I have always believed America is the greatest nation on earth. Lately, though, the more I see, the less I trust.

I grew up in the post-Civil Rights, post- Vietnam war era of the eighties and nineties. I remember learning in elementary school about Soviet Russia and the USSR, the Berlin wall, poverty and dictatorships in third-world countries, and communists in China. However, it all seemed so very far removed from the peace, freedom, and safety I had always known as a kid in the suburbs of Northern Virginia. My biggest worry was getting to Blockbuster in time on a Friday night to rent Clueless before someone got the last copy.

Things have changed a bit since then.

Our six-year old is about to start first grade in the public school system. And I’m terrified.

As a Christian (bonus) mom, I don’t want our daughter to be taught things that are in direct opposition to the Bible. “So just homeschool,” you’ll say. Can’t. Unfortunately, I don’t get to make that call. So off to public school she goes.

Why am I worried? Because our government has its agenda-laden hands all up in the public school system. And I know what they’re promoting. She will have teachers who tell her she can be a boy if she feels like it. And teachers who will preach on the evils of capitalism and patriarchy and “whiteness”. She may have to navigate the confusion and safety nightmare of boys in the girls’ bathroom. She’ll learn in science class that we’re all descended from amoebas. Much of what she’ll be taught will directly contradict what God has to say about gender, humanity, and reality. At least she’ll have a cute lunchbox.

Trust the government? The same one who silences and censors any voice not in harmony with their own? The same government so concerned with American lives that we the taxpayers are forced to pitch in monetarily to help murder unborn children? The same government paying people to stay home indefinitely while desperate employers are begging people to come to work? Yeah. That’s going to happen.

Trust the “science”? Call me crazy (that’s what the comments section is for), but I believe science explains what God has made. It doesn’t oppose his existence or the natural laws found in his word. It supports them. So when the general public rejects Biblical morality and God himself, unproven theories and pandering post-Christian psychology present themselves as “science”. I/Me/Yours Truly is not buying it.

At this point hopelessness tries to wrap its heavy arms around us. It seems like the America we grew up in, the land of the free and the home of the brave, is morphing into a nation where government is king. The right to voice differing opinions won’t be allowed for long, and holding to a Biblical worldview will be completely unacceptable within this new regime. This sounds like some sort of nightmare, but we’re already well on our way. Many people are eager to hand over the reins and let the government do their thinking for them. That’s always worked out great in the past.

The anxiety has been real this past year and a half, hasn’t it? And without a major shift in culture and politics, there’s no end in sight.

So what do we do? Whom can we trust?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we put our trust where it has always been: in the unchanging God, creator of heaven and earth; the all-powerful, all-knowing Great/I/Am. Christians, this life is not promised to be easy or safe. It’s seemed that way for quite some time, at least in this corner of the globe, but that illusion is quickly dissipating. Our nation has rejected God, and he has given it over to the evil it so desperately desires. We may get to witness the fall of America. We are already witnessing a great falling-away in the church. These are scary times for those who hold to the name of Christ. Will we also witness people dying for it? Might we be counted among them? Could be.

I believe we are entering into a future where we will need to trust God “even when” like never before.

Even when our children encounter woke ideology in the public schools, we will trust God to protect their hearts and minds. And we will teach them how to stand firm and reject the lies while staying kind.

Even when our government isn’t making decisions with its peoples’ best interests in mind, we trust God for provision and protection. We get involved, we stay informed, and we do our part to slow the spread. Of socialism. We are salt and light in our communities.

Even when the lies accepted in our culture as “truth” seem ridiculous beyond belief and those who think for themselves are labeled hateful and ignorant, we trust God to help us speak the truth in love . We do not throw away what God has said simply because it’s unpopular. We hold fast to reason and we live according to our conviction even when other people don’t like it. We ask God to help us love those who will persecute us.

Even when it seems lonely and scary and uphill both ways, we put our trust in the God who has always made a way for his people. We stay faithful. We do not lose heart. We remember that “In this world we will have trouble”, but Jesus has overcome the world. We hide his word in our hearts. We devote ourselves to prayer. We make fellowship a way of life. We proclaim truth, even when we are hated for it.

Even when we live in a nation that is crumbling all around us, we remember that our true citizenship is in heaven, and we are not overcome.

In God We Trust.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[j]37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k]neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Romans 8:35-39