“Today, prayer-walking has become a popular trend, but when my husband Charles and I started (more than 20 years ago!), I’d never heard of it. There was no mystery to it. We just did what we’d been doing—taking a walk together—only we put our prayer time into the walk instead of waiting until our walk had ended before praying together.” (Karen O’Connor)

That sounds pretty inventive doesn’t it?—walking together and praying —what a great idea! Not only is it inventive but they’re finding that it’s improving their marriage AND their spiritual life together. Read on to find out more that Karen wrote, which might inspire you to do the same:

[When we first started prayer-walking together] I wondered if we’d feel self-conscious praying aloud in a public area. But soon we realized the joggers and other walkers were as involved in their own routines as we were in ours.

We didn’t follow any prescribed method or carry prayer books with us. We just talked and then prayed about whatever we talked about. For example, I might mention a concern I had with one of our children or with my mother or a colleague. As soon as I voiced it, Charles would pray. If he shared a dilemma, I’d pray aloud for that. Then we’d take turns praying for our families, our church friends, neighbors, etc.

We didn’t go through a list of every name and need; that would take too long. But we did pray for different people as they came to mind. For example, one morning we prayed: “Dear God, please watch over our neighbors today and be especially present to Laura as she leaves town to attend her mother’s funeral.”

It might be that specific or as general as when we prayed for the leaders of our city, state, and nation to make wise choices that day.

Two decades later, we continue to prayer-walk, though we no longer hold to the early morning schedule. Now that my husband works part-time and at odd hours, we walk in the afternoon or early evening.

We’ve never made prayer-walking a “rule.” We want it to remain a treasure, something we enjoy doing. If one or the other doesn’t feel like it one day, we let it go and pray just before bed at night or upon waking in the morning. Regardless of when we do it, the benefits have been nothing short of miraculous. And it’s brought some unexpected rewards:

Our prayer-walks have led to a deeper, more intimate understanding of each another. My husband, for example, had fears I never knew about before. They began to surface during our prayer time… I also felt the freedom in our prayer-walks to reveal some of my secrets… These disclosures and the prayers that followed carried us to new heights in our marriage.

Suddenly what seemed so big to each of us was less of a burden, and we watched our marriage grow more intimate. It’s been so freeing to be completely real with God and with each other.

Over time, I realized that the fruit of our prayer-walks was not only evident to us but to our family and friends, as well. Other people commented when they came into our home that they could feel the love. Even our children remarked that we seemed more relaxed, and more in tune with each other. Little things that may have annoyed or bothered us before didn’t affect us anymore.

For example, I stopped fussing about Charles leaving open the closet door or his shoes under the coffee table. It just didn’t seem all that important any longer. I simply put away the shoes and closed the door as an act of love. And he was more patient and loving toward me when I forgot or misplaced something he needed.

The more we prayed, the more we were able to embrace those around us —to see their needs and to include them in our prayers. We’ve both noticed our increasing willingness to live in the moment. For example, when we’d notice a child laughing and playing with her sibling, we’d offer up a spontaneous praise for God’s gift of laughter.

On days when we can’t go outside because of illness or the weather, we still pray together. We pray in bed before we get up, or at the breakfast table before we go to work, or if one of us is out of town-we connect by phone. Our prayer life now has more purpose. Our goal is to experience oneness with God, physical and spiritual well-being, and personal time together. And what happens when the enemy tries to pull us down?

My friend and fellow prayer-walker, Janet, has a helpful reminder. She says, “When you’re praying, the Enemy can sling all kinds of weapons-discouragement, deception, doubt, depression, and despair. During those times of spiritual battle, the three-stranded cord —God, my husband, and I —keeps me praying even more strongly.”

Perhaps best of all is the simplicity of our communication with God and with us. We don’t have fancy “word feasts,” no self-conscious mumblings, no rattling on for the sake of hearing ourselves speak. We’ve discovered that prayer is simple conversation with God.

There are days when Charles and I will pray: “God, thank you for today, for each other, for life, for family and friends. Thank you for loving us, for forgiving us, for caring about us. We’re sorry for our short tempers, for our careless comments. But we’re also grateful that you’ve provided another chance to get it right! We love you, God.”

Today as I look back over the years since we started our prayer-walks, I’m amazed at the transformations that have occurred in my husband, in me, in our life together, and in our relationship with God. We’ve experienced more vitality, more authenticity, more intimacy, and more honesty in our marriage —just by perking it up with a prayer-walk.

The above idea comes from an article titled, “Walking with Purpose” written by Karen O’Connor. It was featured in Marriage Partnership Magazine, www.marriagepartnership.com, in spring 2003. We hope it might inspire you to consider trying what Karen and her husband have found to be so helpful in many ways to their own relationship. (You may also want to visit their web site to see what other articles they have that you could benefit from reading.)

It’s been found in various studies that attending church together doesn’t divorce-proof a relationship. However, it’s been shown that married couples who regularly pray together report the most satisfying marriages of all and the divorce rate for praying couples is less than 1%—which is DRAMATICALLY lower than those who don’t.

So why not try this idea of prayer-walking to a better marriage? It just might change your marriage in a positive way—more than anything else has to date!

We pray you’ve found this to be helpful. God Bless,
Steve and Cindy Wright

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