Completely new to the process and painfully naive, his first bid ended in defeat, although he did come closer than any previous opponent of the then mayor. Because he ran against his "boss", life became difficult during and after the election process. Because my husband has been a good, honest man, a valid reason to fire him or demote him could not be found. During the following four years, God began setting plans in motion so that when election time came around again, my husband ran and won, hands down. It was God's time to remove the dark cloud that had covered our city for far too long. He now had His man in a place of influence and leadership. With God's directing and His blessing, our city began to move forward toward good things.

Four years passed quickly. It was election time once more. Even though the battle was difficult, we both felt it to be more of a spiritual battle. My husband won, but we were battle-scarred. It was crystal clear that Satan was not going to sit still any longer while a Christian man was in a leadership position. One mistake a person doesn't want to make is to think that just because God has called you into a position or situation, that everything is going to be wonderful. Not. What it does mean is that we humble ourselves to God's authority and allow Him to do His thing through us. Jesus Christ's life here on earth was no picnic. How can we expect our's to be any different? After all, consider what our presidents have had to go through because of their stand as Christians. What we discovered was that God changes hearts. And when some refuse to allow their hearts to be changed, God can still change their minds. Only God can guide large corporations to look at small cities and consider locating there. Only God can cause government leaders at the state level to sit up and take notice of a small city whose mayor fights constantly to have his city noticed. Although good things still happened for our city in the following four years, everything was accomplished, or at least set in motion to be accomplished, with great sturggles. Satan had begun to pull out the stops. It was now time to register for re-election for the third and last time. My husband and I felt that God was not yet done with him in his role as mayor. But, no longer was the battle spiritual--that is, inwardly. Evil was now in our faces.

Our constant prayer was, "Your will be done." On the eve of the election, we drove to each of the voting polls and prayed over each one that God's will would be done. During the entire twelve hours of voting, our poll workers were verbally battered with contempt and outright hatefulness. By seven o'clock in the evening, the results were announced. My husband's opponent had won. Although shocked, we immediately experienced a spirit of peace in our hearts. For some reason, God allowed this to happen. Heartsick for the city and for the city's employees, we thanked everyone and went home. Even though we discovered that voter fraud of the worse kind had taken place, we felt that since God allowed it, it was up to us to move forward. The hate, lies, and in-our-face evil has not stopped.

But God is still in control. Standing here on the beach, wet to my knees by the crashing waves, my feet covered with shifting sand, tears coursing down my face, through the thunder of the waves, I hear, "I am." I feel an overwhelming need to run out and meet Him, but His power, His might, His authority meet me with each foam-edged wave, assuring me over and over, "I am." I slowly begin walking toward my husband, who has found a large rock to sit on. As my still burning eyes scan the sandy shore for shells that I can take home to the grandchildren, God draws my eys farther up on the shore where I find smooth, shiny, multi-colored stones. "See," He whispers through the sandy mist, "These stones have been battered, tossed, and rolled through rough sand. Look at them, they are beautiful." The corners of my mouth lift. God still has a plan. We don't know what that is yet, but He does. Wherever that plan leads us, we will be ready. Yes, we've been tossed and battered, but if we keep our eyes on God, He will smooth us out and make us shiny for Him. In the meantime, He is our shelter, our buckler, our strength, our hope. Always and forever, He is the great I am. I turn back toward the crashing waves. Grateful, thankful tears now flow freely from my smiling eyes. I don't need to rush out to meet Him; the great I am has thundered in to me with His peace and His love.

About the Author

Nellotie Porter Chastain
I have been the wife of one man for 39 years, mother of two and grandmother to six. Now, I find myself to be a published author.

homepage http://www.nellotieporterchastain.com