70th National Day of Prayer recognized across Wyoming today

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) -

70 years ago reverend Billy Graham stood on the U.S. Capitol steps and challenged Congress to set a day of prayer every year to encourage people to pray for the nation. Days later that was signed into law under President Truman.

Then in 1988, a group of Christians urged president Reagan to establish the event as the same day, every year. That’s exactly what happened, and now the first Thursday in May is dedicated to prayer across the country. That legacy continued today, which marks the 70th year of the National Day of Prayer.

If your time of prayer is usually confined to the walls of a church, today was the day to step outside of your comfort zone, with prayers happening all over the country, including at every state capitol.

One of the events happened today in Cheyenne at the Capitol building with Secretary of State Ed Buchanan leading a prayer. “...To save us, Jesus in you alone. We praise you, we look around and see the billions of people you created in your image, uniquely,” prayed Buchanan.

The Wyoming State Coordinator for the National Day of Prayer, Gina Gibson, said it’s always been important to humble ourselves and pray.

Gibson explained, “America has been through some very dark times before, and clear back to 1775, our founding fathers were telling us that we needed to cry out to somebody that’s bigger than us.”

Gibson added that between Covid across the world, and election chaos, many are turning to prayer.

“I think that really has brought us to our knees. I think it’s really told us, guess what, we don’t have this all figured out, and I find great peace in knowing that there’s a God who loves me and who cares about the United States of America. I don’t by any means think He’s done with America, so we just continue praying, that’s what we do,” emphasized Gibson, a first generation immigrant from Italy. She said she has such patriotism for the United States and it’s heritage, because of that.

Gibson encouraged people to attend any of the events going on today, in person and over the phone. She noted that no one will be put on the spot to pray.

“There’s something very powerful when you’re at an event in Wyoming and you know there’s events all over the county that are happening all day long. There’s just some real synergy in that, some real power in that, and that’s why I’ve loved it all these years,” Gibson mentioned.

To watch recordings of some of the events from today, you can visit the National Day of Prayer website at https://www.nationaldayofprayer.org/ or Wyoming’s website at http://www.ndpwy.com.

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