One Prayer Request I’ll Never Forget

My mom texted me a little while ago asking me to pray for a friend of mine who has been waiting for a heart transplant.

She’s a few years younger than I am and the picture of health. Unless you knew her story, you’d never guess she’s lived with serious heart problems since childhood. In all the years I’ve known her, she has never let it define her life.

About a year ago, I ran into her, and she told me she had been placed on the transplant list. I promised her I would be praying. Then she said something that has stayed with me ever since. She asked me to pray for the donor and their family.

Being a nurse herself, she understands what that likely means. Because she’s such a small woman, her donor will probably be someone young and healthy whose life is unexpectedly cut short. Then she said something that nearly took my breath away.

“Please pray that if they don’t know Jesus, they’ll come to know Him before that day.”

I don’t know that I’ve ever been more humbled by someone’s prayer request.

Here she was facing one of the biggest uncertainties of her life. She wasn’t just thinking about her own fear, her own future, or her own need. Her heart was already grieving for a family she hadn’t even met. She was praying that, in the midst of their unimaginable loss, they would have the hope of Christ.

I couldn’t help but think, Lord, that’s what it looks like to love your neighbor.

It’s easy to become consumed by our own struggles. When we’re hurting, waiting, or afraid, our world naturally grows smaller. But God has a way of ​lifting our eyes​ beyond ourselves.

The apostle Paul wrote:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” — Philippians 2:3-4

My friend’s words reminded me that even in our hardest seasons, we can still have hearts that care deeply for others. We may not be waiting for a transplant, but all of us know someone who is carrying a burden we can’t see.

Today, let’s pray not only for our own needs, but also for the people whose stories are intertwined with ours in ways we may never fully understand. Sometimes the greatest testimony of our faith isn’t found in what we’re asking God to do for us, but in the ​compassion He gives us for someone else​.

August 9, 2026, Morning Brew