The
first ten years of our marriage, my husband Rob and I lived in his home state of Florida
on the Gulf Coast. I’m a desert gal and had met a few insects in my life, but
nothing prepared me for the regular invasions of Florida’s state bird, the
mosquito. My favorite cologne quickly became Eau d’Off, and we went through
dozens of cans of it just so we could hang onto our own blood.
We’ve
been in Arizona for 34 years now and we’ve seen a few of those little suckers here,
too, but usually just in the summer. That’s when occasional rain can transform
an empty pot or overturned garbage can lid into a stagnant pool of water and
suddenly you’re a target for blood-sucking opportunists.
Stagnant
water is a problem because mosquitos can transmit some serious diseases. It doesn’t take long for even a small amount of standing water to
become stagnant. If it’s not moving, the oxygen levels drop too low for human
consumption or for the survival of plants. Organic matter will rot in the wet
stuff and before long it reeks with the smell of death.
Technically,
an overlooked pool of stagnant water isn’t a swamp, but there are some
similarities. Mosquitos breed well there. They’re unfit for cultivation. Decay
is prevalent. And the odor is foul as rotten eggs. Much like this election year and the political stink
surrounding our country right now.
Since the first rumors of novel virus began blowing
across our desert, I’ve prayed for the truth to come out. That those behind all
the lies and manipulation would be unveiled and held accountable.
Expose the evil, Lord, I asked. Let people see what’s really going on. Set us
free from corrupt leadership.
Hoo boy. You gotta be careful what you pray for.
When our kids were growing up, I often prayed that,
among other things, they’d be caught when they were guilty. I didn’t want them
to get away with dishonesty. Own it, we taught them. Make it right and move on. The goal was for them to grow up to be self-controlled adults with a
good conscience. That meant when they tested the waters to see if they could
get away with evil, they’d find out they couldn’t. Not forever.
But there was a catch.
There was something I didn’t understand about that
prayer until God began to answer it. Here it is. When your kids get caught and are punished, you suffer right along with them. Sometimes I felt like it really did hurt us more
than it hurt them. But you have to let your kids experience the consequences of
their actions, even though you’ll be dragged through the mud right along with
them, because a child’s heart matters.
So, for the last six months I’ve been praying for the
truth to come out and for evil people to be exposed and held accountable in our
country. The chaos around us was never about a virus. It’s always been about control. Turns
out, a lot of other people have been praying the same way I have, which is a
powerful combination. But, as the swamp drains, there’s a nauseating stench
filling our nostrils while the depravity hiding in all that murky water is
exposed.
That’s one of the consequences I didn’t expect.
I don’t usually live in the world of politics. We
stopped taking the newspaper years ago. I know mass media is really yellow
journalism and always has a liberal bias. Honestly, I’d rather spend my
internet time writing funny stories and mindlessly exploring Pinterest. But I
don’t have the luxury of doing those things right now. Every voice matters in
the fight against tyranny and the push toward Marxism and Communism that has
suddenly reared its ugly head in America.
We’re on a collision course with those evil ideologies
which have placed our 244-year-old Republic in the crosshairs of a revolution
that’s been brewing for years. Though it’s been in the making for generations, I
never saw it until this year because it was hidden behind university classroom
doors and in the bedrooms of perverted celebrities, politicians, and millionaires.
And because I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to
smell the stench of a draining swamp. I didn’t want to see the filth hidden in the
rotting depths. I didn’t want to believe there could be an apocalypse in my
lifetime.
When your prayer is answered and truth comes out, what is also
revealed are the horrible actions committed by horrible people. It’s like
popping a pimple. How’s that for a word picture? Gross, but accurate. When you
ask God to expose the names behind the lies, you’ll be disillusioned when it
turns out people you once idolized have been hiding behind masks for years.
I didn’t know until this month what the Patriot Act
has done to our privacy and freedoms, because I once thought the world of George
W. Bush. I didn’t realize in 2002, during the panicked aftermath of 9/11, that
our state lawmakers gave so much power to the governor in our executive branch
that, not only does he believe he can rule with an iron fist, I no longer
believe we live in a democracy. It’s to the point in Arizona now that if
you’re wanting to escape the monarchy in California, don’t come here. You won’t
see a difference between the two states.
I’d never heard the word Draconian before. Or
Dystopian. Not until I began to experience them both under the misplaced idea
that my constitutional and God-given freedoms only matter when there isn’t a
virus floating around that’s been declared Public Enemy Number One.
I was ignorant of the machinery behind Planned
Parenthood’s schemes. Although, when it comes to that one, I’m not alone. Even
those who riot and protest right now for racial equality seem unaware that Margaret
Sanger, the founder of PP in 1916, was a eugenist who believed “minorities are
inferior in the human race” and created Planned Parenthood as part of a plan “to
exterminate the Negro population.”[i]
Not until last night did I realize that the
legalization of abortion has led to the harvesting of baby body parts sold “fresh,
never frozen” to researchers in obscure, idyllic towns like Hamilton, Montana,
where they are used to try to make “humanized mice.”[ii] Now I know. Enlightenment isn't at all what it's cracked up to be.
Are you nauseous now at the stench rising from
draining swamps? I am. There isn’t enough Pepto in the world to make it go
away, either. Or essential oils, for that matter.
It’s an ugly, ugly thing to watch the vile existence
of hidden depravity emerge right before our eyes and right beneath our feet in this
country, knowing its publicity is an answer to the prayer for truth. I prayed
that “it” would be stopped. I didn’t know exactly what “it” was when I began
praying for the facts to come out so the corrupt would be exposed and held
accountable. Now that I know more, I wish I could wake up from this nightmare.
I’m weary of arguing with people over viruses with a
99.8 per cent rate of survival except to add this. Seven years ago I had extensive
surgery to remove cancer from my body and when the pathology report came back I
was told they were 99 per cent sure they’d gotten it all. Those are slightly
less optimistic odds than what we see with a politically charged virus that has
governors, mayors, city councils and county officials demanding us all to
comply to mandates that aren’t even legal. But the one per cent uncertainty my
doctors gave me set me free to live and enjoy my life. The two-tenths of the one
per cent uncertainty of coronavirus has so inflated the heads of elected
officials, they now declare themselves king of the world. And most people bow in obedience.
It’s no stretch to see that it’s all connected unless
you don’t want to see it, and even then I can’t blame you. Keeping your head in
the sand might be better than smelling the decay and corruption in the swamp
all around us. Until it begins to suffocate you, too.
I, like you, want it to end. I want to believe in the
goodness of men. I want to feel secure in the protection of America’s
constitution. I want to sleep peacefully at night once more, unafraid of domestic
terrorists with their eyes focused on my community. I want to feel hopeful that
the future will be bright for my children and their children.
If I want those things, I’ll have to see this prayer
out to the end. The swamp isn’t empty until it’s devoid of all secrecy and
coverups. Which means I’ll have to suffer along with the rest of America while
justice is served, evil is overcome, and the fresh wind of freedom blows
through our land once more.
And I need to stock up on a lot more cans of OFF. You may want to do the same. See
you in the deep end.
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