My First National Day of Prayer

by Jacob Thomsen

Last year contained a lot of firsts for me. My first professional job, my first legislative session, my first time planning various events, and many other firsts. The legislative session was hectic and filled with plenty of bills to work on. We worked nearly 24/7 for four months and on April 30th, 2023 at some crazy hour in the morning, the legislative session finally adjourned for good. Four days later, we had a gathering at the Capitol for National Day of Prayer.

This was another first for me and I was excited to see what it was all about. I was amazed at seeing Memorial Hall filled with people from many different faith backgrounds all gathered together to worship and pray. It was quite a stark contrast from the hustle and bustle that normally filled Memorial Hall just a week prior.

It was a beautiful experience where, after all the work that went into the legislative session, I was granted peace beyond understanding through God’s presence. It was a beautiful thing to see hundreds of people gathered in the name of the Lord to pray and worship, and there is one thing I’m certain of; that God was with us in the Capitol building (Matthew 18:19-20).

National Day of Prayer is coming up again on May 2nd this year. There are gatherings across the state, and I certainly encourage you to attend one of those if you’re not in Bismarck. You can check out a list of other gatherings across the state here. The one in Bismarck is in Memorial Hall at the State Capitol Building at noon, and I have the great honor of being the MC this year. I’m incredibly excited to see how God moves on National Day of Prayer, and certainly hope to see you in Memorial Hall on May 2nd!