A Million Women Gather in Brazil to Pray - From the Back Row
- Dec 16, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 17, 2025
What Lou Engel's global Esther movement looks like from the inside...
I didn’t plan on traveling to Brazil this year. My first introduction to A Million Women came unexpectedly when I tuned into their Washington, DC gathering online after hearing about it at the last minute. It’s a global Esther movement founded by Lou Engle that gathers women to pray and contend for their nations. Around that same time, something unusual began happening in the background of my own work. While promoting my new book, I noticed a steady rise in engagement from Brazil. Brazilians were liking, following, and interacting with my content, even those who didn’t speak English..
The Lord began highlighting Brazil to me in small but consistent ways. So, when the leader of a prophetic class I was attending sent out a newsletter announcing she would be part of A Million Women’s international gathering in Brazil, it felt like God was pointing at something. The movement was going global, Brazil was one of the locations, and I knew I needed to be there.
Upgrade to The Platinum Pass (Only $4.99)
The Event Before The Event
When I first landed in São Paulo, I was charged with excitement.
Before long, the trip took an unexpected but meaningful turn. I met in person the woman I had connected with months earlier in the prophetic class, the same class where the leader announced she would be part of the Brazil gathering. We already had a genuine rapport online, so meeting face-to-face at the airport felt natural, like reconnecting with a Brazilian friend I already knew. We shared an Uber to the hotel, talking the entire way as if God was already weaving purpose into our time together.
After I settled into my hotel room, I noticed my mood was off. I felt out of sync in a way I couldn’t explain. At first, I assumed it was traveling fatigue, but the Lord made it clear it wasn’t that. I was picking up the spiritual climate of the city. I now knew one thing to target in prayer at the gathering.
Later that evening, my Brazilian friend introduced me to two more Brazilian women and an American attendee, and the four of us quickly formed a small community. We had dinner together the night before the event, sharing how each of us ended up in São Paulo, what we were believing God for, and what drew us to A Million Women Brazil. None of it was planned, yet it all felt intentional. The conversations were easy, organic, and sincere. It wasn’t networking in the formal sense. It was connection that found you instead of the other way around.
That dinner set the tone for the next day. It reminded me that these gatherings are not only about the services themselves. They are about who God seats beside you. Who you meet in the hallway. Who ends up becoming part of your story without effort.
Inside A Million Women Brazil
By the morning of the gathering, the sense of anticipation was undeniable. Women had traveled from across Brazil and other nations, each carrying a deep readiness for what God would do. When I stepped onto the venue grounds, I felt the anointing of the Lord come on me in a way I couldn’t ignore. The dullness I felt in the city wasn’t present at the venue. Instead, the atmosphere was open and ready for the Lord to move. Over the next ten hours, He did.
Prayer, worship, and prophetic decrees filled the air without losing momentum. Standing among thousands with hands raised and hearts engaged, I could feel the sincerity of their cry. Their hunger was personal. Their worship was raw and unreserved.
But to be candid, the day was not without its challenges. The heat pressed in from every direction, and with thousands gathered outdoors, there were moments when the intensity felt overwhelming. There was little information ahead of time about what to expect, so I arrived without a chair, blanket, or even an umbrella to shield the sun. The ground grew hotter as the hours passed, and standing for long stretches became its own kind of endurance.
Even with all of that, I could tell God was doing something deeper in me as I went into a travail, birthing the beginning of something I would understand later.
Where the Back Became the Beginning
By the time the gathering closed with communion, I was worn out from the day, but there was no denying heaven had touched earth. And what followed the next day confirmed that something new had begun for both Brazil and for me.
The women I met the night before became the doorway into conversations, introductions, and opportunities I couldn’t have orchestrated myself. I found myself face-to-face with leaders shaping the future of their nation. I even met a Brazilian senator and was invited to return and pour into the women there. None of this happened because I was front and center. It happened because I followed God’s leading.
There is a grace in the places where you feel unseen, like being in the back. Those moments become the spaces where God writes quietly yet precisely. What became clear in Brazil is that purpose is not born from where you stand in a crowd, but from where God positions you in His plan. And Brazil showed me that obedience is its own front row. When you show up where He sends you, what’s meant for you knows how to find you.
Quotes
“The back is not a setback.” “Purpose isn’t found in proximity to a stage. It’s found in proximity to Holy Spirit.” Isaiah 48:17 “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”
Written By
Dr. Gwendolyn Henry Website: https://www.gwendolynglobal.com/ Bio: Dr. Gwendolyn Henry is an author, coach, entrepreneur, and marketplace strategist Contact: https://www.gwendolynglobal.com/contact
