How to Ease Election Anxiety

I cast my first vote in a presidential election on my 18^th birthday.

The year was 1988. I went to the city hall in my little town after school and filled out my ballot. It was a rite of passage I’ve never forgotten.

I’ll save you the trouble of doing the math and just tell you outright. This year, I will turn 50 two days after the presidential election.

And since I cast that first ballot as a senior in high school, presidential elections have always been a source of anxiety for me. Overall, I don’t struggle with worry nearly as much as I used to, but this one particular area is still an issue.

Perhaps it’s tied to my lifelong habit of reading the end of the book first. Elections, especially heavily contested ones, are not fun for people who want to know how the story ends before it even begins.

This year, though, I’ve been working on letting go of that desire. It started in the early days of the Covid quarantine, when the what-ifs were wreaking havoc in my mind.

I don’t want to live like this for the rest of my life, I thought. I need to learn how to be OK with not knowing how it’s all going to turn out.

I’m thankful that God, in His often-confusing-but-always-perfect timing, started me on this journey all those months ago. I’ve had many opportunities to let “tomorrow worry about itself,” as Matthew 6:34 puts it, and simply paying attention to my initial reactions has helped quite a bit.

Even so, I need to be even more proactive as the election season heats up.

The truth of the matter is this. The pundits can say what they want and pollsters can predict all day long, but God alone knows the outcome.

So what, then, can I do?

Only one thing, really: Pray.

Not for my anxious hopes (whatever they may be) to be fulfilled, but for God’s will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

I believe God is sovereign over world events. I believe that He puts kings in their places, that He performs His plans with perfect faithfulness. (Isaiah 46:10, Daniel 2:21, Isaiah 25:1)

I don’t know how this works. I don’t pretend to understand His purposes, though I do believe that they may involve events, situations and circumstances that are not comfortable for me personally, or the church collectively.

I also don’t know where we are on the kingdom calendar, or how what’s going on in the world right now precisely fits into God’s designs for the end of days.

So I pray.

Not because I’m super spiritual or consider myself to be above the fray or have no personal interest in who wins. It’s for my own mental, emotional and spiritual health, as much as anything.

Hand-wringing, agonizing and worrying are not helpful. I know; I’ve tried them all.

This time, I’m trying to rely on prayer.

Not for a particular outcome, as I said before, but for God’s will to be done. And also for the candidates—Republican and Democrat alike—as individual people.

For their health and safety, their stamina and wellbeing. That they will have godly counselors in their circles of influence. That these people will speak the truth to them, and that they will listen.

That’s pretty much it, honestly. Otherwise, I quickly veer into telling God what to do, as if He needs my advice about how to run the universe.

I’m going to vote, of course. Before it’s all over, I’ll probably end up reading more news and analysis articles than necessary.

But when I feel the anxiety rising in the coming weeks, and especially as the returns are coming in on Nov. 3, I’m going to pray—and remind myself of these truths:

• That God is the One who “changes the times and seasons” and “removes kings and establishes kings.” (Daniel 2:20-21)

• That He “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” (Ephesians 1:11)

• That He “can do all things, and that no purpose of [His] can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)

• And finally—and perhaps most comforting—“When the earth and all its inhabitants shake, [God is] the One who steadies its pillars.” (Psalm 75:3)

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with Purposeful Faith, #TellHisStory, InstaEncouragements, Recharge Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee and Grace & Truth.

Photo by Josh Carter on Unsplash