I grew up watching Billy Graham’s evangelistic rallies on TV. And I’m a huge fan of the outreach, Samaritan’s Purse, launched by his son, Franklin Graham, to bring lifesaving medicine, provisions, and shelter to the world’s poorest people. So I was excited to hear that Franklin was coming to Augusta to lead Christians in praying for our country.

On Wednesday, a friend joined me and my three youngest children on the tree-shaded lawn in front of the gold-domed capitol with roughly 1,500 others who had turned out to hear Franklin speak. The event was part of his nationwide Decision America tour, in which the younger Graham is touring all 50 state capitals.

Like many, I am concerned for our country’s future and our upcoming presidential election. In many ways, the future of our country has never appeared so dire, but no matter who is elected in November, I believe that God is in control.

So, when Franklin took the microphone and said, “There isn’t a political party that can turn this nation around,” I eagerly applauded, as I did when he said, “The only hope for this mighty nation is the all mighty God, and the most important thing Christians can do is pray.”

After retelling the story of the Jews who survived exile and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem during the days of the prophet Nehemiah, Franklin called on the assembled crowd to rebuild the crumbling moral and political walls of our own nation. Then he invited us to confess our sins as a nation and individually; to pray for our military, elected officials and police officers; and to seek how we might get involved.

From there, Franklin’s message morphed into typical campaign rhetoric about getting out to vote, and I was disappointed. I am not really sure I can this year, at least not for either of the leading candidates. We aren’t just voting for a political party or agenda, as Franklin said. As much as I believe in voting, I also believe that we are responsible for whomever we put in office and how his or her actions affect others.

As the rally wound to a close and I pushed my youngest son across the grass in his stroller, I wished that Franklin had focused more on prayer than on politics. I wished he’d talked more about reaching out in our communities and caring for our neighbors than about the need to run for office. And I wish he’d spent more time exalting God than the voting process.

One moment stayed with me, however. While my 6- and 13-year-olds sat on the grass nearby, my 3-year-old son tugged on my shirt. “Mama, did you hear that?” he asked. “He said, ‘God loves us.’”

“Yes, he does,” I said.

That is the hope I cling to. And that is the heart of my prayer, for this country and the world: That we would know and share the overwhelming love of God.

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Meadow Rue Merrill writes and reflects on God’s presence in her ordinary life from a little house in the big woods of Mid-coast Maine. Her memoir, “Redeeming Ruth,” releases in May 2017. Find her at meadowrue.com.