A mother's (persistent) prayer answered

I wondered if it was futile. For years I've been praying for my eldest son to attend college. Connected only by telephone, I would slip in a word to him now and then when I could about the importance of education and how necessary it is to widen his horizons and increase his options. I spoke gently and persistently even when I felt like yelling. Give me five stars for staying upbeat and not yelling.

Every year he visits for Thanksgiving. This year he brought a girlfriend. He looked so good. Happy. At ease with himself. Delicious to my eyes. Sometimes I still can't get over how this offspring from my womb is now a 6'1" full grown man.

In September, on a whim he attended a local cattle call hoping for an acting part. They told him acting was a business and he had no business acting. Brutal, eh! But they told him he did have a look they might be looking for and they gave him instructions to get some new duds, shave off the goatee, and come back in three days for runway model tryouts. He returned and out of hundreds, he was selected to go to Los Angeles. He attended some classes, stayed at some fancy schmancy hotel in L.A. and called me four weeks later saying, "Hey Ma, you're talking to the third best looking guy in the United States and South Africa." He cracks me up. He got a trophy and a kiss from Miss U.S.A.

Anyway, he's quiet. He never mentioned a peep about going to college. Suddenly he tells me he's earned enough college credits to graduate, maybe next summer, with an A.A. degree. My child? The one who refused to enter a library in high school?

I'm certain this is in answer to my prayers, even though I admit I was afraid I was praying wrong or maybe for a wrong thing because I was praying on it for so long.

God has his own timing. Mothers must be persistent. You can't just pray for food, lie in bed, open your mouth and the food falls in. But you can never know when your prayer is the one that makes the difference. So pray for your children every day! If you don't, who will?

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.