So What Now?

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You could almost hear a collective sigh of relief from Christians across America as we watched the election results on Tuesday night. What we thought was impossible actually became possible as we watched states start to turn red. I am still shaking my head that–

A. Donald Trump is the President Elect of the United States.

and

B. That I actually voted for and am glad that Donald Trump is President.

I feel like I have fallen into some alternate universe or something. What a crazy year. And what an upset. And here we are– with a guy who has few morals– and even less experience– about to run this country.

While I consider this a huge victory and answer to prayer, it certainly isn’t because of who became President but strictly because of who didn’t become President. Hopefully, we will now witness a halt or at least a slowing down of the aggressive liberal and socialistic agenda that has been the passion of our current President.

Before this election, many Christian pastors and bloggers reminded us that our hope is in the Lord. We felt hopeless, we felt powerless. We Christians needed to be reminded of where we should find our hope.

But with what happened this week, we may be tempted to start hoping again in the wrong things. Let us be careful we do not place our hope in a man. On Tuesday night we watched  as reporters almost stuttered in their shock and amazement over what was taking place on that map. Even staunch Republican insiders saw no hope for a win. But, while this is most certainly a wonderful surprise, we need to continue to pray! God is still our only hope. He is still the one who raises up and removes kings. Only He controls the nations. We must be careful not to place our trust in a man or in a government.

Trump is historically liberal in where he stands morally. While he may not be as aggressive in pushing immorality, it is unlikely that he will make sweeping changes to the morality of this nation. This was not a victory for Christian principles in this country.

In my opinion, this wasn’t really a win for Christians as much as it was a win for those who desire a return to sanity. Progressives are deeply mourning what they believe to be a move backwards for this nation. One has to wonder how well they know the histories of civilizations. When a country starts to break down in a way ours has been, complete destruction is never far behind. And so I believe we are simply backing away from the edge of the cliff for a few years. And, in so doing, may we continue to pray. Not only for the direction of this country but also that there would be opportunities to reach the lost. This respite will hopefully give us four years free of the persecution that we saw looming ahead of us. It may give us four more years of free speech. May we redeem this time and use it to proclaim the Gospel!

 

25 thoughts on “So What Now?”

  1. I just cannot get by your ignorant comments about Trump. You believe the unproven gossip and REstate it. Not wise. I am U subscribing as I can see this kind of careless statements anywhere

    1. I’m sorry? It would be most helpful to me if you would be more specific? I certainly understand that you may not agree with me, but since you offer no details, I have no idea what you don’t agree with? What did I say that was “unproven”?

  2. Thank you for writing this! I feel the same way and hope and pray our nation would turn form our wicked ways and trust in Jesus! Reaching the lost before it is too late!

  3. Leslie…”Spot On” blog. Concise in its breadth. Maribella & I are proud to say we voted straight Republican for all open or contested seats. The term ‘Progressive’ always makes me scratch my bald head. The root of this word is ‘Progress’. Progress? Really? Progressing, ever-spiraling down a wicked black-hole of moral decay. Not at all what our founding fathers had intentioned for this United States of America. We’re not very “united” right now…but our collective healing comes only from our Heavenly Father.

  4. Here in the UK we are still healing from the divisions caused by the Brexit vote. But healing we are and as we do it is clear that even such a shock result does not lead to economic and social systems falling apart. Last night at our Church prayer meeting we prayed for peace and stability to prevail in your country and for Evangelical Christians to be able to meet graciously the inevitable criticism that will be directed your way for voting
    Republican. May God bless America.

    1. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement, Allison! :) I have actually thinking of Brexit a great deal through this whole thing. It seems like there have been some real unexpected political surprises this year!

  5. Thank you, Leslie! You put in words what I have been thinking! My concern is that we back down from our fervent prayers, searching our own hearts, etc. and go back to living our lackadaisical lives as Christians. God is giving us more time to take advantage of our freedoms!
    When the media “bigwigs” were sitting around at their desks at 2:30 am wondering what happened, even though all data, polls, etc. showed that Clinton was a “shoo in” for the election, I was sitting here wishing I could tell them that it was so only because of God and his grace and mercy!!

  6. What a balanced, thoughtful article! We do need to remember that, while Trump may not be as bad as Hillary, he’s hardly a champion of Christian values. Let’s remember Who our Savior really is.

    Glad to see you blogging again. I’ve missed you.

    1. Hi Debbie! Thank you! I haven’t stopped blogging and I wondered why I hadn’t heard from you for awhile! Missed you, too! I wonder if –when I made the switch to Mailchimp –you stopped getting my posts? Long story short: WordPress Jetpack just stopped sending my posts to email subscribers a few months back and I was forced to switch over and then today out of the blue it started resending them. I was worried about all the people who got a double notification but your comment makes me wonder who isn’t receiving the Mailchimp emails. Maybe they go to junk? Would you want to check? And if not, perhaps you could re-subscribe. It’s a Mailchimp sign -up form now and not a WordPress one. Blogging can be so much work and so many headaches ;) haha By the way, it’s good to hear from you!

  7. Leslie- I need to respectfully ask you one question. For years I’ve heard you harp on the evils of immorality found on TV, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc… and I agree to a point. Yet, you are now openly praising and thanking God for a man who has been married three times with multiple divorces/affairs, owns a gambling empire, brags about sexually assaulting women, defrauded folks thru Trump University, etc. etc. My honest question is thus: How did you reconcile that to your Christian faith? If that was a friend doing all those things- you would’ve made a huge stink about it-I’ve seen it. When Bill Clinton did just some of this- primarily sex- you made a huge stink about it and declared him immoral and unfit for the presidency…and again- somewhat rightfully so. Now “your guy” does it and you are praising the Lord for his unlikely election? It looks hypocritical to me. Any feedback to help me understand your reconcilement of these two presidents?

    1. Yes, absolutely. We were faced with a dreadful dilemma this election–a choice between two very immoral candidates. One is as you described him and the other is a criminal who claims to speak to dead people. One claims to stand for life and for principles more in line with scripture and one claims to stand against all that scripture teaches. I voted for an ideology and I voted against an ideology. Given the circumstances, a vote for a third party would have, in essence, been a vote for Hillary. As made clear in this post, my praise isn’t for Trump but for God’s mercy in hopefully slowing down the evil in this country that has been aggressively pushed on us by the Democratic Party.

      Your wording would lead me to believe you have known me for a long time. It seems to be a bit unfair to make accusations and blanket statements directed towards me regarding the past but not let me know who you are.

    2. May as well edit your post and remove the word “respectfully”. Just because you throw that word in a post doesn’t automatically make it so!

  8. Pingback: So What Now? Part 2 - Growing 4 Life

  9. Carolyn Gochenaur

    I agree with your comments. I went to sleep fairly early Tues night knowing Trump would win, so I wasn’t surprised when I woke up and he, indeed, had won. Most people don’t know that he has surrounded himself with Godly pastors and evangelists who he has reached out to and asked for prayer and Godly counsel. They have laid hands in him a number of times. From what I have heard, he has asked Jesus into his heart and is saved, but he doesn’t know the “Christian-ese” yet and he is just a baby in Christ. Just like we don’t expect a new born baby to walk and eat solid food, why would we expect him to suddenly jump up and preach an evangelistic message. It’s going to be a process, people, so bear with him as he’s going to make mistakes in his speech, at times, and in his conduct. He knows he can’t do this all by himself. Please pray a hedge of protection around him and Mike Pence and their families. There is so much hate and violence out there against them that want them dead and gone.
    We know God is in charge and we know prayer can change hearts and lives.

    1. It’s a little too early to tell if Trump is genuinely saved or not but we do know that kings are put in place and removed by God. This is all in God’s sovereign plan and we must pray for our new leader! He has a monumental task ahead of him. And let’s pray for his safety, as well. There is so much hatred from the group that claims to stand for “tolerance” that it’s downright frightening!

  10. Carolyn Gochenaur

    Yes, you are right and time will tell. We just need to pray, pray, pray. We need to ready for whatever is coming up.

  11. This is just starting of our Christian persecution…..we need to be strong! Being in the Word daily and in prayer that we will remain strong!! It’s going to get worse.

  12. Dear Leslie ~ Thank you so much for ALL of your blogs. They are heart & thought provoking & encouraging. Please know that I pray for you….protection for your heart & boldness to continue to speak the truth in love. Sometimes the “in love” is not easy when someone is personally critical & clearly misunderstands your (well made) points. Praise God, you are trusting in spiritual wisdom & God’s word as your balance & strength. I agree with all that you have stated about President-elect Trump. Our country has a loooong road back to the fullness of our Christian values. We have seen God use many types of people to bring others to their senses & to point us back to our Christian roots. I am praying for Mr. Trump, his family, our lawmakers & Supreme Court. May each one of them find a personal relationship with Jesus Christ & humbly seek to serve our country.

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