No One's Ever Prayed for Me Before

No One’s Ever Prayed for Me Before

When Reggie McNeil was with us at Holy Comforter last year, he challenged us to do one simple act of missional ministry by asking a person, “How can I ask God to bless you today?” I’ve been doing that very thing ever since and the stories would fill a whole other blog.
At dog camp the staff gives of themselves 110%, not only to the people but to their dogs. You know how tiring it can be when you give another person your full attention. Now expand that to giving not only a person but their dog your full attention. You give and you give and you give. Although the staff’s enthusiasm for what they are doing has not flagged I could tell that the energy was getting low as we neared in then end of camp.
One staffer, Sue, has been offering a series of classes of problem behaviors. She was a master diagnostician, listing to the concerns and then offering remedies. At the end of the session I asked Sue if I could pray with her (yes, I skipped the part about the blessing). She just beamed. So, with permission, I signed the cross on her forehead ad prayed for healing of spirit, to be blessed with energy and other things I can not now remember. But what I do remember is that when we finished she said, “Wow. No one’s ever prayed for me before.” Sue is probably reaching the mid-point of life, yet in all those years, no one has ever prayed for her. Her eyes were shinning ad she had the biggest grin on her face when she said that, as if she had been given a great gift – which she had – not by me but by God using me to step out in a moment.
I don’t think this story is unique. We are surrounded by scores of people who don’t know that they are worthy of God’s love, much less worthy of God’ care and concern. We don’t have to be obnoxious in stepping out to pray with another, we just have to do it. I hope I never hear the words, “No ones ever prayed with me before.” But if I do, I hope I hear it at the conclusion of what will be the first in a long series of prayers for that individual. No one’s ever prayed for me before. Imagine.