Continue steadfastly in prayer.
—Colossians 4:2
You know him as Saint Augustine, but for a long time he was far from saintly. He ignored his pious mother’s pleadings and pursued a life of self-gratification and immorality. He took a mistress and fathered a child but considered marriage out of the question.
All the while, his mother never ceased praying for his conversion. Wherever he wandered, his mother’s prayers followed him. And after many years, her prayers were answered. In his Confessions, Augustine attributed his conversion to his mother’s tears and prayers.
Have you considered that your laudable life may be the result of the prayers of people who loved you—that long ago heaven was stormed with prayers that you would grow up to be what you have grown up to be?
A mother’s whispered prayer
becomes a shout at God’s throne.