Devotional: Praying for Strangers

Ephesians 6:18

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

She sat on the couch in the breakfast room of the motel coloring in one of those adult coloring books as she waited for her husband's meeting to end.  

A  woman walked in talking on a cell phone and took a seat at a corner table. She was talking, with urgency, about her husband who had had some health episodes of recent and telling the person on the other end how it has changed his personality.  He wouldn't go near his motorcycle, he was filled with anxiety, he had episodes of imbalance, he had lost 40 lbs and the list went on and on.  She described how he had had an MRI but it showed nothing.  They were clearly at wits end to know where to turn and what to do next.  Then she went on to talk about the emotional toll it was taking on her and how it was beginning to affect his pastoral ministry.

The woman on the couch continued to color in her adult coloring book, but listened to the conversation of the woman in the corner.  She silently began to pray for her and the situation she was in.  She prayed for her to find guidance and comfort in her difficulties and for her husband to also find comfort and healing.

It was time for the woman on the couch to put her things away and leave, but before she did, she got out a small piece of paper and scribbled a message to the woman on the phone.  She wrote, "I just prayed for you." and she signed her name.  She walked over and set the paper on the table in front of the woman and turned to leave.  As she looked back, the woman was smiling at her with misty eyes as it had encouraged her to know that someone whom she had never met was praying for her.

The above story is a true story.  It illustrates how we can be a blessing to hurting people we don't even know.  It only requires that we be alert to the conversations and things going on around us, so we know how to pray for the people involved.  I would like to challenge you when you are out and about to notice who is around you.  Pray for them.  If God leads you to write a quick note like the woman in the story above, do so.  You never know how it might encourage them.