can i pray for you?...

"Can i pray for you?"

A question that i am totally fine asking a friend, family, or even anyone who i have coffee with. I am not even scared to ask a co-worker who doesn't believe in God if i can pray for them either. But...to walk up to someone random on the street and ask that simple question. Oh gosh. Fear and doubt rise in my heart. 

Today in class, everything was normal. I sat with the same people, completely oblivious to the fact that within 15mins we would be sent out of class early. After a short video our teacher told us to get up and go find someone to pray for. Um what??? Everyone quickly gathered their backpacks and we headed out. As i walked with two other friends along the sidewalk surrounding Moody, i was happy and nervous. Who would we encounter? How would this turn out? I was so excited that we were actually applying what we had been learning in class. I was nervous though. I had never done something like this before. This task was asking me to be bold and walk in the Spirit. Did i really believe the power of God? Well i was about to find out. 

We headed to a starbucks nearby the school to see if there was anyone we could talk to and as we were waiting to cross the intersection, i looked in the distance to see one of the Subway stations. A thought occurred...there is always someone who sits in a booth for endless hours, never smiling, at times looking like there is no hope in the world. I quickly expressed my idea of talking to whoever was in the booth to my team and they were all for it. We walked confidently towards the station. With each step though i started thinking, how in the world are we not going to be creepy? asking to pray for someone is not the "normal thing" to do and could freak people out. 

I approached the lady in the booth and simply asked: "Can i buy you coffee?" (where did that question come from? that came from nowhere) The lady was taken aback, looked at me suspicious and asked what the catch was. I said there was no catch. She looked uneasy. (ok God this is where you come and help me not sound creepy...) I then stated that "Would you like a giftcard instead?" With that, her face became less tense. We told her we would be back. 

A bit later we came back with a giftcard and a pumpkin scone. Her face lit up. She was so shocked and ended up walking out of the booth to give us each a hug.

After a minute of her expressing her thankfulness, one of my team members asked if there was anything we could pray for. She instantly told us about her life and how she was struggling financially. We ended up putting our arms around her and prayed. 

I walked away with so much joy, i even started to laughing. Here we were, college students who had no clue who we would encounter or how to bring up prayer. And here was God who had everything lined up. Earlier i read this quote by Neil Cole, "Rarely in my life have I felt God’s grace exhibited more blatantly. I was set up. From the beginning, every piece was put in place for me to come and make a difference. God did all the rest. In all the rescues (rescuing those who do not know Jesus) we have to make, he orchestrates the situations and choreographs our moves. We are privileged to play a part, but he is the one who does all the heavy lifting.”  My team was willing and available and God used us. We did nothing but obey and walk in the Spirit and not only did He bless her through us but we walked away feeling so much joy because we saw Christ move.

We have decided to make a weekly trip to say hello to her and i pray that God will continue to use us and that she will see Him. 

Today was a great day and proof that He is indeed God. He is Good. He is all-powerful. I feel so much more confident now in asking the simple yet deep question.

How can i pray for you?