Please Pray for Our Country and Our Family

First, let us pray for our country. We can love our president or hate him, vote Republican or Democrat, or belong to neither party, but it is clear to me that people on both sides are lacking in sound judgment and that, as a nation, we have lost our way.

As a result, I sometimes look at our country and think of the situation that existed in ancient Israel. They had no king—no true godly leader willing to take the nation in the right direction. Judges 21:25 says:

“In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”

Right now, we have so many issues: same-sex marriage, gun control, border control, bombings, sexual immorality, drug problems, the sexual abuse of children, a lack of good jobs, unequal protection, and growing arguments over freedom of speech and religious liberty. Christians sometimes feel that their beliefs are treated with suspicion, while beliefs and practices we consider dangerous or destructive are defended in the name of tolerance.

I fear that our nation may be facing God's judgment, and I do not believe continued rejection of Him will end well. We see droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, massive snowfalls that cripple communities, and heat that can do the same. I cannot say that every natural disaster is a specific act of God's judgment, because that knowledge belongs to God. But I do believe Scripture repeatedly warns nations about the consequences of turning away from Him.

Our freedoms seem increasingly fragile, and our values are compromised. Each side calls the other names, and too few people seem willing to look to God for the answers.

I know I am preaching a bit, but I worry about the future of our children and the golden years of our seniors. I am heartbroken by the corruption, confusion, and injustice I see around me.

My own family has experienced the child-welfare system firsthand. Several of my grandchildren were taken from their parents. If there were proven cases of abuse or genuine danger, protecting the children would of course be necessary. But from our perspective, accusations were made that did not accurately represent what had happened, and we often felt powerless to challenge the system.

At the same time, our society continues to argue about the value of unborn human life. I believe millions of unborn children have died through abortion, often defended in the language of women's health. Yet we sometimes seem capable of showing tremendous concern for other forms of life while failing to agree that human life deserves protection.

I also struggle to understand a system in which some families who have worked and paid into that system for years are told that they make too much money to receive help, even while they are struggling to put food on the table.

I am sad.

Nevertheless, I know that my God is great and that He has a plan.

I thank God for those we love who have made it safely through storms and hardships. I am glad that I am still married to my wife after all these years. I thank God for my children and grandchildren.

And when I say family, I do not mean only flesh and blood.

Over the years, we have opened our home and our hearts to people who needed somewhere to belong. Some stayed for years. Some became like daughters to us. Some children became grandchildren in our hearts even though we share no blood at all. Some relationships remained strong, while others ended painfully.

I am still proud to call them family.

Blood can make someone a relative, but love, sacrifice, time, tears, meals shared around a table, sleepless nights, and years spent caring for one another can also make people family.

Some of those relationships have brought us great joy. Others have brought heartbreak. There are children I love whom I may never see again for the rest of my life.

Still, I thank God for having had the privilege of loving them.

I thank God that there are places where, when necessary, I can stand in line waiting for a box or bag of food so that I can feed my family for another day. I thank God that, for the moment, I can still go to church and worship my Savior freely.

Please pray for the children in our family who have been separated from people who love them.

Please pray for the mothers who have lost custody of children and who are trying to put their lives back together.

Please pray for those who have been falsely accused, and also for children who truly need protection.

Please pray for those struggling with addiction, and for the families who love them but cannot make their choices for them.

Please pray for the young mothers who are frightened of systems they believe have failed them.

Please pray for the children who now live far away while mothers, fathers, grandparents, and others who love them yearn simply to hold them again.

Please pray for my wife, who has endured years of hardship and has cried herself to sleep over the loss of people she loves and over accusations that made her feel as though she had been labeled something she was not.

And finally, pray for me as I try to hold this family together in such a mixed-up world where wrong is sometimes called right and where doing what you believe is right can come at a terrible cost.

I once stood in line for about 30 minutes just to get a grocery bag of food to feed six people. By the time I got home, I could barely hold myself upright because of the pain running through my spine.

For years I lived without being able to work.

For years I knew what it was like to be unable to take a simple walk without the possibility that my body would give out.

For years I knew what it was like to want to pick up and hold a child but need someone else to place that child in my arms while I was sitting down—and even then I could only hold them for a short time.

Those years changed me.

But I am not bitter.

I am not even angry.

I am sad.

And yet God promises in His Word that trials do not have to destroy us.

James 1:2–4 says:

“Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

So today, I choose joy.

I praise the name of God and His Son Jesus Christ.

I praise the Holy Spirit, who gives us comfort in times of need.

I pray for my country.

I pray for our leaders.

I pray for our children.

I pray for those who are related to us by blood and those whom God has brought into our lives and whom we have chosen to love as family.

And I thank every one of you who cared enough to read to this last word.

Please pray with me.