Sometimes I caught myself thinking she would make a wonderful missionary; but then, the Holy Spirit would correct me—Louise Gray already was a very effective missionary.

I know how deeply she loved teaching children the Bible in Sunday School,

making the Word of God come alive with her enthusiasm and her contagious delight in the stories of Jesus, His teaching, His healing, His miracles, His deathand His resurrection, and His promise to come again. I also know how she made missionaries and their stories of sharing the Gospel all over the world, come alive for her Sunbeam groups. And I certainly know how fervently and persistently  she took her witness for Jesus into the world around her—and I wonder just how many folks in Heaven found their way as Jesus led them to Himself through Louise’s words and actions.

Louis delighted children at First Baptist Glencoe in Sunday School and in Sunbeams as she creatively shared how deeply Jesus loved them.

During the summers Louise became a member of a team of mostly women and youth who staged Backyard Bible Clubs, which went into neighborhoods and trailer parks and set up for games, crafts, songs, Bible Stories—all to introduce children in the area to Jesus and His Love for them. Louise also worked hard and long to collect used Vacation Bible School and Sunday School books, posters and pictures. Not only did she collect these items which were desperately needed in countries around the world, where they were almost impossible to find; but she sorted, packed and addressed them. Then she saw that they got to those who mailed them internationally so that local pastors and missionaries there could use them as tools to enrich their witness. Louise was one busy woman, for she never, ever neglected her own family or church while she did all these things joyfully to share her faithful witness for our Lord.

Billy, Louise and their children, Rodney and Sherry always kept Jesus at the heart of their family life.

You know, it occurs to me—too many times less enthusiastic witnesses in our churches think of people like Louise as a bit eccentric. Many might have thought of Louise as having a one-track mind. I say, “Praise the Lord for her life focused so beautifully on obeying our Lord’s command; ‘Be my witnesses!’” No, Louise was not eccentric. Rather, she was exceptional—yes, exceptional in each part of her lovely life which was in every way, ALL ABOUT JESUS.

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