Favor Fridays with Tony™: When God Favors You With a Mother Who Believes in You

Honoring My Mother, Marjorie Reed, on Her Birthday

There are some blessings you recognize immediately, and there are others you grow into understanding over time. When you’re young, you may not fully grasp the significance of the person who keeps encouraging you, keeps praying for you, keeps correcting you, keeps pushing you and keeps believing in you before the rest of the world knows what to do with you.

But as you get older, you start looking back with clearer eyes.

You begin to understand that certain moments were not accidents. Certain conversations were not random. Certain acts of love were not small. They were seeds. They were covering. They were direction. They were favor.

Today, on my mother Marjorie Reed’s birthday, I am reminded of how deeply God favored me by allowing her to be my mother.

Not just because she gave birth to me. Not just because she raised me. But because she believed in me. She saw something in me early. She nurtured what was there. She paid attention to the things that made me come alive. And long before I fully understood the power of storytelling, writing, superheroes and imagination, she helped create the space where those gifts could grow.

That is not something I take lightly.

That is the favor of God.

The Favor of a Mother Who Pays Attention

One of the greatest gifts a mother can give a child is attention—not just watching them, but really seeing them. There is a difference.

A mother who pays attention notices what excites you. She notices what keeps your imagination moving. She notices what you talk about repeatedly, what you gravitate toward, what gives you confidence and what seems to unlock something inside of you.

My mother helped begin my love of reading. That alone changed the trajectory of my life. Reading opened worlds for me. It introduced me to characters, ideas, language, imagination and possibility. It taught me that stories could take you places you had never physically been and still make those places feel real. It showed me that words had power.

And when my love for writing started taking shape, she didn’t dismiss it. She encouraged it.

When I was in eighth grade, my mother found The Commercial Appeal’s Teen Panel and helped connect me to an opportunity that would feed my gift. That may sound simple to some people, but it was not simple to me. It was a mother noticing something in her child and saying, in her own way, “This matters. You should try this. Your voice deserves a place.”

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” That verse is often discussed in terms of discipline and moral instruction, and rightly so. But it also speaks to direction. It speaks to recognizing the path God has placed inside a child and helping guide them toward it.

My mother did that.

She helped point me toward words.

And words became part of my purpose.

When Someone Believes Before the World Notices

There is something powerful about being believed in before there is proof.

Before the book.Before the platform.Before the audience.Before anyone else validates the gift.

A mother’s belief can become a kind of spiritual scaffolding. It helps you stand while you’re still becoming. It gives you room to grow without requiring you to already be finished. It gives you confidence when the gift is still raw, still developing and still trying to find its voice.

That kind of belief matters.

Because a lot of dreams die early—not because the person didn’t have talent, but because nobody around them watered it. Nobody took it seriously. Nobody said, “Keep going.” Nobody made them believe what was inside them had value.

I thank God my mother had my back.

That phrase may be simple, but it carries weight. Having someone “have your back” means you don’t have to wonder if you are standing alone. It means someone is praying for you, rooting for you, defending you, encouraging you and reminding you of who you are when life tries to make you forget.

Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And sometimes one of the ways God shows you He is for you is by placing people in your life who stand with you, speak life over you and believe in what He placed inside you.

For me, one of those people has always been my mother.

My Own Martha Kent

If you know anything about Superman, you know Clark Kent did not become Superman simply because he had power.

He became Superman because he was raised with love, values, compassion and moral grounding. Martha Kent helped shape the heart of the hero. She helped raise a boy with extraordinary abilities into a man who cared about people. She helped teach him that strength was not just about what he could do, but about how he chose to use it.

That is how I think about my mother.

She is like Martha Kent to Clark Kent.

And that comparison means something special because superheroes have always been part of my life. My mother had a love for superheroes growing up, especially George Reeves’ Superman. I believe I probably inherited part of my love for superheroes from her. That love of heroes, courage, imagination and standing for what is right did not come out of nowhere. It was part of the atmosphere around me.

Superheroes are not just about capes, costumes and powers. At their best, they are about hope. They are about responsibility. They are about light showing up when darkness thinks it has won. They are about ordinary people being inspired to do extraordinary things.

That’s why I believe the influence of a mother matters so much.

A mother can help shape not just what a child loves, but what a child believes is possible.

My mother helped me believe.

The Favor of Encouragement

Encouragement is not a small thing.

Sometimes encouragement is the difference between someone quitting and someone trying again. Sometimes encouragement is the bridge between insecurity and confidence. Sometimes encouragement is the voice that stays in your spirit years later when you’re facing something hard.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” That is exactly what encouragement does. It builds. It strengthens. It adds something to the person receiving it.

My mother’s encouragement helped build me.

She didn’t have to understand every creative idea. She didn’t have to know every direction the gift would take. She didn’t have to see the whole map. But she supported the journey. She helped me take steps. She made room for the gift to breathe.

That kind of encouragement is favor because it gives you permission to grow into what God placed inside you.

Not everybody has that.

Some people have gifts that were mocked. Some had dreams that were dismissed. Some had passions that were treated like distractions. Some had voices that were silenced before they ever got a chance to develop.

That is why I cannot take my mother’s belief in me for granted.

When you have someone who sees your gift, encourages your growth and truly believes in you, that is a blessing worth honoring.

Mothers and Mother Figures Who Help Us Become

This message is personal because it is my mother’s birthday, but it is also bigger than my story.

There are people reading this who know exactly what it means to have a mother or mother-like figure who encouraged them. Maybe it was a mother who stayed up late helping with schoolwork. Maybe it was a grandmother who prayed every morning. Maybe it was an aunt who gave wise counsel. Maybe it was a teacher who noticed a gift. Maybe it was a church mother who spoke life when confidence was low.

Whoever it was, their presence mattered.

God often uses people to help us become who we were created to be. He uses their words, their prayers, their wisdom, their patience and their belief. He uses people who may not even realize how deeply they are shaping us.

Psalm 127:3 says, “Children are a heritage from the Lord.” That means children are entrusted gifts. But it is also true that a loving, nurturing, believing mother is a gift to the child. When that relationship is healthy, present and encouraging, it becomes a two-way testimony of God’s grace.

A mother pours into a child.

And one day, that child looks back and realizes just how much of their life was watered by her love.

Thanking God While They Can Still Hear It

One thing life teaches us is that we should not wait to honor people.

We should not wait until birthdays pass, until Mother’s Day comes, until someone is sick, until someone is gone or until we are standing in a room full of flowers wishing we had said more.

Honor should not only be spoken in memory.

It should be spoken in the present.

So today, I thank God for my mother, Marjorie Reed.

I thank God for her life. I thank God for her love. I thank God for the way she encouraged my reading, supported my writing and helped me see that my voice had value. I thank God that she had my back. I thank God that she helped nurture the imagination and faith that eventually became part of my work, my stories and my purpose.

And I thank God for the superhero-loving woman who helped raise a son who would grow up loving superheroes, writing stories and creating S.O.L.A.D.™: Soldiers of Light Against Darkness™.

That connection is special to me.

Because when I think about light fighting darkness, heroes finding their purpose and ordinary people being called into extraordinary battles, I also think about the kind of foundation that makes those stories possible.

A foundation of faith.

A foundation of imagination.

A foundation of encouragement.

A foundation of love.

A Declaration of Gratitude

• I declare that I will not take the love, prayers and encouragement of my mother for granted.

• I recognize the favor of having someone who believed in me, supported me and helped nurture the gifts God placed inside me.

• I honor the mothers and mother figures who speak life, cover their children in prayer and help shape purpose before the world sees the fruit.

• I will carry gratitude with humility, love with intention and purpose with responsibility.

A Birthday Prayer for My Mother

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for my mother, Marjorie Reed. Thank You for her life, her love, her encouragement and her presence. Thank You for the ways she has supported me, believed in me and helped nurture the gifts You placed inside me. Bless her on her birthday with strength, joy, peace, healing, comfort and renewed hope. Let her feel loved, appreciated and honored—not just today, but every day. Thank You for the favor of having her as my mother. In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

The Bigger Picture

When God gives you a mother or mother figure who believes in you, that is favor.

When He gives you someone who sees your gift early, that is favor.

When He gives you someone who encourages your dreams instead of crushing them, that is favor.

When He gives you someone who has your back, prays for you, corrects you, loves you and helps shape your purpose, that is favor.

And today, I recognize that favor with gratitude.

Happy birthday to my mother, Marjorie Reed.

Thank you for helping me love reading.

Thank you for encouraging my writing.

Thank you for introducing me—directly and indirectly—to the power of superheroes, imagination and storytelling.

Thank you for being my Martha Kent.

And thank you for believing in me.

🔥 Step Into Purpose, Light and Legacy

If this message speaks to you, then you will understand the heart behind my S.O.L.A.D.™: Soldiers of Light Against Darkness™ novel series. These stories are about light overcoming darkness, ordinary people discovering extraordinary purpose and the power of faith, courage and love to shape destiny.

And behind every story I write is a foundation built, in part, by a mother who encouraged a young boy to read, write, dream and believe.

👉 Order your autographed copies today:www.tyronetonyreedjr.com/the-shop