I went to bed early last night with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that the man for whom I had voted for President was not going to win. I started watching election coverage at 5:00 yesterday, and by 8:00, when the polls in less than 15 states had closed, I had had enough. I just didn’t feel I could take anymore.

I did not see President-Elect Obama’s acceptance speech, nor did I see Senator McCain’s concession speech. I have heard that both were gracious and eloquent.

When I awoke this morning, the sick feeling in my stomach had not left. Even before I went to my computer to check the outcome on the internet, I already knew in my heart how it had turned out.

I lay in my bed for a few moments and asked God, “He won, didn’t he?” God’s gentle reply was, “Yes, my child, he did, but I am still in control.”

With those calming words, I arose to face the day. I wish I could tell you that I immediately felt buoyed by God’s gentle reminder, but the truth is, I still felt sick at heart.

I went downstairs to have my quiet time, and I couldn’t even think how to pray. This hasn’t been a problem for me over the last few weeks, as God has been showing me exactly how He wanted me to pray for the election and our country. This morning, I felt stymied, though, and so, instead, I simply prayed, “Holy Spirit, please intercede on my behalf because I have no words this morning.”

As the morning wore on, the sick feeling began to dissipate somewhat. I continued to pray and ask God to help me. I visited the blogs of several Christian speakers/leaders whose counsel and wisdom I respect to see what they had to say about the outcome. I highly recommend reading Lysa TerKeurst and Beth Moore’s posts. They both have summed things up much better than I ever could.

Still, I would like to share what God has shown me today. I woke up this morning knowing the outcome and feeling heavy-hearted. I wanted to trust that God was still in control regardless, but what I knew in my head, wasn’t quite resonating in my heart.

God is faithful, though, as always. He has used blog posts, a devotion, a video, and I’m not even sure what else to speak to my heart today and lift my spirits.

A couple of the blog posts, I have already mentioned above. In the devotion I received today was this quote by Corrie ten Boom: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” How true. How true. Then, there was this video, linked to on Marybeth Whalen’s blog:

It was in the video that I was reminded of 2 Corinthians 5:7: “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (New American Standard)

For reasons I can not understand, nor do I have to, God allowed Barack Obama to be elected. He was not surprised by this. Before the dawn of time, He knew this day would come.

My eyes tell me this should not be, but my faith in the One who is still seated on the throne trusts that this, too, has a purpose. Therefore, I will stand today on God’s Word that says that I walk by faith and not by sight.

In standing on God’s Word, I must also follow His command in Romans 13:1: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

With that in mind, I realized that my prayers today are actually no different than what God has been prompting me to pray for over the past several weeks. I will pray for President-Elect Obama. That God will give him wisdom and discernment. That he will be protected from attacks by our enemies. That he will receive wise counsel from those closest to him. That his family will be protected. And that in those matters where his stances do not line up with God’s Word, that his heart will be changed.

President-Elect Obama is not an enemy. He is a child of God, the same as I, and God loves Him the same as He loves me.

I will continue to pray for our country. That we will turn our hearts and minds back to God.

Those who love the Lord have the same job to do now, post-election, as we did pre-election. Pray.

May we wear holes in the knees of our pants together.

Sweet Blessings,

Delayed or partial obedience is still disobedience. I say that because God told me last Tuesday He wanted me to share this, and I have been dragging my feet in doing so. More on the disobedience part at another time as it is a topic for another post. For now, on to what God showed me last week.

I am continuing to study Beth Moore’s 90-day devotional on David. Last week, I was reading about what transpired between David and his son, Absalom. You can read about this in 2 Samuel, Chapters 13 and 14.

The part that I want to focus on specifically is that Absalom was angry with David and had allowed bitterness to take root in his heart. The prayer that day was asking God to help us not allow that to happen in our own hearts.

I stopped and thought about this for a bit and then asked God if there was any bitterness or anger in my own heart towards anyone. He then brought someone to mind. I admit I was a little stunned by this at first, but as God spoke to my heart I knew that it was true.

That person was Clay Aiken. I know. Silly, right? I don’t even know him, so why does it matter? Well, apparently, it matters to God.

And when He told me He wanted me to post about this again, I argued with Him. Our pastor preached a couple of Sunday’s ago from Jeremiah and asked the question when God asks us to do something, are we a player or a protester? I admit, I was the latter. I did not want to visit this topic again. When last I posted about it, the backlash was something I would prefer not to experience again.

But here I am, one week later, and God still has not let this go.

You see, basically, what He showed me was that when I posted about this initially, I did so with love and compassion in my heart. But since that time, I have allowed the compassion to get pushed out and anger to take its place. God convicted me about this. He told me that while my anger was not unwarranted, it was misplaced. I should be angry at the sin, not the individual.

So I prayed and asked God to forgive me. I asked Him to help me be rid of the anger and return to the compassion that was there in the beginning.

I admit, though, I am not there yet. The truth is, I am really angry about this, and I am having some difficulty separating my anger. The man has a gift, and I believe God put him in the position He did to be a light in a dark place, to be a ray of hope. God’s hands and feet.

I understand that he has his foundation that does lots of great work to promote inclusion for children with disabilities. He is an ambassador for UNICEF. All of that is sharing God’s love with other’s. I am not discounting any of that.

But the truth is, the entertainment industry is not the poster child for Christian values. As a matter of fact, I just read an article today about a new study that is out linking teen pregnancies to their exposure to sexual content on television. Ya’ think? You can read the article here, but a short summation of the study is that “teens exposed to high levels of sexual content on television were twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy in the following three years as teens with limited exposure.”

If you have read my blog for a while, you know that I have talked numerous times about my own checkered past. I have made more mistakes than I can count, been in the pit more than a few times, and am ever grateful that God is merciful and hasn’t given me what I deserve.

I say that to reiterate that I am not casting stones here, although I realize if this is the first post of mine you have read, it may seem that way. I can only pray that you will take the time to read more of my blog and see that this particular post is about me venting. More than that, though, it is a response to a command from God to do something. I may have argued. I may have delayed, but here I am doing as He asked.

And as we go into Election Day tomorrow, we need political leaders, entertainers, and the average working American to stand for the truth of God’s Word. This country needs individuals who will stand up for Biblical values.

I pray that it will be so.

Blessings,

I have been working my way through Beth Moore’s 90-day devotional on King David. I must admit that although I have known about David for a very long time, and while I knew he was called by God “a man after His own heart,” I have never really taken the time to study him as I have with this devotional book.

I think most who have a limited knowledge about David know that he slayed Goliath with a stone, was made king after Saul, is credited with writing a bunch of the Psalms, and then, of course, there’s that whole Bathsheba thing.

As I have studied his story more in-depth, I have learned more about what a truly flawed human being he was…just like me. I find it encouraging that even with all his mistakes, God still called him “a man after His own heart.” He loved God and believed that God would give him victory over Goliath. Much later, however, he turned from God for a while and sinned against God with Bathsheba. And yet, when confronted by Nathan with the truth of his sin, David’s words were, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:13)

In David, I think we find the perfect example of what God is looking for from each of us. He does not call us to be perfect. Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” is clear that this is an impossibility. We will fall. There may or may not be consequences. But there is no condemnation. Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” How I praise Him for that!

The enemy would have us believe otherwise, though. He taunts us with our past mistakes. He whispers to us that we are not good enough, that we cannot possibly be forgiven. For if he can keep us buried in guilt and shame, we will remain unable to bear witness to others who are walking the same path we have trod of the grace, mercy, and yes, freedom, we have found in Christ.

I can attest to this. I spent many years out of fellowship with God because of the guilt and shame of my sinful failures. Praise His Holy Name, He did not let me go. He never left me. He never stopped pursuing me. And finally, I allowed Him to catch me.

Ever so gently, He spoke to my heart and reminded me that there is no sin that was not covered by Jesus’ precious shed blood on the cross. Not even mine. I finally allowed this truth that I had known in my head to penetrate my heart, and the freedom that I found is like nothing I have ever known before or since.

He is a God of reconciliation. “But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation…” (Colossians 1:22)

Did you catch that? “Without blemish and free from accusation…” There is nothing you have done that cannot be forgiven. If you are still bound up in the guilt and shame of past mistakes, then I urge you to take it to Him today. He is waiting and wanting so much to give you the freedom and gift of reconciliation you so desperately need.

Take it from one who has been there. You will be so glad that you did.

And if you are one who has never taken that first step of asking Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of your life, then click on the Ready? button in my right sidebar to find out how to do just that. Your freedom, and your Savior, awaits.

Sweet Blessings,