by Rose Swetman

Marilyn is interested in investigating faith/spirituality and asked if she could attend church with her friend, Dee who about 18 months prior decided to become a committed follower of Jesus through our church.

The second Sunday Marilyn attended church the message was on the spiritual practices of fasting and prayer. We’d already decided that as a church we were going to participate in a community fast and prayer time for three days. After listening to the message and also being moved by the music that day, Marilyn told her friend she was going to fast with our community.

DURING THE FIRST THREE DAYS OF THE FAST AND prayer, Marilyn began reading A Case For Christ by Lee Strobel. We began our fast on a Thursday and ended on Saturday evening. The following morning at church, Marilyn had not broken her fast. That morning there was a particular sweet presence of the Holy Spirit among us. Again, Marilyn felt very moved by the music. She told me after, “I don’t know what happened to me; the music so moved me all I could do was weep.” Her friend Dee told her that what she was feeling was the presence of the Holy Spirit. Marilyn thought that was awesome, that you could actually feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. She told Dee that while she was engaged with the music that morning she had made some important personal decisions. One decision was to try to reconnect with her father whom she has been estranged from for some time.

As Dee talked with Marilyn about all that she was experiencing she sensed the Holy Spirit nudging her to pray for Marilyn. Dee said to Marilyn, “I think I got a prayer for you,” to which Marilyn responded excitedly, “Really, from who?” Dee said, “The Holy Spirit.” Marilyn felt loved and very receptive to Dee’s prayer.

This is an amazing experience to witness and be a part of. People searching for faith, investigating spirituality, wanting to have an experience with God to the extent they would be involved in a community fast and prayer before even believing. I’m amazed and grateful of being able to just be who we are and invite others to join on our journey. While being sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives, we continue to invite them to follow Jesus.