Praying for People Even When it’s Awkward—Jade’s Story
By: yesHEis
Jade is a fashion designer with a passion for making new creations and repurposing secondhand items. It’s no surprise that in a spiritual sense she also has a desire for making old things new, having a strong calling to pray for people’s needs. However, as she tells, it’s not always that easy…
Sometimes when I pray for a stranger I walk away thinking, “God, what just happened??!!” I’m the kind of person who is very open to praying for people, especially strangers, so it takes a lot for me to feel uncomfortable in that type of social situation.
This time, I was at work and felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to pray for a customer who was visibly not well. So I approached him and offered to pray for him. He said, “Yeah sure, if it makes you feel better…”
This was not the response that I was hoping for. The prayer was short, it was an uncomfortable moment and I walked away wondering whether I had got it all wrong.
However, after reflecting on the moment I had an important realization—prayer is not all about me.
Underneath my disappointment was an expectation that when I pray for someone, that it needs to be a transcendent experience where the miraculous happens and someone experiences Jesus for the first time. Now this CAN and DOES happen—I’ve experienced it before—but it doesn’t always happen like that.
God doesn’t call us to transcendent moments, he calls us to obedience.
Sometimes our obedience results in awesome moments. Other times our prayer might be a small part in a much larger picture of what God is doing in a person’s life. Either way, our role is to be obedient to the part God calls us to play and leave the rest up to him. With the man I prayed for at work—I have no idea what was going on spiritually in that moment and what God’s plans for his life are.
It’s important to approach these situations with an expectation of faith, believing that the situation could fully change, and I truly believe that it will because of the power of Jesus that lives within us. This is where the Holy Spirit moves in our everyday ordinary natural lives.
It’s also important to manage my self-talk—“This moment is not about me. This is actually about building the Kingdom. This is going to help this person.”—and trust that He is moving. I don’t necessarily have to see the big picture. I just have to be faithful with the small. That’s faith.
In all of this, it’s actually important to just say yes and be obedient with everything that God calls us to do, even when it’s not what we expect.
Article supplied with thanks to The Journey by yesHEis.
About the Author: yesHEis provides various resources to help share your faith in relatable ways.
Images: Supplied
