A Praying Mother
One of the many advantages of travelling around our Commission Family is the window it gives into how other people do things. We always assume that the way we do it is the right way, then you meet someone who gives you different insight. Our visits to our huge Asian family over many years have often done that for me and the role of the wives and mothers have always inspired me. I remember being in a home with a mum who was a similar age to me. She and her husband have two children, both now married with children of their own, but at the time one of them was going through some teenage angst. I happened to catch sight of a battered old book, pages falling out, with a rather tatty cover on her coffee table. It had obviously been used a lot over a long period of time. On asking what it was she told me it was a prayer journal for her children. Since they were small children she had written down her prayers for them, from the small things to the big things, the prophecies and Scriptures which guided her prayers and of course the answers to the prayers too. This was no art journal Bible full of pretty pictures and spiritual doodles, it was a real workbook or a well thumbed tool, the proof of years of prayers from a faithful Mother interceding on behalf of her children.
Her example reminds me of Susanna Wesley, mother of Charles and John whose lives influenced our nation and nations beyond. In the early 1700s despite giving birth to 19 children (only 10 survived), she home-schooled, looked after a home, preached regularly, managed a farm and survived on very little income. Despite this she was known for spending two hours of every day in Bible study and prayer, hidden underneath her apron due to the family being all around her!
“ That kind of life, deeply rooted, produced great fruit, as evidenced not only by the people who came to hear her teach but also by the children she influenced. The great truth in her story is how prayer does not occupy the stage of activity. Its power is in the quiet trust of gentle souls who are willing to pull away from the everyday to commune with God.”*
As we celebrate Mother’s day I am so grateful that I had a mother who prayed for me. I wish I had prayed for my children with the same diligence but I am increasingly aware of the incredible legacy we exert as we pray for our children. I have learnt to pray much more as the teenage years came and went and today despite them being adults with children of their own, I pray for them with greater dedication and faith. Their paths have not all been straightforward and I've had some anxious moments but as I look at my journal I can be grateful and sing of the goodness of God. Their lives are in His hands and although I love them fit to burst, I know God loves them even more.
*From ‘The praying example of Susanna Wesley’ by Jackie Green and Karen Green-Mcafee
