The Nashville bus terminal was packed. It was the first week in January 2009, and my husband, Owen, and I were bidding farewell to my mother-in-law.<\/p>\n
Somehow my gaze was drawn to a woman waiting at the ticket counter. Tell her you\u2019ll pray for her<\/em>, a voice inside me said. Remember your New Year\u2019s resolution: Pray for a stranger every day.<\/em> I\u2019d been trying to ignore it.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong. I pray. Often. But I\u2019m an introvert. A say-my-prayers-in-private kind of person. Besides, I had much bigger things on my mind than worrying about random strangers.<\/p>\n Both of my sons, Chris and Nick, had been deployed right after the holidays. One to Iraq, one to Afghanistan. They\u2019d be gone for a year. I\u2019m proud of my military boys, but I was a total wreck.<\/p>\n What if this turned out to be our last Christmas together? The last time I saw them<\/em> together? Fear flooded my mind. How could I pray for people I didn\u2019t know when I was the one who needed prayer? And a whole lot of it.<\/p>\n Yet here I was, staring at the woman at the ticket counter and I couldn\u2019t ignore that voice inside any longer. I\u2019d promised to do this and she was my stranger. I mustered up my nerve and walked up to her. She\u2019s going to think I\u2019m crazy.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHi, my name is River,\u201d I said. \u201cAnd… I have this resolution to pray for a stranger every day, and today you\u2019re my stranger so I\u2019ll be thinking about you and saying special prayers for you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, honey! My name is Annie. This is unbelievable! Do you know what I was saying to God just this morning?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, ma\u2019am…\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was saying my prayers when I asked God, \u2018Is there anybody in this whole wide world who is praying for me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n This was<\/em> unbelievable! \u201cWell, it looks like I am,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Maybe there were other people out there who needed to know someone\u2014even a stranger\u2014was praying for them. From that day forward I tried to be that someone. I prayed for a stranger every day.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t say I chose them exactly. I didn\u2019t have any particular system. Sometimes it seemed like they were chosen for me. I\u2019d turn the corner and a person would come into view and it was like an inexplicable urging: This is the one.<\/em> It might be a cashier, a man on his lawnmower or a lady at the grocery.<\/p>\n That was Estelle. She was in front of the supermarket collecting contributions for a kids\u2019 ministry. When I told her I\u2019d pray for her she asked my name.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m gonna pray for you too,\u201d she said. \u201cMatter of fact, I\u2019m gonna pray for you right now!\u201d She pulled me close to her. I wanted to say, \u201cNo, don\u2019t pray for me here, in public. Pray later, like I do!\u201d Then I felt the balm of her words rush over me, asking for goodness in my life. Pray on, Estelle!<\/em> I thought. Pray on.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll pray for you again when God brings you to mind,\u201d she told me. \u201cI won\u2019t even need to remember your name. I\u2019ll see your face and I\u2019ll know.\u201d I knew just what she meant.<\/p>\n That encounter with Estelle boosted my confidence. If she could pray for me so boldly, surely I could do the same for another.<\/p>\n A few days later I met a woman whose son had died. I wrapped my arms around her and prayed fervently. I couldn\u2019t tell you what words I uttered, only that I prayed them out loud with all my might. From one mama to another.<\/p>\n Sometimes I thought I\u2019d chosen the wrong stranger. Take Trisha. I met her at a restaurant. She was young, gorgeous, wearing killer shoes and an artfully tied scarf. Not exactly a \u201cplease pray for me\u201d poster child. More like Little Miss Perfect.<\/p>\n Turns out she was a victim of this tough economy, out of work and anxious about finding a job. \u201cThank you for the prayers,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel better already.\u201d Everyone needs prayer, even beautiful young women wearing designer shoes. Lesson learned.<\/p>\n Other than telling Owen, I kept my resolution from my family and friends, even from the boys. We\u2019d send letters and packages, and have all-too-infrequent video chats on the computer, but I let Chris and Nick do most of the talking. I missed them something fierce!<\/p>\n Knowing I had a stranger to pray for forced me to get out there\u2014to walk through the world with my eyes open and see other people\u2019s needs and troubles, not just my own.<\/p>\n Still, some strangers were there at the right time to help me. Like a man I met in October at the deli. He had red hair and a beard and was sitting with a notepad and pencil. Something about him seemed otherworldly.<\/p>\n I was having a hard time quieting my worries about my boys that day, but I followed my urge to go over and talk to him.<\/p>\n \u201cMy name is Edward,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have no idea how much I needed to hear that you\u2019re praying for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Edward didn\u2019t get into specifics, but for some reason, I found myself pouring my heart out to him.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, Edward, this means so much to me,\u201d I said. \u201cMy two sons are deployed overseas and this resolution, I think, has been saving my life. It pushes me to get out and not get swallowed up by my worries. I just thought you should know.\u201d<\/p>\n Thinking I\u2019d said too much, I walked away from the table.<\/p>\n \u201cRiver, come back,\u201d he said. \u201cYou listen to me. Your sons are going to be all right. They\u2019ll be coming home soon.\u201d<\/p>\n