I was in my mother’s womb when
she was converted. Before I was
born, she prayed, Lord, I want him
to be a preacher of the Gospel. And
that seems to have worked out!
She told many stories like this
as I grew up, which reinforced
in me the feeling that first came
in boyhood—before I fully knew
what it meant to be a Christian!
Luis, I felt inside, you’ve been
called to preach the Gospel. You’d
better do it!
This prayer of hers, even as such
a young believer, shows the pure
sincerity of her seeking. The
same quiet commitment that
made her search for inner peace,
even though all the trappings of
outward religion had been hers,
motivated her to a constant, deep
spiritual life that overflowed
for her husband, children, and
neighbors.
My mother centered her life on
God. I can hear her voice still,
hushing in prayer, rising in praise.
She read the Bible constantly,
almost always on her knees.
She quoted many verses to us
from memory, and she insisted
that we memorize the verses we
were given in Sunday school.
Of the many verses that my
mother loved, one sums up
perfectly the lesson that she
taught me: “Seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given
to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
What a simple promise. But how
profound!
Like the surrounding verses
in Matthew 6 ask, my mother
trusted God innocently and
completely, like the birds of the
air or the lilies of the field. Little
did she know how much that
trust would be tested.
My father died when he was only
thirty-four. I was ten. When Dad
passed, he left no paperwork:
no will, no estate plan, no paper
trail for much of his property,
and no real organization of his
business interests, which were
considerable and complicated.
My mom, who knew nothing
about business, was left to
fend for herself. There she
was, thirty-three and expecting
my youngest sister, with six
children and widowed. She tried
to settle my dad’s accounts but
could do little in her state of
grief and shock to counteract
the people who were demanding
money or making claims to the
Palau company. It was a terrible
time for her. In only a matter of
months, our family went from
well-off to essentially destitute.
It was a heart-wrenching time for
my mother. We had no source of
income. “I don’t know what to
do,” she’d say. “The Lord has to
protect us. He has to provide.”
We depended fully on the Lord.
We had absolutely nothing.
Sometimes we had a cup of
coffee and one loaf of French
bread, torn into seven parts.
That’s it. Yet we would get on
Solutions • 31