She’s a journalist whose bold newspaper columns created a love-hate relationship with many readers. But back in 1984, Licia Corbella was a 21-year-old who was searching, along with her boyfriend, for a spiritual path. Turns out, God was searching for them, too.
“Stephen and I were seeking—me mostly through philosophy,” said the longtime Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald columnist, who retired from newspapers earlier this year.
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As she enjoyed the sunshine in the backyard of their suburban Calgary home, Licia noted, “I believed life was meaningless. And if you think this life is all there is, then life really is meaningless.”
But all that was about to change. Licia and Stephen were living together in a triplex they’d just rented in Vancouver. Their married neighbors, Raemone and Martin, lived upstairs and invited them to attend the Billy Graham Crusade at B.C. Place, Vancouver’s giant, covered sports stadium.
Licia, who was curious about Jesus after seeing the film Jesus Christ Superstar, said yes—even though she expected to be bored hearing what she called ‘rhetoric.’ Ignoring her low expectations would transform her life. As Billy Graham proclaimed the Gospel to Licia, Stephen, and tens of thousands more, “it was like a zillion light bulbs went off in my head because I knew I was hearing the truth,” Licia recalled.
Reverend Graham explained the need for Christ to die and be resurrected—something Licia had not understood before.
“I cried for 15 or 20 minutes—tears streaming down my face—and my heart was broken in a good way,” she said.
Licia was eager to accept Billy Graham’s invitation to come to the front of the stage and commit her life to Jesus. But Stephen wasn’t ready, and “we knew if I went down to the stage and he didn’t, we’d be unequally yoked.” So she didn’t.
Raemon and Martin (whom the Corbellas are still friends with today) invited them to attend the next night, but Licia had a social event already scheduled. At that event, she drank half a bottle of tequila and took illegal drugs, but something inside her had changed.
“I heard a voice telling me, ‘this is no longer going to work for you,’” Licia remembered.
They attended another night of the Crusade with Raemon and Martin. This time, Billy Graham spoke on the future of humanity.
“There is hope for the future,” he told the thousands in attendance at B.C. Place. “Jesus Christ has gone to the cross and shed His blood for our sins. He has been raised from the dead. He left behind a hope, and that hope is founded on His Word.”
Again, Licia heard the truth. “And again I wept,” she said.
Touched by the Holy Spirit, she once more told Stephen she wanted to give her life to Christ. This time, he overjoyed her by saying yes!
As they spoke with volunteer counselors, Licia says she “really did experience a sense of liberty from untruth.”
“And Stephen was grateful,” she added. “He could sense this was the right thing.”
They started attending church with Raemon and Martin, and the Holy Spirit convicted them of the need to stop living together since they were not married. So, they made other living arrangements.
Five years later, Licia and Stephen were married, and she was hired as a reporter at the Vancouver Province. A year later, they moved to Toronto, where she worked at the Toronto Star and Toronto Sun. In 1993, Stephen’s energy industry job moved to Calgary, and fortunately, Licia was able to transfer to the Calgary Sun.
At the Sun, she eventually became a high-profile columnist, commenting on all matters political and social. She joined the Herald in 2003 in the same role, regularly achieving praise and criticism (even some death threats) from readers across the political spectrum.
In 2015, while juggling all the writing and editing demands of her Herald job, Licia received devastating news that forced her to rely on her faith in Christ like never before. The lump she had discovered on one of her breasts turned out to be cancerous.
Remarkably, she left the doctor’s office and returned to work. “It was hours of an adrenalin rush to get through all my work and then go to a fundraising ball,” Licia said, still amazed at her response to the very bad news.
The lump was removed and Licia went on short-term disability in order to deal with all the medical appointments and a painful, debilitating stretch of chemotherapy. During that time, “the only thing I could read was
Scripture. And we spent a lot of time in prayer.”
Those times of prayer were a key to her connection with Christ. “My relationship with Jesus was never closer,” Licia said. Non-Christian friends offered her kind thoughts and positive ‘vibes,’ but “I wanted prayer, and it was Stephen and the church that got me through it.”
As she looks back on that time of testing, Licia never found herself asking God, “Why me?”
“It was more about ‘why not me?’ I had two healthy children, a great career and marriage, and I’m never going to have any hard times? The Christian community needs Jesus followers who have gone through difficulties and trials so it can properly minister to others.”
Now, as she moves into a new and more relaxed phase of life, Licia cherishes one of the lessons God allowed her to learn through her brush with death. “I was saying yes to way too many things,” she pointed out. “Cancer taught me that.”
She shudders to think what her life would look like today had she not attended the Billy Graham Crusade in Vancouver all those years ago.
“I know I would not be a person of peace,” she responded. “I’m just so grateful that Billy sacrificed so much to tell me about Jesus. I can say it’s way better and richer to know the Lord than to not know the Lord.”
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