The Morning After

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

I woke up on Election Day in the United States praying as I do every morning. I prayed for God’s will to be done and that it would include electing the candidate most likely to bring our country out of its moral and economic abyss.

Then God spoke in His quiet way to my soul, as He sometimes does. Yes, prayer is conversation. It should be a two-way street. The problem is—we often don’t hang around long enough to listen after we’ve talked. J

This is the message I received while meditating with Him.

What we need more than economic healing is spiritual healing. Often life has to get even tougher before this happens. Revival comes when people are at their lowest spiritually and economically. Sometimes hearts are stubborn. When everything is stripped away, then people seek God’s face. It is through brokenness healing comes.

There’s no guarantee, no matter who our President is, that we (individually or nationally) will enjoy great prosperity.

I’m not a prophet, nor am I saying God gave me a great revelation. I’m sure He has spoken this to many folks over time. If you live long enough, you experience hardships that drive you to your knees.

As I wrote this, I didn’t know the outcome of the election, but you know what? God did. He also knows the future of this nation. As believers, we should continually seek His will for our lives.

I’m generally optimistic about the future—mine and the United States. But not because my candidate won or lost. Because God is still on His throne. Because only God has the power to heal. Because God will restore in His time—when His people and those who thumb their nose at His sovereignty bend their knees and yield their hearts to His will.

Only then will this nation’s greatness—and broken lives—be restored.

Please take a moment to pray for those on the prayer list and soldier Jesse McCart. If you have a prayer need, feel free to share so I and others can pray for you. I’d love to hear from you.

Now is the season for healing

Deeply we need to see, God's mercy revealing

Where we have fallen from his ways

For we know he gives hope to the humble.

Shalom,

Laura

© Laura Hodges Poole

Thanksgiving

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Habakkuk 3:17-18

This is Thanksgiving week. Here in the US, that means gorging on food and then going to the stores and gorging on consumer items the following day. The stores aren’t waiting this year. The gorging will begin in most places before Thanksgiving Day is officially over.

That’s not to say we Americans are without our problems. The economy continues to trudge along poorly. Many people are without jobs and are on the brink of losing homes. The reality is stretching the paycheck becomes more of a challenge each day. Yet despite this, we are still the most blessed nation in the world. No matter the difficulties, we enjoy the most basic commodity others lack worldwide. Consider these facts:

Today’s water crisis is not an issue of scarcity, but of access. More people in the world own cell phones than have access to a toilet. And as cities and slums grow at increasing rates, the situation worsens. Every day, lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills thousands, leaving others with reduced quality of life.

The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.

Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease.

In just one day, more than 200 million hours of women’s time is consumed for the most basic of human needs — collecting water for domestic use. This lost productivity is greater than the combined number of hours worked in a week by employees at Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service, McDonald’s, IBM, Target, and Kroger, according to Gary White, co-founder of Water.org.

To go one step farther, how many in the world have running hot water Americans are blessed with?

It’s easy to focus on what we lack during tough times—nationally and individually. But on Thursday, take a moment to count your blessings, no matter how small they may seem.

(Ital. facts from Water.Org)