Have you ever prayed for a stranger? I’ve always had a weak spot in my heart for people hurting physically and mentally. Even before totally allowing Christ into my heart I would find myself praying for a passing ambulance with their lights on, praying for firefighters as I pass by a station, also police who zoom by sirens blaring. 

Now, I’m able to see hurt in more areas than just the obvious. It seems my compassion for others has grown enormously. When before, I would usually pass by a lady walking down the street with obvious pain on her face every step she took, I’d show little to no concern for her. I now feel an immediate need to stop what I am doing and pray. When I say pray, I dont mean I go all  crazy Christian on her, I just say a quick prayer without her even knowing it’s been done. 

Spotting anothers pain out of a crowd isn’t something most people search for. Usually people are spotted for their upbeat bright personalities. So, by saying I find people and pray for them might sound odd to you. I intentionally search for the one showing signs of pain, and talk about it to God. Nothing crazy, I may not even remember much about it after I’ve done it either. We’ll give it a name; pop up prayer. Prayer for a random person who isn’t even aware of what you’ve done. 

Once you start with pop up prayers, you may eventually find yourself sitting in the parking lot of a store praying for people walking in and out. My husband and I recently did this, it was so much fun! We would take turns with people walking in, then we switched to people walking out. We prayed over what our hearts felt they needed prayer for. 

Example: a young lady gets into her car and my husband prays for her safetly being a female out at night alone. I got a couple who looked like they were going out to party, I prayed whatever desicion they made that night, He would protect them and allow His presence to be felt.

We did this in our car, no one had a clue they were being prayed for. Can you imagine what it could be like if we all took time to pray for a stranger? Not to mention how much it helps you, in being compassionate for others. Another thing it helped was, allowing for our marriage to get stronger. Praying together has been one of our main focusing points, this brought that to a new level. 

I don’t have all the answers, I can’t say this will fix your problems. All I know is through so much hurt, focusing on others was a way to dig my way out of depression on more than one occasion. Always relying on and believing that Christ would show me the way. I know I had someone praying for me and I believe whole heartedly those prayers kept me from so much more danger, hurt, or even death. Pray over a stranger, you never know how much they truly need it. 

PRAYER:

Open our eyes to see how you want us to see. Show us the importance of prayer and compassion. Allow our hearts to be renewed, give us courage to pray for strangers. Most importantly, let us remember that after we pray we ask your will be done. In Jesus name. -Amen.