Ever read a book that captured you to the core and caused you to think … truly think? I’m in the middle of reading, Praying for Strangers by River Jordan. This book is one of those books.

In the nonfiction book, this fiction writer shares her resolution journey to pray for a stranger daily. She not only prays for them, but meets them, and listens to their stories. Complete strangers. She tells about how the journey is changing her, perhaps more than those she’s praying for.

I’ve been reading it for a while—largely because it’s so thought provoking. I get through a few short chapters and I sit and ponder. It’s caused me to re-evaluate how I look at others around me as well as my own prayer life. It’s made me look deeper.

I pray for needs I do know, but what about those I don’t. What about the people who are afraid to speak out. How could I impact those I come in contact with every single day if I just took time to pray for strangers?

It’s so easy to get caught up in our routines, life’s demands, and challenges and just focus on what’s before us. Every man for himself. But is that all life is to be about? No.

I have started to look at strangers differently … the man at Walmart who stayed even though it was his lunch hour, just to put the new battery in my car because he had started working with me prior to his lunch time beginning. I prayed for him. The woman at the gym I crossed paths with a few days ago that was so proud of herself that she showed up to work out. I prayed for her.

So many people. So many needs. So many reasons to pray.