Mother's Prayers

I've been thinking more about Mother's prayers. I know of at least twice when my mother's prayers saved me from danger, and I'm sure the same can be said of most of my brothers & sisters.

There is a story from the Book of Mormon that always gets brought up on Mother's Day, probably because it is one of only 3 times that a mother/mothers are specifically spoken of. Alma 53 & 56 tell of these mothers, who were Lamanites, who had converted to the gospel of Christ. They had raised sons to love God, sons who obeyed every commandment with exactness and who were valiant and trustworthy. These sons were still young, but they had committed to go to war to protect their families from an invading enemy who would destroy them & take away their liberty.

These Sons explain to their captain why they do not fear death. "...they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

I've thought about this scripture a great deal. How did the mothers know their sons would be protected? The Book of Mormon makes a clear distinction more than once that faith or believeing is different than knowlege or knowing. The prophet Alma and the prophet Ether both explain that at first you have faith and believe or hope for things that are not seen. But once the Lord answers your prayers, you have faith no longer, because you KNOW, it is no longer just belief.

So these mothers knew that the Lord would protect their sons, and the sons believed their mothers' word. How did the mothers know? I have prayed for blessings before, with faith that the Lord could bless me and would bless me if it was His will, but I didn't know that the answer would be "yes." I hoped the answer would be yes. There has been one time when I prayed for a blessing that I felt my family truly needed and it was a right thing to ask for. Yet as I prayed, I knew the answer was "no" or at least "not now."

I believe those mothers knew because they pleaded with the Lord for the lives of their sons and were given a promise through the Holy Spirit that their sons' lives would be spared if they had faith. The mother's testimony gave strength to their sons and they were all saved.

What I think is the prayers of mothers are powerful indeed.


p.s. This isn't church doctrine. It is just me pondering on the scriptures, but I did a little search and this guy agrees with me.

Images from:
praying hands from here
"Two Thousand Young Warriors," Arnold Friberg. copyright 2002 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved