Saturday, May 12, 2018

 

She Prayed


Five rambunctious children, a below average income, a husband who worked the swing shift, a small house, harsh winters and the wild decade of the 1960s did not deter her. She was determined to raise her kids up in the way they should go. She succeeded in helping them all survive their school years without the complications of drugs, alcohol or unwanted pregnancies. At all five attended Christian Colleges and became involved in ministry. All of them adored her. I was one of those children, so I know her secret.



In a quiet cemetery in Eastern Montana is a gravestone bearing the name of my mother and the words “She Prayed.” We put it there over thirty years ago. It was the best way to summarize her life. She prayed and then she governed her children with the help of the One to whom she prayed. Our family was not perfect. Her children were not always obedient. Her resources were limited, and she died before her 56th birthday. But her life is still impacting many people, because she prayed.



The Bible gives many examples of powerful women who understood their power to change the world by praying, and then walking through the doors God opened for them. Queen Esther, Hannah, and Mary, the mother of Jesus are just a few of the most notable examples. These women changed history, but not because they were angry or because they set out to be heroic. They lived in societies that didn’t value women as much as they should have, but that did not keep them from changing their world. Their secret was not that they took on the world in order to gain their rights, but that they prayed and then let God use them to make things right in the world.  



Most readers never met my mother, but you have known someone like her who understood the power of prayer. When the two forces of motherhood and prayer are combined, the results are incredible and outlast the mothers who allow for that combination. I think my mother understood that prayer is not powerful because of the people who pray; prayer is powerful because it is a primary means through which God has chosen to operate in our world. People who pray according to God’s will, loose His will on earth. 



The good news is that even people who were never blessed with a praying mother, can become a praying mother, or a praying friend, or a praying aunt… God can change your world through your prayers. This Mothers’ Day would be a great day to tell some woman what her prayers have meant to you. It would also be a great day for mothers to let God make them strong and impact their family for decades to come, by doing the most powerful thing they can do—pray. People will most likely notice, but if they don’t, heaven will no doubt record: “she prayed.”





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