Mama’s Prayer

My mom passed away a few years ago at the ripe old age of ninety-four. She was a tenacious woman, having graduated from university in the early 1940s on a full scholarship. She was an acknowledged beauty and possessed a remarkable musical talent.

So, it is no surprise that she was a bit of a diva.

A polite understatement would be to suggest she had a strong personality. As a single mom for much of our childhood, she managed to keep house and home together, thanks to her education and fierce courage. We butted heads a lot, but I always admired her refusal to let anybody else define her life. Similarly, my siblings and I were all allowed to chart our own course without excess interference by our mother. She was there to support us, but she left us to work out our own way in life, even when she may have disagreed with our choices.

Her faith had been tested on many occasions through tough times. She always told us she prayed for each of our family members every day, a task I assumed, as the eldest child, upon her passing. When we cleaned out her house after the memorial service, we found a small stack of three-by-five-inch cards on which she had handwritten or typed texts that were meaningful to her. One of them really touched my heart. It was a special request to God on behalf of her children. “O Lord, keep the circle of my little family unbroken when we stand before you on the Day of Judgment. Compensate for my mistakes and failures as a parent and counteract the influences of an evil world that would undermine the faith of my children.

And especially, Lord, I ask for your involvement when my son and daughters stand at the crossroads, deciding whether or not to walk the Christian path.

They will be beyond my care at that moment, and I humbly ask you to be there. Send a significant friend or leader to help them choose the right direction.

They were yours before they were born, and now I give them back to you in faith, knowing that you love them even more than I do. Toward that end, I dedicate this day of fasting and prayer.”* And now, as I pray that same prayer for my adult children, I can feel the concerns Mama had for us. I invite you to make this prayer your own.

There is power in a mother’s prayers.

Linda Nottingham

* Adapted from James Dobson, “Introducing Children to Christ,” Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, January 11, 2023, https://www.drjamesdobson.org/blogs/introducing-children-to-christ.