Counseling Sheet

Agatha M. Thrash, M.D.
Preventive Medicine

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"Mother, be faithful. Do not become discouraged in your work. Talk to your children of Christ, and pray with and for them. Your words will abide in their hearts. They may not seem to heed what you say. They may put on an appearance of indifference and levity, as if your words were disregarded. But do not cease your efforts in their behalf. Your words are in their mind. They can not forget them. You have sown the seed. In years to come, it will spring up and bear much fruit.

"How many times has the remembrance of a mother's prayers and admonitions checked the absent child when about to yield to temptation. 'When I was a child,' said an old man, 'my mother used to bid me kneel down beside her, and placing her hand on my head, she would implore God's blessing on her boy. Before I was old enough to know her worth, she died, and I was left to my own guidance. I was naturally inclined to evil, but again and again I was restrained by the thought of my mother's prayers. When a young man, I traveled much, and was exposed to many temptations. But when I would have yielded to temptation, I seemed to feel the pressure of my mother's hand upon my head, and I was saved. Sometimes there came with it a voice in my heart, a voice that must be obeyed: "O do not this wickedness, my son; sin not against thy God."'

"Christian mother, forget not where lies the Source of your strength. Abound in prayer—fervent, earnest, wrestling prayer. Great and arduous are your duties, and great your need of help from on high. You need wisdom, firmness, patience, self-control. Whither can you go for these but to the mercy-seat…. In the arms of faith carry your children to the Saviour. Plead for them the promises of God. A mother's voice will never plead in vain."—E. G. White, Signs of the Times, 8-20-1902