This upcoming Sunday is Mother's Day. It's the day when Americans remember and celebrate the contributions and sacrifices their moms have made on their behalf.

In honor of Mother's Day, I'd like to tell you a story about one mother whose devotion shaped not only her son's life but countless others, as well.

Her name was Monica. A Christian, she was married to a prominent man who wasn't a believer. He was unfaithful and even beat her at times. Monica's response was to go to church every day and pray for his conversion. She hoped that by setting a godly example, even in the midst of her mistreatment, she might win him over. And that's exactly what happened.

The suffering and anguish caused by her husband paled before what Monica's oldest son put her through. He lived a dissolute life, devoted to pleasure. He left one mistress and took up with another. His only son was born out-of-wedlock.

His lack of faith and rejection of Christian truth hurt Monica even more. He belittled her beliefs and seemed to go out of his way to embrace Christianity's competitors for the hearts and, especially, minds of his contemporaries. He later recalled how his being "dead [to] that faith and spirit which," as he put it, "[my mother] had from you... O, Lord" made her weep.

Still, Monica never gave up. The greatest preacher of the time, knowing of her prayers and tears for her son, told her that "it is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish."

That preacher, Bishop Ambrose of Milan, was right. At the age of 35, Monica's son, Augustine, became a Christian and was baptized, along with his son, Adeodatus, by Ambrose. A few months later, on the way home to Hippo with Augustine and Adeodatus, Monica fell ill and died.