Source
SHARING THE HISTORY OF AURELIO AGUSTIN'S MOTHER:
Source
In the little village of Tegaste, not far from Cartago, in North Africa, on November 13, 354, Aurelio Agustín was born. His mother Monica, began to pray for him from his birth to become a Christian, instead of following the footsteps of his pagan father. Monica not only prayed, but she carefully taught her son the principles of his faith.
Source
When Agustín was a teenager, his father sent him to the best schools in Cartago. The boy did well in his studies, but at the same time he succumbed to the temptations of the city and led a depraved life. He lived with a concubine with whom he had an illegitimate child. He also interfered with the Manichaeans, a religious cult that admitted two creative principles, one for good and the other for evil.
Ships from Rome often visited the port of Carthage, which was one of the five capitals of the Roman Empire. Augustine longed to go to Rome and see the world, but his mother begged him to stay in Carthage. One night he told his mother that he would go to say goodbye to a friend who would travel to Rome. Monica went to a nearby chapel, where she fell on her knees and prayed all night for God to keep her son in Carthage. But when the morning arrived he discovered that he was gone.
One day he felt so bad because of what Augustine had done to him, that he spoke with a Christian teacher about him. He concluded his story with a face flooded with tears.
"Go your way," advised the teacher "God will help you."
It is not possible for the son of such tears to perish.
Monica followed Agustín to Italy and continued to pray for him.
Source
He searched the scriptures for God's promises to hear and answer the prayers. He knelt frequently, placed his hand on a promise and asked God to do what he had promised. Monica prayed and cried out to God for 33 years for God to keep his promises, but he saw little change in his son.
Finally the day came when God answered his prayers in a remarkable way, in Milan, in the year 387. A slight breeze stirred the leaves of a fig tree in the patio of the house where Agustín lived with his mother. His shadow refreshed the place where Agustín remained prostrate with his face attached to the ground, clinging to the grass to control the spasms of his body. Tears of repentance flowed abundantly from his eyes.
"Save me, my God!" Augustine cried in anguish. "My sin is greater than I can bear, I want to escape from my dissolute behavior, but I can not get it, I am a bad and wicked man, unless you save me, I will be lost forever, because I can not break my sinful habits. For how long, Lord? How long will I have to stay in this abhorrent state? Why can not this be the time to end my misfortune? "
Source
At that moment Agustín heard the voice of a child who said in a nearby house: "Get up and read!". Augustine felt that it was God's answer to his prayer. So he took the Bible he had been reading when the feeling of his sinfulness had overwhelmed him. He took the book with trembling hands and opened it in Romans 13. His eyes focused on verses 13 and 14: "Let us walk as by day, honestly, not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in lusts and lasciviousness, not in strife and envy, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not provide for the desires of the flesh. "
"The moment I read these words, the despondency and discouragement caused by the doubt vanished" wrote Agustín. "A wonderful peace and security invaded my heart, and I understood that I had been forgiven, I was no longer afraid of death, because Jesus Christ was with me."
He entered the house immediately to share the good news with his mother, who had never stopped praying for his conversion. Monica attended her baptism in Milan.
There were tears of joy in his eyes because after 33 years God had fulfilled his promises.
Source
What an example of more wonderful perseverance that Monica has left us, she never stopped praying for her son Augustine. Dear reader, it is time to continue trusting in God for his promises to us parents, no matter the condition our children are in, God has promised, that if we parents believe in Christ, then, there will be salvation for us and all our house, that is, our whole family. Hallelujah ... this is glorious. Let's trust firmly in God and He will do. The Lord will fight for us and we will be quiet and secure in his promises. Remember that God is not a man to lie or a son of man to repent. The Lord said: you will save the children of the needy and plant the oppressor of them. Tremendous promise. If God with us, who against us.
Do not forget, brother in Christ, that a promise is the hold of faith that we can hold on to during prayer.
THREE STEPS TO CLAIM THE PROMISES OF GOD
Source
I give you three steps in the process of claiming God's promises:
1. Ask. "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened" (Matthew 7: 7).
It is part of God's plan to grant us, in response to the prayer made with faith, what he would not give us if we did not ask him so.
Remember that every promise of the Word of God becomes a reason to pray, because its fulfillment is guaranteed to us by the pawned word of Jehovah.
2. Believe. "Therefore I say to you that whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it will come to you" (Mark 11:24).
Remember, the words express the thoughts, these in turn follow the words. If we gave more expression to our faith ... we would have more faith. Therefore, it is necessary: Speak and act as if your faith were invincible.
3. Claim. "Father, thank you I give you for having heard me" (John 11:41).
So we can ask God for these blessings, believe that we received them and thank Him for having received them.
