Are you Voting?

Yup, if you didn't know it, today is Election Day! It's time to get out and vote.

So why when all the results are tabulated does it feel like so many didn't vote? Simple answer is that they didn't. I can even understand why too!

Often times, what we vote for wins, but then somewhere down the line, it seems to get shuffled under the carpet by politicians, government officials or whomever is responsible to making sure that is simply fades away.

Some people will often say, my one vote doesn't matter. They will simply do what they want anyway. The system is flawed, when you pick one, it selects something else entirely. So why bother!

I would argue that yes, it does have flaws, but it is a right so many countries and their people don't get to do and an honor we simply shove aside because in our minds it doesn't matter. What if we all felt that way.

Our elections would stop having a value and we might as well fall under a dictatorship instead of a democratic process we have now.

Sure the results can be skewed. Sure the things we vote on might not ever happen.

But our one single vote matters.

Our founding fathers fought for the right to vote. To have a public say in what you believe. Imagine their horror to learn how far we have fallen in regards to our most precious right to vote.

If you simply don't have the means to get out there and vote, consider signing up for the absentee ballot. One's you mail in instead of heading to the polling places. Ask a friend or family member to drive you.

It's important for our children to see that we are taking our responsibility seriously and not teaching them our bitterness in refraining from voting.

We need to make sure that all those mailings we get during election season in the mail, those annoying automated phone calls, or even all the voting guides that we pick up, we thoroughly research through on our own end.

In this age of technology, the knowledge is literally at our fingertips on a specific candidate or proposal. Make sure you do your research and see what these people have done in the past, who appointed them into office and what their actions have shown in what they have done up to this point.

It is easy to make claims to make yourself heard, but we can rest assured we can follow their work history and see where their heart really lies on certain issues that are important to us.

In fact, out of all the "Voting Guides" I received in the mail, I found so many of them were very biased on what information they gave me. It's hard because often times, you don't know what is coming on the ballot until we get there and see it for ourselves. That is why all those irritating flyers we get in the mail is important for those that like to visit the polling locations. You will know what issues and candidates you will be voting for and have the time to research them before you go.

Be prepared ahead of time by doing your research and your homework. Take notes with you when you go, and please pray for each of the people you are voting for as well as those propositions that will have huge impacts not only on the economy but on our communities and states.

True knowledge is definitely powerful and God instructs us to appoint the leaders who stand for the truth and aren't afraid to speak out about it. Pray for God to guide your voting decisions and then remember that no matter the outcome, continue to pray for the leaders that are elected. It truly is the most powerful weapon we have as believers in God. We may not know the outcome of those prayers, but God does and someday we will too. So please be sure to get out and vote!

And yes, I did vote! I love the absentee process. You can vote early and even call to ensure your ballot was received.

Mirror Mirror On the Wall....

Who hasn't heard the famous quote from the wicked queen in the Disney animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves? Looking back, I wonder how many times a day the queen went to the mirror in search of answers. Yet far too often as our own lives grow far too complicated, we search for answers to what is happening in our lives in different sources. Some seek advice from parents or grandparents, looking for some sage advice from their personal experience through life's storms. Others search for answers in books, online radio programs, call in shows or even close personal friends looking for some professional help to their crisis. Some reach out into the great beyond through social media sites, preferring to remain anonymous but still looking for the right answer. Yet how many fail to go to the one source of information that can truly solve almost anything we walk through, God through prayer or through His written word in the Bible?

Is it because we don't "see" God so we think He can't personally know what we are going through?

Is it because you think He's simply too busy handing some crisis in the world and can't be bothered to discuss what is troubling you?

Is it because we honestly don't believe God can help?

Or are we willing to take any advice just to help us weather the storm so we can make it frantically to the otherside with hopefully something of ourselves left intact?

I've heard a quote that our first response to any situation should be immediately to drop to our knees in prayer and then wait patiently for an answer. God has the most unique ways of "speaking to us." Sometimes it comes in the form of an unexpected phone call from a friend offering advice on just what we need to hear. Sometimes its in the form of lyrics to a song that just comes on the radio or a program we are watching. Other times He doesn't speak at all right away.

It's in those times, we think, He doesn't hear us.

I guess I need to go this one alone.

But He isn't saying that at all.

The most difficult response to our prayer besides No, when we were hoping for a "Yes" is simply to wait.

It's true! Waiting is the hardest part because we don't know how long God will ask us to wait. Will it be a few minutes. We can do that!

Will it be a couple of days?

Hmm, that one might be difficult but we can do it.

But what about a couple weeks? A month? A couple of years?

Are you feeling the stress just thinking about those responses? Then you're just like me.

Funny thing is when we seek God's help in prayer far too often we take back our petitions thinking God must want us to handle this problem on our own. Yet often times it doesn't turn out the way we had hoped. It would have been better at times if we simply waited. But waiting is hard to do.

Lately I've had to sit back and watch my friends, family and even strangers struggle with their own storms. It's hard not being able to help them or even to provide advice, but I do pray for them. I pray for them in case they haven't. I pray because I serve a God who understands ANYTHING we are going through. I pray for my own peace to understand and gain strength so I might be able to help them.

Life is tough. 

We weren't designed to go through it alone.

We all need help, but how often do we fail to ask for it?

Is is simply too much to call a friend and ask for support? For a shoulder to cry on? For a sympathetic ear to listen to what is going on in our life?

Let us leave pride behind and simply reach out more.

Let us be the hands and feet of Christ.

Let us be that light reflecting back to those in the shadows and show them the true love of Christ.

Let us leave our judging attitudes and comments behind and offer a support to those who are barely hanging on.

Let us change the way we see ourselves when we look into that mirror of life. Let us find Christ looking back at us with love, compassion, hope and understanding.

By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:8 NIV