You both have had medical challenges in recent years with Anne’s breast cancer diagnosis and Rachel-Ruth’s heart attacks.
Lotz: When I looked at my breast cancer — when I was first diagnosed — I felt very strongly that God had given me that as a platform for a broader testimony in ministry. Looking back, that’s exactly what he did. So I thank him for taking me through. I never want to go through chemotherapy again, but he brought me through and has been faithful, and Rachel-Ruth is sitting here. To be honest, it’s a miracle that she’s here because I stood beside her in the hospital. And I knew she was going. I mean, fast. And she was dying in front of my eyes. And God brought her back. And I have my fifth-year checkup, by the way, in September, so I’m hoping I’ll get a clean bill of health.
Wright: I had, a year and a half ago, two heart attacks called spontaneous coronary artery dissections. For four days, I had this chest pain and then went into the hospital and they said, “Oh, you’re having a heart attack.” And I had no idea. I was healthy, exercised. I thought it was acid reflux or something, but it was intense.
I had the first heart attack that Sunday morning, and they left me in the hospital, which was a miracle, because if I had gone home, I would have died for sure. But the next day the second one was a massive heart attack where one of my arteries shredded from top to bottom, and I was dying. My last prayer was: “Lord, just take care of my girls.” And God, I felt like he put his finger on my heart literally and all of a sudden, the blood came back and I could feel again and I could move and they rushed me to the OR, and I’ve got massive stents in my heart now.
Rachel-Ruth, you mentioned the influence of your grandfather Billy Graham in addressing your personal times of anxiety. Is that something that continues to this day?
Wright: I was having horrible chest pain again. I was, like, “Not again,” and the Lord brought a (Bible) verse to my mind. And so I was thinking about that verse and had just chosen to go to bed that night because I was just going to claim the verse that the Lord was going to take care of me. The next morning, I got up and read a verse out of (the Bible’s Book of) Isaiah. Then a friend of mine sent me a video of my grandfather in which he quoted those two verses. And I was so blown away because God used even the words of my grandfather, after he’d gone to heaven, to still minister to me, and that is the power of God’s word.
Anne, in a video Bible study based on your previous book, “Jesus Followers,” there was footage of the home where you grew up with your famous parents. Is that empty now?
Lotz: It is totally empty. I don’t think there’s even a folding chair. Maybe in the kitchen, there might be a folding chair. But there’s nothing in it. I love to use that as the basis for that Bible study. My father didn’t believe in possessions or material things. That’s not his legacy. His legacy is the legacy of faith and legacy of the gospel.
Rachel-Ruth serves on the board and chairs a weekly prayer team at AnGeL Ministries. Is there a succession process where Rachel-Ruth will one day be in charge of AnGeL Ministries?
Lotz: I’m going to leave that to the Lord. We’ve certainly talked about it. And the board of AnGeL Ministries is 150% behind Rachel-Ruth. The staff loves her. And so, if that time comes, then it’ll come. But right now she’s doing more and more.
Rachel-Ruth, is there an advantage of a mother and daughter in ministry together?
Wright: Well, it’s really like Paul and Timothy, where my mom has discipled me all these years. What she’s taught me and fed into me, is now coming out, as I speak. And I just, I feel like, with what you were talking about earlier, I have no aspirations to be somebody, to be the next person in ministry. I don’t care. And I probably get this from watching Mom: I just want to do what the Lord wants me to do and say what he wants me to say. I feel like he’s using a very weak vessel in me, but I know he’s called me, and it’s just a privilege to serve him.
This story has been updated to correctly state the number of women on the AnGelMinistries’ tour of Israel.
This article originally appeared here.
