The Girl Covered in Prayer

Activate world-changing prayer through young leaders

Lydia Williams knows the power of prayer firsthand after God carried her through a life-altering medical crisis. Now on the OneWay team, she helps mobilize believers around the world to do the same. Below, she shares her story in her own words.

—

Have you ever had a clear sense that your life is different because of something someone did? 

I have. I believe that my life is different – not just changed, but saved – because people prayed. 

I am alive today because of prayer. And now, I get the honor of spending my life helping people understand that power and get involved in praying for the nations. In fact, I believe God called me into ministry for exactly this purpose.

In 2018, at the age of 15, a set of serious neurologic conditions flipped my life upside down. Overnight, I went from being a healthy teenager, to being homebound and unable to sit up for more than ten minutes. Days previously spent attending school, quickly filled instead with appointments; and, as my friends learned to drive, I struggled to walk in a straight line. Weeks turned into months, and then years, and yet my condition only worsened. Doctors were baffled, answers remained elusive, and my life hung in the balance. But God…

He built a prayer army around me. What began as a CaringBridge page for friends and family to stay up to date on all things medical, turned into a community that surrounded my family in prayer, holding us up as Aaron and Hur did for Moses (Exodus 17). Still to this day, this army – which has long expanded from just CaringBridge – prays daily, boldly and persistently on my behalf. These prayers have carried me through severe malnutrition, blood infections, brain surgeries and more.

But, it was only this summer, that I realized that my life being spared through prayer was not the end of the way God would use prayer in my life. In fact, it was just the beginning. 

On May 20th, 2025, I joined seventeen fellow young adults at OneWay, kicking off a summer internship that promised discipleship, community and hands-on work. I came in with a complex story, a deep love for the Lord, and an eagerness to serve in whatever capacity needed, anticipating diving into work. 

Transparently, though, I also hoped the Lord would allow me to leave the medical side of my story behind – stepping out of a season of rehab, into a work setting, and away from what (on the hardest days) feels like the burden of a fragile body. Yet, instead, God generously wove (and continues to weave) a story together with my fragile body…igniting a fire within me for activating the Church to pray – a fire fueled by the passion of being a first-hand recipient of the power of prayer, and believing wholeheartedly that our bodies which are outwardly wasting away (2 Cor.4:16) get to propel us towards the foot of the Almighty’s throne. 

My job today: connecting with and mobilizing believers around the world to pray for the unreached. What began as an internship with the Prayercast team opened the door to a role where I now spend my days engaging with people across the globe and inviting them into God’s heart for the nations.

I never could have imagined that in the years of illness, God was growing within me a deep value for relationships and prayer. Or that today, with a fragile body in tow, God would be allowing me to help people get involved in the exact thing that saved my life.

God used prayer to save my life, and more and more I believe it gets to be the heartbeat of all believers’ lives. For who can fathom the mind of God? And who can do the mighty works necessary for His Kingdom other than the Almighty himself? For from him, and through him, and for Him are all things.

—

There are so many like Lydia that the Lord is sending in this generation. We are looking to raise up 50 interns in 2026 to be sent, boosting gospel-advancing media and missions ministries.

Want to change the world? Equip the prayer mobilizers.

Seize the moment and empower young leaders like Lydia by giving toward our $200,000 year-end campaign today!

GIVE NOW