That’s what I had this morning on my solitary prayer walk – an unexpected encounter of the best kind. I say this because there are “unexpected encounters” that do not make our day better, but instead make our day more difficult or more painful than it otherwise would have been without the encounter. However, this was not one of those encounters that brings one down, leaving you discouraged or even distraught. No, this encounter was pure joy, just the encouragement I needed on this ordinary day, this mundane morning, to lift my soul in thanks to God for His unexpected gift of this encounter.

You see, I was walking weary – not weary of body but weary of spirit. I was weary in prayer because the needs are so numerous and the burdens so heavy – alone it is easy to feel overwhelmed. This in spite of the fact that I know “nothing is too hard for God.” I was feeling weak until our paths crossed (literally) and everything changed. Now full disclosure, our paths had crossed once before just recently, where I had acknowledged to her that I wasn’t talking to myself as I walked, but to God. I guess I felt the need to explain my odd behavior to a stranger so I wouldn’t be thought weird.

To my surprise, I received complete understanding instead of a bewildered or a judgmental response. Turns out, she’s a prayer walker too! So, no explanation needed. Which brings me to this morning, when our paths crossed again and she remembered my name! We talked briefly. She shared a prayer request which gave me the courage to share a prayer burden of mine, so close to my heart that it is too painful to share with others, so I don’t. But I shared it with her this morning. My load was lightened. My burden wasn’t gone, but it was borne by another besides myself. Reminded me of this instruction from Galatians –

“Bear one another’s burdens; and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

I walked on feeling lighter, while thanking God for this good gift, this unexpected encounter. As I continued walking and talking (which is to say praying) I was reminded of something that happened to Moses that seems relevant to me today. The story is told in Exodus about Joshua and the Israelites fighting the Amalekites. It happened like this –

“The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.’ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.” (Exodus 17:8-13)

Moses was weak, he grew tired from having to keep his hands raised while the battle went on below him. But Moses wasn’t alone. Aaron and Hur were with him. They lifted him up. They fought the battle with him. That’s how it is with prayer. We lift each other up to God in prayer. When the enemy seems to be winning and I feel too defeated, too tired, too weak to pray, I am sustained by the knowledge that others are praying for me until I can again take my place on the wall and cry out to God.

This I do gladly for others, praying for those weak and wounded souls who are too weary to pray for themselves, feeling far from God until they come to know just how near He really is. This morning, I felt my faith strengthened, knowing someone else was praying with me for a specific, impossible mountain to be moved. I think this is something the enemy of our souls fears – us bearing each other’s burdens in prayer. Probably because he knows our faith, even if only a mustard seed amount, moves mountains and he knows –

“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)

We all have mountains in our lives that need moving. It is prayer that will move them. What a privilege to pray with others for their mountains to move even as they pray with me for the moving of my mountains. When I pray with and for others, I am essentially holding up their hands to God, when like Moses, they have become too weary to raise their hands themselves. And I am grateful for all the times others come alongside me in prayer, holding up my hands when I am too tired to continue holding them up to God myself. I am told to –

“pray continually” and “always keep on praying for all the saints.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 & Ephesians 6:18)

I thank God for my unexpected encounter today, encouraging me in my prayer walk to keep on praying, never giving up, knowing that someone else is praying too. Together we are calling down the kingdom as we pray individually and collectively –

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Today, I encountered a stranger and found a sister! (we even share a favorite movie, “War Room”) Thank You, Heavenly Father!

sincerely, Grace Day