The Mother Who Never Stopped Praying

For nearly thirty years, Monica of Tagaste wept over her son. Augustine had abandoned the faith of his childhood, taken a mistress, fathered a child out of wedlock, and chased one philosophy after another across North Africa and Italy. He later wrote that he had been "in love with loving" — restless, reckless, running from the very God who pursued him.

Monica followed him to Milan. She prayed. She fasted. She begged Bishop Ambrose to intervene. When she once asked another bishop to confront Augustine directly, the old man simply replied, "The son of so many tears cannot be lost."

He was right. In the summer of 386 AD, sitting in a garden in Milan, Augustine heard a child's voice singing, "Take up and read." He opened Paul's letter to the Romans, and the words struck like lightning. The man who had spent decades fleeing the Almighty fell to his knees — forgiven, healed, redeemed from the pit.

This is the God David sings about in Psalm 103. He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with us according to our sins. Augustine deserved judgment. He received a crown of compassion and mercy instead. The God who waited thirty years for one wayward son in North Africa is the same God who waits for you — not with a clenched fist, but with open arms.