Align: Canada

Welcome back to my blog! This is the first day of July 2024 Ultimate Blog Challenge! It means that I will attempt to blog every day for the next 31 days.

And around the same day I discovered Align. This is a 31 day focus on prayer hosted by Christian speaker and author, Beth Moore, starting today! Isn't that Serendipity? A blog challenge and then something to blog about. She does sell a journal to go along with this but you can make your own journal.

Here's how Align works.

Your purpose is to seek God's desires. So for the month of July you put your own desires to the side. Instead of filling your prayers with your wants and needs you will be attempting to pray what God wants you to. *Note: there is nothing wrong with praying for yourself - this is just for the month of July.

1. Pick one of the gospels and read a chapter a day. When you've finished that gospel, supplement with Acts. I've chosen Matthew. Matthew has 28 chapters so for the last 3 days I'll read the first 3 chapters of Acts.

2. While reading look for how the chapter conveys God's desires.

3. Record your thoughts in a journal.

4. Pray over your readings and thoughts. Ask, "God, what do You want?" Then pray over His desires.

5. Pray for a different nation for 31 days.

And this is where my blogging comes in. I thought that I would blog about a different nation each day and why I'm praying over that nation.

Today I'm doing Canada. Why? Well, first, it's my country. I was born here and lived here all my life. Second, it happens to be Canada's birthday today! For the next 31 days, travel with me around the world to 31 countries. And feel free to Align.

Canada

Established in 1867, Canada is land wise the second largest country in the world, bordered by three oceans, the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. It has 10 provinces and 3 territories. It shares the longest border with one country, the USA and a little border with Denmark via Greenland (I did not know that). It only has 40 million people, most living close to the Canadian/USA border, because much of Canada is too cold for most sane people. The capitol of Canada is Ottawa and currently the leader is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau who was in power for much too long in the 70's. The country is a Commonwealth, which means that we recognize English Royalty and have Queen Elizabeth on our money and sing "God Save the Queen" and get royal visits and do pretty much what we want otherwise. It's all formalities and means very little and no one thinks of King Charles as head of anything. We are officially one government and one nation but really, there are three different nations living here - English, French, and Native. The French have one province, The Natives have one territory, the English have the rest, and the Natives live all over within their own reserves and having their own police force and courts. English and French are the official languages but most Canadians speak exclusively English which makes the French mad and causes them to demand all kinds of stupid stuff which makes the rest of Canada roll their eyes and give in to. Canada is known as the land of the lakes because we have the largest area of fresh water lakes. It has the longest coastline, and has the 3rd longest mountain range - The Rockies which starts in Alaska and goes down to Mexico and then into South America morphing into the Andes. Industries include forestry, fishing, mining, agriculture, tourism, oil and energy, manufacturing, movie and tv, financial businesses and real estate. So why pray for Canada besides it's being my home?

We used to be well respected throughout the world. Living beside the powerhouse of the United States we were the quiet sibling. We did our job. We didn't make a fuss. We helped end WWII. We contributed to the world without demanding much. Travellers who had a Canadian flag on their gear would be treated better than Americans. People liked us. They really, really liked us. And it was a good country to live in. But the one, two, three, bam of Covid, wokeness, and uncontrolled immigration and foreign investing, has left Canada a joke and the people in trouble led by a leader who is more concerned with being cool than in doing right. Justin Trudeau claimed to care about women's rights and when he came into power he made a historic long needed change by creating a cabinet that was 50% women. It made sense. We thought - great, now we'll matter. It didn't work that way. Instead he cared more about the less than 1% of the population and took away women's rights to their own bathrooms, locker rooms, gyms, and other services. He has put male convicts in women's prisons, allowed men and boys on women's and girls sports teams, and I can't even go to my local pool and trust that there will only be women in the locker room. There are laws that prevent a rape victim from telling the truth in court and identifying her attacker if the accused claims to be a woman. Further no effort has been made in finding missing Native women. When the Freedom Convoy happened to protest the tyrannical laws that prevented Canadians from working, worshiping, and even having people in our own homes, Trudeau shut down participants bank accounts.

Pastors in Canada have been arrested for doing their job. Our drug problems are worse than they have ever been, homelessness is higher, people can't afford to buy or even rent homes. The average Canadian used to be able to buy a house but you can't find any for less than half a million now. We can't house our citizens yet Canada is allowing more people in while allowing foreign investors to buy up residential properties for future investments causing housing prices to soar. In spite of having plenty of fresh water, there are Native reserves who have none. There's a ton of problems and a lot are related to the "woke" movement which is rampant here due to a party boy who says one thing and does another.

So I'm praying for my country that sanity will return. That women's safety, dignity and equality will be a priority, that God will move upon the land and inspire great men and women to lead. That drugs and homelessness will no longer be a problem. Here's to the next 31 days.