2kwarriorsmom

2kwarriorsmom? The name comes from one of my favorite stories in The Book of Mormon that has become known as The Two Thousand Stripling Warriors.

There were people called the Lamanites. They were wicked. However, some of them repented of their sins and murders when they were taught about Jesus Christ. Those that were converted called themselves the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They made a covenant with God that they would no longer shed blood so they buried their weapons of war. They sought protection from the Nephites when the Lamanites came to battle against them. When the Anti-Lehi-Nephies saw all the the Nephites were sacrificing to protect them, some of them wanted to fight back and break the covenant they had made with God, but their sons who had not made the promise to God that they wouldn’t fight, went and fought in their fathers’ stead.

I cannot imagine sending my son off as a young man to fight seasoned, blood-thirsty warriors. These boys were courageous though and they had faith that God would protect them. It says in Alma 56:47, “Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed…the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” They knew that God would protect them because of the faith that was instilled in them by their mothers. In Alma 57:21 it says,” yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; …[as] their mothers had taught them.” These boys fought and though many were wounded, not one of them died. In verse 26 it says that their preservation was astonishing and it was accredited to their exceeding faith that there was a just God and that whosoever did not doubt, would be preserved by God’s marvelous power.

If I only accomplish one thing in this life, I hope that it will be that I raise children who do not doubt that God is there.  Children who will courageously choose to follow and obey Him with exactness. I hope they can say “my mother knew it” because I do know it. I know that Heavenly Father is there and that through faith and obedience great things, nothing short of miracles, occur. Even if not one other thing turns out in my lifetime, I will die happy if I know my children have developed as deep and unwavering faith as the sons who became known as the 2,000 stripling warriors.