single moms LDS

Editor’s note: This is the first in our new series of BYU students sharing letters and reflections on scripture.

Letter to My Single Mom: Thank You for Teaching Me about God

by Rae D.

This week I would like to write to my mom who spent 9 years as a single mother to 7 children. The scripture that stuck out to me was Alma 56:47 which talks about the stripling warriors and how they were raised by their mothers. The majority of my childhood was spent with just you as my mom, with no other parental influences. Although I didn’t know at the time, I have since come to realize what a hard time you had raising us. I know now that you struggled to know if what you were teaching us and how you were parenting us, if it was right because you had no other parent to confer with.

Even today I know that you worry because it always seems like one of us is making a stupid decision in our lives. But this scripture stayed in my mind because it talks about how the sons had been taught about God and religion by their mothers, which is what you did for all of us. But it doesn’t say that the sons were all perfect either. The mothers taught their sons about God, which was the greatest gift the mothers could give. And although none of your children are perfect, it is important to remember that we all know about God because of you and we all know of your own personal love for God.


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