Op-Ed: If You Can Vote, You Can Advance the Kingdom of God

It’s easy to have 🙏Faith when things go right. The test comes when things don’t go the way you imagined.

Fortunately, God can redeem difficult seasons in our lives as training grounds for trusting him. The most challenging training I ever received started many years ago when I was only 16.

I nervously tapped my feet as I waited for a life-changing test result. At that age, I wish I could say I was waiting for a high school math test result, but I wasn’t. When the nurse finally walked in, she looked down at me, told me my pregnancy test result was positive and handed me a brochure outlining my options.

After she left the room, I cried and couldn’t stop repeating, “I can’t be pregnant,” hoping my present declarations would somehow change my past decisions. The nurse told me I was free to go. But I wasn’t free at all. I felt trapped, I felt shame, and I felt fear. How could I tell my family? How was I going to be able to finish high school? I felt like my life was over.

I found a necessary glimmer of hope when I discovered a school I could attend while pregnant and later take the baby with me. That glimmer gave me the strength to take the next step and tell my family. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, but thankfully, my family extended only grace and mercy. When my daughter was born, all the fearful tears shed turned to happy ones.

But it didn’t take long before the reality of adult life set in. Overwhelmed by responsibilities that were too heavy for me to carry alone, I whispered a prayer: “Lord, if you love me and have a better plan for my life, then I give my life to you.”

At that moment, I knew that God had a better plan for my life with unprecedented conviction. Even more important, I knew I wasn’t alone. God met me in my pain and used my tears to lead me to him.

Being a single mom, working and going to school full-time was difficult, so I depended on God for everything. I realize now what a blessing in disguise that was. He was training me to trust him. I found the strength to endure when I remembered his words from Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for harm, to give you a future and a hope.”