By Kristen Entwistle

Weeks ago, I was at a Living Proof Live conference, where Beth Moore was speaking to a group of over 10,000 women present, and another 50,000 watching via the internet. I was one of those 10,000 women packed into seats too small for comfort, waiting for the Word to come to me through His vessel.
The whole day was wonderful. I laughed, I cried, I was convicted, I was encouraged. But there’s one thing that stands out to me, something that happened that I never expected.
At the end of the day, Beth asked for women to stand for different things that they needed prayer for – deliverance from the struggle of fear; prayer for a covenant friendship that was broken; prayer for healing from being hurt by someone else, man or woman, so deeply that it didn’t seem possible to be healed. She asked those under 40 to stand and be prayed over, then those over 40. She asked for each of these groups to stand and for those around them to lay hands on them. I leaned forward with hands outstretched to the women in front of me who I did not know to pray for them, let them know that they were not alone. And yet I had come alone, sat alone, listened alone. And so when I stood with a group, I did not expect what happened next.
As I bowed my head in prayer, women from across the aisle came and prayed with me. They laid hands on me – a woman they did not know, as tears streamed down my face. As Beth’s friend prayed for healing from a hurt so deep that you didn’t think you could ever get over it, my shoulders shook with tears falling down my face. The women around me did not know my name. They did not know my situation. They did not know why the tears were falling – only that they were praying for a sister in Christ. Only that they were reaching out to touch a sister who was falling apart, and unbeknownst to them, helping to put her back together.
After the prayer ended, some of the women turned and went back to their seats. But one woman held onto my shoulder and turned me towards her. And then she hugged me, saying, “I’ll be praying for you.” She didn’t know me. Didn’t owe me anything. Didn’t have to pray for me. But she said she would anyway.
What if we did what these women and so many others did, but we did it every day? What if we crossed the aisle at church this Sunday and prayed for the person who walked through the door for the first time today? What if we stood with the grieving, the joyful, the hurting, the happy – and prayed with them and for them…even if we don’t know their name?
You might just be the prayer that one person needed today.