How a Simple Prayer Led to a Miraculous Healing and an International Prayer Movement

Brian Alarid remembers the desperation he felt four years ago. His 12-year-old daughter had to be rushed to the hospital because of severe stomach pain. Doctors didn’t know what was wrong. But something was definitely wrong.

Brian tells me the story of how he and his wife spent six frightening weeks trying to find out what was wrong with their daughter, Chloe. The problems seemed to only get worse. What started as stomach pain eventually put Chloe in a wheelchair and, eventually, she couldn’t move the left side of her body. Not too long after, her eyes became swollen shut and then, to her parents’ horror, came amnesia.

But what the devil meant for evil, God turned around for good. Out of that scary situation, God led Brian to found a prayer movement that’s beginning to spread across the United States.

It started the day Brian was in the hospital with Chloe. He cried out to God: “God, take care of my baby girl!” Brian says God told him, “If you start 24/7 prayer, I’ll take care of your girl.”

“God said to start 24/7 prayer for every city, every state, every nation,” he says. “I wrestled, I surrendered and two days later, Chloe got out of the wheelchair and walked for the first time in six weeks. She walked out of the hospital on May 15—with some nerve pain, some stomach issues, some migraines—but she walked out of the hospital and her memory came back. And so I just knew, ‘OK, God kept His end of the bargain; now I have to keep my end of the bargain.’ So that’s where this whole movement came from.”

Brian called the movement New Mexico Prays. And just as God began a healing work in Chloe, He also began a healing work in Brian’s home state of New Mexico.

“In 2017, God breathed on it,” he says. “We saw dramatic turnaround in our economy. Crime even went down. So there was real, tangible, documented results to prayer. And the chief of police, the mayor, lieutenant governor—they were all part of that transformation story.”

That same year, Brian launched America Prays. Dick Eastman of Every Home for Christ got involved and the movement spread to 10 nations, leading them to launch World Prays.

Brian decided to write about the incredible lessons he has learned along the way of this amazing faith-filled journey. The result is his book, When People Pray: What Happens When Ordinary People Pray to an Extraordinary God.

Dick Eastman calls When People Pray “one of the most significant books on prayer [he’s] read in [his] lifetime.” And the incredible thing is that Brian is now offering this book free during the COVID-19 crisis.

In the book, he shares not only his own incredible story of watching God answer big prayers, but he also shares stories from other men and women of faith you may recognize in our culture. One of them is David Green, founder of Hobby Lobby. Before the idea of a Christ-centered retail chain ever entered his mind, his mother was praying that God would cause all her children to be involved in ministry. David never felt called to be a pastor, but God still answered his mother’s prayers in miraculous ways.

“[The book contains] real-life stories of what happens when people pray,” Brian says. “It’s also a template and a model of what God can do in a city, in a state, in a nation, when people unite together in prayer.”

All you have to do to get the e-book is go to whenpeoplepray.com and download it. Make sure you also listen to my full interview with Brian. He shares so many more miracles God did in answer to his simple prayers and those of other men and women of faith like you. Click here to listen!