We Do Not Doubt Our Mothers Knew It.

One of my favorite stories in The Book of Mormon has always been the story of the stripling warriors. As a kid, I remember just feeling fired up when reading about their faith and their success in fighting for the right - knowing that I myself was engaged in that same kind of battle. As I have grown up, the story has come to have a different meaning to me...

In the Fall of 2010, I was sitting in a sacrament meeting one Sunday alone in one of the back rows of a chapel in Illinois. I was listening to a woman talk about her son who was serving a mission at the time and the thought came in my head to read in Alma 56. I immediately opened my scriptures, and the rest of the chapel fell away, it was just me and the words. My eyes quickly found verses 47 - 48 which read:

Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, 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.

...as I read those last words I felt like a chorus of people were reading words along with me. I sat in that chapel feeling surrounded by something - something like calm and gratitude - and I let myself cry. I reached down towards my bag and pulled out the papers I was working on to send in for my mission and my decision became unshakeable and final. I had always been certain I would serve a mission, but that didn't mean I didn't have some worries and "but what ifs" - but in that moment I was done with all of them. I wanted to serve my Lord and my King, show Him how much I love Him and His gospel - and I wanted my children to never have a doubt that their mother knew it.

This scripture has become a strength to me every time I want to take a break or listen to the adversary, I think about my future children and how nothing means more to me in the world than them knowing that I know that Jesus is the Christ and God is our loving Heavenly Father and that they appeared to a young boy and called him as a prophet so that the gospel could be restored, and I press on. I find myself being motivated a lot by them. As I know that my entire life and testimony has been influenced by the life of discipleship that my mother has lived. I owe her everything.


In this weekend of celebrating Mothers I've decided to start a series of posts containing the short testimonies of some stripling warriors that I know - and how their mothers have influenced them in this fight for the cause of Christ and boldly declare that

We do not doubt our mothers knew it.