"Hi!"

She smiles and calls over the table to me, seemingly unaware of the post-concert mob jostling her back and forth.

"Hi, can I grab you anything?" I ask over the din.

"Yeah I just wanted to say hi!!" A group of 8-year old girls swarm in front of her eager to buy my entire stock of wristbands and for a second I think I've lost her. Then, "Do you have a minute?" she pops up again, still smiling.

I motion to the end of the merchandise table and she makes her way against the current. To be honest I'm a bit impatient. This is always the busiest 20 minutes of my day, and I'm anxious to wrap up.

She's still smiling as she struggles free of the mob and into the little clearing away from the table.

"Hi! I'm Sarah!" she brushes the hair out of her face.

"Hi, I'm Gabby!" I still have to raise my voice over the crowded room.

"I know!" She smiles brightly. "I know this is weird, and I know you're busy, but I just wanted you to know, I'm praying for you."

"What?" It's not that I didn't hear her, but I need to hear it again.

"I'm praying for you. Every night, my husband and I pray for the band's ministry, but we're also praying for you."

I stupidly struggle for something to say, overwhelmed and humbled. Suddenly the noisy room feels quiet and slow. My heart gapes... what?!

"I know it's a bit random, but I just wanted you to know you're loved and there are people who pray for you daily. God is using you." She hugs me, waves, and melts back in the crowd before I can formulate my next incoherent sentence.

* * *

It's been a few months since I met Sarah in that crowded atrium, but I still think about her and wonder at God's mercy. She is praying for me. I know barely anything about her, but she is praying for me.

Sometimes I wonder if she's an angel, just sent in the busyness to remind me the power of intercession. I feel unworthy, and unbelievably loved.

But the reality is, someone is interceding everyday for all of us. And it has nothing to do with worth, and everything to do with love. Jesus speaks, prays and intercedes on our behalf.

Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. - Hebrews 7:25 NLT

Jesus, the King, is perpetually interceding before the throne on your behalf. Every whisper, every groan, everything that makes you feel like your drowning in a crowded room, is brought before the Father on your behalf. By the one who the Father loves and is well-pleased in.

This truth makes my knees quake-- Jesus prays for us.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. - Romans 8:26 ESV

You and I don't know how to pray for ourselves most of the time. So God asks Sarah and her husband to pray everyday. He asks people we've never met, and may never meet again to pray. He asks his own Son to bring our pains and burdens, even when we don't have the words to speak them.

This truth makes my knees quake-- Jesus prays for us. It's enough to make the room go still.