Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms

This book consists of eleven chapters about the devoted mothers of great Christian men. These were originally postings, Tim Challies the author, had written on his blog. Each chapter also includes a section called 'A Mothers Reflection', which was written by Melissa Edgington.

Here are the chapter heading:

1.   The Hidden Strength of a Weak Mother - John Newton
2.   The Prayer of a Godly Mother - Hudson Taylor 
3.   The Unbreakable Bond of Training and Tenderness - J. Gresham Machen 
4.   The Perseverance of a Godly Mother - Christopher Yuan
5.   The Power of a Godly Mother's Surrender - William Borden
6.   The Lasting Influence of a Mother's Devotion - Charles Hodge
7.   The Quiet Grace of the Ordinary - John Piper
8.   The Virtue of a Pleading Mother - Charles Spurgeon
9.   The Patience of a Godly Mother - Augustine
10. The Impact of a Hard-Working Mother - D. L. Moody
11. No Greater Accolade - Timothy

One thing these mothers had in common was prayer. They prayed for their children.

I thought I'd share one of Melissa's reflections that I found encouraging:

"One thing we can remember, especially in light of this story, is that even when you are at your absolute weakest as a mother - when you feel like a complete failure, when you feel you aren't doing anything right, when you feel that you are lacking most everything you need in order to show your children how to live for Christ - you can always pray. 

That is one thing that even a little child can do. You can always sit at Jesus' feet and pour out your sorrows, your anxieties, and you can take those precious babies that you feel you are royally messing up and lay them at his feet, knowing that you are too weak and too imperfect to bear the weight of saving them yourself.

Any mother who is at the end of her parenting rope and is all out of strength and ideas and just about out of hope for her children, can pray. She can find all the power and strength that she needs there, not in herself, but in Christ."

Later, in chapter eight,Tim Challies says this of prayer:

"...our prayers really do make a difference, and they're the ultimate way to love our children." 

This is what stood out for me in this small book of 124 pages: The power of a praying mother, more accurately, the power of Christ in a praying mother.

I really enjoyed these stories and highly recommend this book!


Note: Here is a link to another post I shared about prayer from Oswald Chambers... Prayer: A Holy Occupation





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