The Privileged Life: Moms Who Pray

^“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Prayer is a huge privilege for me…especially when I share prayer time with friends.

This week, I joined my praying-mom friends seated around a porch table in the presence of our King, Jesus. After we enjoyed a potluck picnic brunch, we recounted (while praying together) all of the many answers we had received from our Heavenly Father during our past year together. It was powerful, encouraging, and enriching.

For the past 14 years of my life, I have met with these women weekly to pray for my children and theirs, now including several grandchildren. Our group is under the umbrella and resources of Moms in Prayer International, an organization that supports praying moms.¹ We come from different churches, united under the banner of Jesus Christ.

The size of our faithful group has fluctuated over the years, and there are just 10 of us now, but the heart of our little cadre of prayer warriors hasn’t changed. These are remarkable, incredible women—not because they are noteworthy to the world but because they have a fervent desire to seek God’s grace for their children. Even though we have had members move away and problems of the pandemic, we have “Zoomed” and stayed connected in prayer over the distances.

We have joined hands in prayer through all kinds of issues for our children, husbands, extended family, and friends—for education choices, job searches, housing, treatments for leukemia, coping with divorce, cancer, brain tumors/injuries, births of grandchildren, marriages, moves, parents with Alzheimer’s, dating life, surgeries, parties, pets, school teachers, and deaths. We have prayed, cried, and celebrated together in harmony…such a blessing from the Holy Spirit.

We’re taking a break now for the summer, and I will miss our prayer routine together. But we stay connected by group texting for prayer requests that crop up in the weeks ahead.

There are multiple references to women in the Bible who prayed together (see the book of Acts, chapters 1 and 12). You could presume, too, from 2 Timothy 1:5—since Timothy’s faith was fostered by his grandmother and mother—that these devout women were praying fervently for their grandson’s/son’s spirit and walk.

Another woman of faith, from the fourth century, was noted for her intentional and constant prayers over her wayward son. Monica, from an area of North Africa now in Tunisia, was deeply troubled by her son’s prodigal life. He seemed hopelessly lost, having abandoned her faithful teaching during his teen years.

Monica’s prayers and tears for her adult child were rewarded richly, though, as her son wrote later:

“And Thou sentest Thine hand from above, and drewest my soul out of that profound darkness, my mother, Thy faithful one, weeping to Thee for me, more than mothers weep the bodily deaths of their children. For she, by that faith and spirit which she had from Thee, discerned the death wherein I lay, and Thou heardest her, O Lord; Thou heardest her, and despisedst not her tears, when streaming down, they watered the ground under her eyes in every place where she prayed; yea Thou heardest her.”²

Her son was Augustine—a man whom God not only restored but led to become a great leader, writer, and evangelist for the still-early Christian church. His mother’s prayers have inspired women through the ages since then to pursue God’s face and favor on behalf of their children.

Here in the 21^st century, we moms (and dads) continue to have the same privilege and duty to lift up our children before our good and powerful Lord. If you’re not part of a praying group, I encourage you to ask around at nearby churches or look at the Moms in Prayer website (see the footnote below) to find a group near you. You could even start up a group yourself.

May you find your hope and faith strengthened in sacrificial prayer with others—an offering worth making before the King of the universe.

Jesus, bless those who gather in Your name—You have promised that wherever two or more are together to seek Your face, You will be there with them. Thank You for all of the answers You have given us for our prayers of the past, and may You continue to hear our pleas as we await Your answers in the future. In Your sacred name, Amen.

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¹To learn more about Moms in Prayer International, go to https://momsinprayer.org.

²From “The Confessions: Book III” by Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, A.D. 401, translated by E. B. Pusey—https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3296/3296-h/3296-h.htm#link2H_4_0003