Politics With Peyton: From Hating Politics to Majoring in It

Recently, I have been pondering the question everyone in politics asks themselves: should I be in the field that I am? I am a firm believer that what you do in life requires a calling from the Lord. It is important we listen closely to what the Lord is telling us and answer His calls. 

I was not politically motivated my whole life. Quite the opposite: I was ignorant. Politics was something my dad talked about while driving me places, and I’d sit in the passenger seat trying to not fall asleep from boredom.   

I was more fascinated with singing, dancing and acting. Yes, I was a theater kid. For 10 years, my life revolved around the stage. 

At 10 years old, I quit community theater and began pursuing a bigger stage – a secular stage. I was caught up in the idea of being a part of a “professional” theater company and all the pleasures that came along with that. However, a world without Christ and people without Christ can only lead to worldly desires and politics to fit them. 

Theater is a very liberally-motivated scene. My friends talked about “women’s rights” and “transgender freedoms,” and they spoke of them in such a positive light that it seemed like common sense to support these issues. 

The only people I had talking to me about cultural political issues were those in the liberal arts world – individuals who were lost in their sin. 

Ages 10 to 16 are impressionable and transformative years for any individual, but particularly for those who are navigating the idea of a higher being in an atmosphere that despises Him. I was consumed by this culture for nearly seven years.

Before 16 years old, I was feeling burnt out, taken advantage of and hungry for something more in life. I wanted to go to college, get married, have kids and homeschool them.

I felt this tugging at my heart. I had a deep passion for a family of my own; however, nothing made me happier than to be on stage. Theater was the idol of my life. 

At 16, I decided I was going to take a short break from theater. I took the remainder of my sophomore year to join a homeschool speech and debate league. This only made me more politically lost. 

I came from a world that preached that women have a right to bodily autonomy and entered one that spoke of abortion as murder. I was politically homeless. Towards the end of this break from theater I found my heart still burning for theater but my political ideas shifting – I became proudly pro-life. 

January 2017 shifted my world forever. I was not political yet, but I was pro-life. So, I decided to go public with this opinion and attend my very first pro-life march. As a result, I lost over 25 “friends” from theater who told me they hated what I stood for, they hated the person I had become and they hated me. 

The place that screams love and acceptance rejected me. All ten years of blood, sweat and tears in theater was erased within one moment of speaking out on one partisan issue. The next thing I knew, the community I loved so deeply shut me out. Unwelcomed and eventually forgotten. 

Although my heart shattered, this didn’t slow me down. However, it was an answered prayer. By November 2018 I found myself in a political party switch and vocally backing candidates. With that came more broken friendships as well as more answered prayers and everlasting rewards. 

Answering a call God has placed on your heart is not always easy. I hung up the phone and put Him on hold more times than I can count. And some days I made the absolute wrong decision. Some days I’m ready to throw in the towel and pray God reverses the decision I made. Some days I’m so burnt out from politics, I’m ready to tell God “no.” 

Despite my desires, I know theater will not provide the same contentment in life that following Christ provides. If I had stayed in theater, my relationship with Him would be nonexistent, and I would be outspoken on the wrong side of politics.  I wouldn’t have the joy of being part of the solution. 

Leaving theater may have been painful, but nothing would hurt more than knowing I deliberately chose to disobey God’s command for my life. He didn’t leave me in my hurt, He gave me a new passion to live for Him. He gave me politics. 

So, as I sit at my desk in the Champion office, my AirPods on full blast (playing a musical), I write with 100% certainty that God’s plan is greater than my own. Sacrificing my worldly desires for His, although painful and difficult at times, is the best decision I’ve ever made. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.” 

MacKenzie is the opinion editor. Follow her on Twitter.