Marcia Embraced the Body of Christ in Prayer as the Lord Called Her to a Deeper Prayer Life
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving. -Colossians 4:2
In her seven years living in Madison, Wisconsin, Marcia had never participated in an NDP observance. Before moving to Madison, she attended NDP observances in her hometown Chicago suburb, and loved the power in those meetings, so when Marcia received an email about the observance from one of NDP’s broadcast partners, she jumped at the chance to virtually participate in an NDP observance.
The Lord opened up her evening Zoom schedule with her small group of women from her church, whom she invited to tune in to the broadcast in their homes.
“I was blessed beyond measure and uplifted by the prayers and music,” Marcia said. “[Kathy Branzell] said that Jesus taught us to pray, commanded us to love and commissioned us to share the gospel of His grace. And that was kind of like, yeah, that's what I need to do.”
Marcia has been spending time with the Lord and singing worship songs aloud during the weeks of quarantine leading up to the National Day of Prayer. She lives alone in her home and has been separated from her biological and church family due to the safety precautions to slow the spread of Covid-19.
While people around the world follow social distancing guidelines, many are missing the presence of loved ones, or feeling the effects of long-term loneliness. To bridge this gap, Marcia’s church small group, like many others across the world, has been meeting via video chat, so interacting with an event on a screen felt normal.
“The broadcast kind of reminded me of being in church in a prayer meeting when you're in groups and you hear people praying around you,” Marcia said. “But you can pray too, even though you don't know what they're saying, you’re praying in one accord, whether it's praise or repentance or revival, whatever the prayer is. I just felt like I was praying with people even though I was alone.”
Praise God for the powerful moments of prayer and the gentle leading of the Holy Spirit!
During the broadcast, Marcia had her Bible open to follow along with the scriptures being shared and took notes during the exhortations from spiritual leaders across the country, eager to lean into body of Christ seeking our Lord.
“Throughout the two hours I lifted my hands in worship, shouted Jesus’ name in praise, shed tears of thankfulness and mourning, and prayed for revival in our nation and around the world,” Marcia said. “It is so powerful to join in prayer with thousands, maybe millions, of Christ-followers for our nation, our government, our schools, our businesses, our military, our media, and the body of Christ, the church. I am encouraged to continue daily to pray.”
Click 'play' below to hear Marcia share a few moments of her experience watching the broadcast.
https://soundcloud.com/user-86086719/how-did-you-experience-the-ndp-broadcast
