A mother’s prayer

“So many women in our group are young mothers who want to know God, but are so busy with tending to little ones, they can’t imagine how to find time to pray,” the voice on the other end of the phone said. “What would you say to them?”

Actually, these are my people, I thought. I can remember those days like they were yesterday. The time my new foster son punched our priest in the midsection when the kindly man reached out to bless him. The time an elderly man from Kingdom Hall showed up on my doorstep after two nights without sleep and four days without a shower. “You know what gets me through this?” I asked him. “Knowing I have a mother in heaven who is watching and praying for me.” Quietly he turned and left. The last time I cantered a Mass shortly after the kids arrived, when one of them broke away from my beleaguered husband and spent the rest of the hour clutching my thigh and moaning into the microphone. “Mmmmmommmmy!”

Eighteen years have passed, and Craig and I have started the next chapter of our lives on our own. But the lessons I learned from those hard years in the trenches of motherhood never leave me. And that is why I want to “Pray Across America” this spring. To share our story, and let Moms in the trenches know… God sees you, he loves you, and has things he wants to teach you right now, in the middle of the mess. Things about surrender and trust and self-giving that only mothers know.

So if you are struggling today… hang in there. You are not alone.