Baby, Pray!

The best advice my mother ever gave me, and all of brothers and sisters for that matter, is to pray. She used to say, “Baby, when things get hard and you don’t know what to do, pray. You go and talk to God like you are sitting here talking to me. Go somewhere and shut the door and pray”


At my mother’s funeral, her best friend said that my mother was a praying woman. She said they would often pray together, and my mother always prayed for each of her children (there are nine of us), especially for my brother Glenn

Glenn was a drug addict who shot heroine for over 30 years. However, God delivered him from his addiction at the age of 50! To see him, you would never have imagined that he ever used drugs at all! My brother passed away four years ago in car accident. However, there is no doubt in my mind that God kept him all those years while in his addiction because of the prayers that my mother sent up.


The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16).
I used to be in an abusive relationship. One night we got into an argument, and he shoved my face into a wall so hard that it split my bottom lip completely open. I had to go to the hospital and get stitches. I remember coming home and contemplating taking my life. I was beat down physically and psychological. I felt worthless and that I had nothing to live for. I was completely broken.

But in the midst of all that pain, my mother’s words rang out: “Baby, pray!”At the time, I did not know Christ, I did not know the Bible, I did not know to confess the Blood of Jesus, but I did know that I could talk to God and He would hear me. “God please help me!” Sitting on the bathroom floor, crying, I begged God to please get me and my children out of that situation.

Not long after that incident, I moved out of town, out of that relationship, and have never looked back. God opened doors that I could have never imagined. Prayer really does change things! 



I thank God for a praying mother, who not only prayed for her children, but who taught her children to pray.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Denise