Texas Governor. Greg Abbott is speaking about his faith and encouraging residents to turn to God during this time of coronavirus pandemic.
In a Zoom interview Sunday with Prestonwood Baptist Church Pastor Jack Graham, Abbott told viewers “they have support you can lean on that will always be there for you, and that’s Jesus Christ.”
Plano based Graham, asked the conservative governor about what incident in his own life prepared him to handle a crisis of pandemic proportions.
The 62-year-old Governor spoke about the injury which left him paralyzed and wheelchair-bound at just 26 years old, that time of personal tragedy, had really tested his faith and left him asking: “Why would God allow something like this to happen?”
“But,” he continued, “very importantly, I found in the aftermath, that I continued to reach out to God. I found God reach back out to me. And my relationship with God and Jesus Christ grew even closer after that accident.”
The governor told the congregation watching the live video, that God “never promised us a life free of storms.” Instead, He guaranteed “a pathway through those storms,” Abbott said. “That’s what I’ve seen in my own life, and that’s what I’m seeing in Texas,” he added.
Abbott said the slow spread of the coronavirus is because of the action and prayers on the part of Christians. The Republican leader said he can see “God’s hand … working through the scientists across this great nation by coming out with fast, innovative drugs that would lead to therapeutic remedies.”
Graham and Abbott agreed it will be God who ultimately carries Texans and the United States through this pandemic. This week, Texas is beginning to reopen after weeks of self-isolation and intense social distancing measures.
The Lone Star state started on Monday morning reopening the state’s parks where all visitors would have to wear face masks and maintain social distancing guidelines with no families of larger than five members allowed onto the grounds.
The state is also starting non-essential surgeries beginning Wednesday, and on Friday, retailers of all kinds will be permitted to offer to-go services to customers who purchased items beforehand.