Woman Prayer Walks the United States

WASHINGTON - Most Christians are familiar with the concept of prayer-walking their neighborhoods.

But what if God told you you were supposed to prayer-walk the entire country?

There's a woman out there walking everyday, praying for your nation. And she's done it from the Mexican to the Canadian border, from the Pacific coast of Washington state to the Atlantic coast of Florida, and is now wrapping up a trek all along the East Coast from Florida to Maine.

CBN News met Lyn Hanush hiking through the nation's capital.

She's always loved walking, but wanted to do something big and meaningful.and for God and country.

"I've always wanted to walk, to go across America. But the thing that really inspired it was when 9-11 happened. And I was starting to plan for that walk, and my husband and I looked at each other and we said 'this is the time, got to be done, and it has to be praying for our nation, for the unity of our country," Lyn said.

Now most people are just fine praying privately in their own homes. But not Lyn.

"It could be done from home, definitely. But I believed that God had called me to walk and pray and to claim this land step by step back for Him," Lyn said.

Often with the company of a relative or two, she covered the country coast-to-coast during much of 2003 and 2004.

"Walked 4,000, 26-and-a-half miles, and it was over 8 million steps."

But now her latest walk, the one from Florida to Maine, has a special purpose.

"This one I'm praying specifically for the election year. It's called The Gap Walk and Ezekiel 22:30 is my theme verse for this walk. That's where God said 'I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it,'" she said.

Lyn's written a book, filled with the faces of the thousands of Americans she's encountered, mostly out there in the rural and small-town parts of America that don't get much attention.

She said she and her fellow walkers were constantly touched and amazed at the generosity of those people in the heartland, especially in churches that over and over again took up love offerings for the walkers.

"We knew we had needs and didn't know where the funds were going to come from and God just provided totally unexpected. Because we never asked for money, never once. But always it was there," she said.

And these long-distance hikers were gratified how many people seemed to really appreciate the reason for their cross-country prayer walk.

"And many times they would say, 'can you pray for me? Here's a request,'" she said.

As she nears the end of her latest odyssey, does Lyn feel she's made a difference?

"People have said so many times 'thank you for praying.' And I've had people say that I've encouraged them to do something and not to just sit back in complacency anymore," she said.

Indeed, we may not actually put on our hiking shoes like Lyn has, but everyone of us does have our own walk with the Lord and the need to discover just how we're supposed to 'walk that out.'