Lead Me to the Cross

Have you ever prayed for a stranger? What I mean by a stranger is someone who you have never met in your life, yet felt compelled to pray for. I am not sure when or why but I started to pray for strangers as I would pass them by asking for God’s presence to be evident to them in their daily life. It (the earning to pray) usually happens when I see a person walking on a sidewalk as I am driving by or students waiting outside for a bus to pick them up for school. We all face life’s unexpected giants in our journey so why not lift each other up in prayer?! I may not know specifics of a situation that a person is dealing with, but God does. And I find it an honor to be able to lift them up to the Lord asking for His hand to be upon them. In fact I experienced a stranger’s prayer in my life.


I was surrounded by a crowd of strangers as I was boarding a plane after a speaking engagement out of state. Those who spend a few minutes with me learn quickly that I am a talker. In fact, if I am quite for more than 5 minutes my husband checks on me to make sure that I am ok. I absolutely love meeting new people and getting to know them, which usually starts with a casual conversation. The day I boarded the plane was no different. As I was buckling up I noticed that a man (lets call him Johnny, because I can’t remember his name) next to me was playing a video game, so I started a conversation by asking what brought him to the state we were about to leave. Johnny turned off his game and started to tell me that he just left his mother’s funeral. I told him that I was sorry to hear about his loss and his next comment opened up a double door for me to start up a conversation about God. Johnny said that he hoped his mom was in a better place. Before you know a man that was once engrossed in his video game was interested in a conversation about God. His questions were tough and quite honest I did not know how to answer many of them.

At a time when my answers were few, I would pause and ask God to speak through me. I believe what Matt 10:19-20 says, “Do not worry what to say or how to say it. At that time you would be given what to say. For it will not you, but the Spirit of Your Father will speak through you.” God always comes through with His promise when I am lost for words! Once again He gave me words and stories from the Bible as I tried to answer Johnny’s questions. I am not so sure what was going through Johnny’s mind, but I do now that it was not by accident that God have placed us as airplane neighbors. Before you know the announcement informed the passengers that our plane was about to land so Johnny and I said our goodbyes.

I was once again surrounded by passengers as I was rushing through the isle of a plane. Before my feet had chance to exit the plane I was stopped by a stranger. The woman looked at me and said, “I heard you witnessing to a man next to you, and I just want to let you know that I prayed the whole time”. I was speechless! My God knew that I would be seating next to Johnny who would ask tough questions about faith. He then placed a stranger, who was compelled to pray during the time I was lost for words. God then honored the prayer and gave me words to say. I am amazed, are you?! My friend, next time you see a stranger passing you by stop and pray for the stranger. You never know a stranger may be praying for you too.