How To Pray For Someone You Don’t Like

How To Pray For Someone You Don’t Like
Posted on Nov 13, 2016 in Devotions
By:  Ria Lopez

For most women, finding the right salon/spa aesthetician can take a couple of misses. It’s like finding your soul mate, you get some duds and then finally a gem. So when I found my soul mate aesthetician, I was adamant to never let her go that I prepaid for a year’s worth of services. It was a big mistake because one day I found her flaw. Three words: last minute cancellations. After repeated last minute cancellations and with lots of minutes wasted in the waiting room, I have to finally break up with her. (Sob)
 
I still have to get my refund from her for only using a handful of my prepaid payment. I disliked her even more after six months of no refund and endless list of why she cannot pay me back yet. Finally, I decided to come back and see her one last time to get my money’s worth on a couple of services. She made me wait an hour and came up with so-so excuses. Needless to say, I am furious. She started talking about why she should not be at work that day. It turned out, her daughter was a victim of domestic violence just the night before. I felt her pain as a mother. I have to admit, although I felt sorry for what happened to her daughter, that did not change the way I feel towards her. I felt rebuked at that point. I was ashamed at how I was so self-involved and insensitive. And although, I am still not a big fan of her, I started asking God for forgiveness for my behavior.  
 
I just remembered the lesson about the ‘armor of righteousness’ from the ‘Armor of God’ series we were learning at the weekly women’s Bible study. In my heart, I know God wants me to pray for her. But what was surprising (and even more challenging ) for me was, I have a gnawing feeling to pray with her at that very moment. I want to pray “Lord, you have got to be kidding me”! I don’t even want to talk to this person right now, more so, pray with her. Wow, that is a lot to ask. But in my heart, I know I cannot leave without doing what is asked of me. I am someone who barely make small talk with strangers so praying with someone is already out of my league, more so, someone I don’t like. But God has His way. It’s not my intention to brag about myself for obeying. I am sharing this story because I am proud of my God who is at work in my life. He is the one teaching me. He equipped me so His words will work in my life and bless that lady who is so broken that day. What I learned from my experience is that obedience unlocks an outflow of blessings, not only to others, but surprisingly, myself. I felt relieved praying for that lady because it loosened the grip of anger in my heart. This helped me overcome my reservations about witnessing. It proves that obeying is the only step to take because God will take care of the rest.  
 
After our prayer ended, she tearfully thanked me and said that in her 25 years of being an aesthetician and sharing her whole life story to anybody on the spa chair, this is the first time somebody ever prayed for her.