Words of Encouragement

This morning as I was waiting at the bus stop with my 14 year old daughter, Natalie, she expressed some stress. So, I took the opportunity to open the door of conversation. It took a while, but she was finally able to articulate what was on her mind. Today's source of stress was her concern about the state of the economy under President Elect Barack Obama.

Although I did not vote for Mr. Obama and I'm eagerly awaiting the next election cycle, vowing to be more directly involved in the process of supporting a conservative candidate, I took a few minutes to encourage her about our future President. He is not the devil and he does need our prayers. Although I don't have faith that he will be, we need to HOPE that he will be the best president we have ever had. While he will most likely make many decisions that we disdainfully disagree with he will also probably make a few good decisions along the way. But the most important encouragement I could give her came from the Bible.

Psalm 56:3 - When I am afraid, I will trust in You.

Isaiah 26:3 - You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

The best thing we can do is place our trust in God, knowing that he is in control. We need not be afraid, even when we feel like we are on a roller coaster at that point just after it crests the tallest hill and it feels like the carriage is going to leave the track, and we are going to go tumbling to the ground - the free fall - GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL. The roller coaster is not actually going to leave the track. We are not going to go flying through the air to an untimely demise. We will, at the end, pull into the station, and we will get out of the cart in one piece. The ride may be bumpy with many ups and downs but it will, as it always does, come to an end.

So, get into the cart and buckle your seat belt. Its probably going to be a very long bumpy ride, but GOD IS WITH US ALL THE WAY.