Sometimes, it’s easier praying for strangers than for people you know because when it’s people you know, you tend to want to ‘help God out’ by praying for what you “think” they need. Well, that happens to “me,” sometimes, and yesterday, something happened that made me wonder.

Across the street from where we meet for recovery, a woman lives and deals drugs, but until yesterday, I’d only heard of her but had never seen her.

As some friends and I were talking outside, a woman came up and asked for a cigarette. Of course, no one ever REALLY has an “extra” one, so the answers were, “No,” but as she turned to walk away, I jumped up to pray for her.

She was SO appreciative and grabbed hold of my hands. As I began to pray, she started to cry. Then, God gave me specific things to pray over her, which made her cry more, so I hugged her as I prayed. She said no one had prayed for her and that she knew the Lord was there for her.

As she wiped her eyes, talking of all the negative things people had said about her, I thought to give her a couple dollars, but as usual, I didn’t have any, so I took her to the car, where Katie was, and asked Katie if she had anything. She said she didn’t, and then, the lady said something profound.

She said, “That’s okay! You’ve given me something worth more than money!” And, she hugged me. After that, she walked across the street to her home…the drug home I’d heard things about, and that blew me away!

Had I known who she was, would I’ve been so responsive? I hope so. I really, really hope so.

Now, I know her name and know where she lives, and I plan on baking her something to surprise her with it. I’m sure I’ll let you know what happens.