The Morning After

Dear friend,

I know how many of you woke up this morning.

You turned on the television, or picked up your phone, and saw it. Both the House and the Senate, gone. Places you never imagined would turn. A night that felt, for many of you, like a door closing.

Some of you did not sleep. Some of you cried. Some of you just sat at the kitchen table with your coffee going cold, not quite knowing what to feel.

Maybe you feel foolish for hoping. Maybe you feel like the country has finally stopped listening to people like you. Maybe you feel something closer to grief, as if you lost something you cannot quite name.

All of that is allowed. You do not have to be brave this morning. You only have to be honest.

I have been here too.

I was up early today. I sat with Peanut in the quiet, and I will tell you the truth. I was disappointed. I had hoped for a different night.

And it took me back to another election night, many years ago, when I was young and certain the country was lost.

I sat on the edge of my bed until dawn, sure that nothing would ever be right again. My mother found me there in the morning. She did not argue with me. She did not tell me I was wrong to be upset. She just made me breakfast, sat down across from me, and said:

“God was up all night too, Thomas. He is not tired.”

I have never forgotten it. And this morning, I want to say the same thing to you.

God was up all night too. He is not tired.

What the prophet did when everything failed.

There is a short book in the Bible that almost nobody reads. It is called Habakkuk.

Habakkuk lived in a time when everything seemed to be going wrong for his people. He watched it happen. He asked God why. And at the very end of his book, he wrote some of the bravest words in all of Scripture. Habakkuk chapter 3, verses 17 and 18.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Read that again slowly.

Though the crops fail. Though the fields are empty. Though everything he hoped for did not come.

Yet.

That one small word is the whole of the Christian faith. Yet I will rejoice. Not because things went well. Because God is still God when they do not.

What has not changed.

I want you to hold onto a few things this morning.

The president is still the president. He has two more years in office.

God was not on the ballot yesterday. He did not lose. He is exactly where He was on Monday night, on His throne, and not one vote surprised Him.

And this country has survived a great many hard nights. I have lived through more of them than I can count. The Church has come through every one of them. So will you.

Psalm 30 verse 5 says this.

Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

It is morning now. Not every sorrow lifts at sunrise. But this one will not last forever. I promise you that.

Please, be gentle today.

Some of the people you love voted differently from you. A son. A neighbor. A friend from church.

Do not let this morning cost you them. Elections come and go. Your family is forever.

If someone gloats, let it pass. If someone grieves, sit with them. You can be disappointed and still be gracious. That is what Christians have always done in hard seasons.

The question that feels closer now.

Over the last few weeks, many of you wrote to me with the same quiet worry. What happens after this president? What happens to the country, to the Church, and to your grandchildren?

This morning, that question feels much closer. With Congress now in other hands, these last two years will look very different, and the years after 2029 matter more than ever.

I wrote a guide about exactly that. It is called What Comes After Trump: The Bible And The Years Ahead. It looks at what Scripture says about seasons like this one, how God’s people have always come through them, and what you can do now to prepare the people you love.

If you are feeling lost this morning, I believe it will steady you.

You can find the guide by clicking on the image below:

Alternatively, you may find it here: https://fatherthomasletters.com/products/what-comes-after-trump

Before you go.

So here is what I want you to do this morning.

Put the phone down. Turn the television off. Make your coffee the way you like it, and sit by a window for a few minutes.

You do not have to fix anything today. You do not have to understand it. You do not have to have an answer for anyone.

Just let God sit with you, the way my mother sat with me.

And when you are ready, say it with me, even if your voice shakes a little.

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

God bless you, friend. You are not forgotten. Not today. Not ever.

With you in prayer always,
Father Thomas

This week I want you to do three things:

One. Read Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17 through 19 this morning. Read the last verse too, where God makes your feet like the feet of a deer, steady on the heights.

Two. Call one person you love who voted differently from you. Do not talk about the election. Just tell them you love them.

Three. Read What Comes After Trump this week, using the image or link above, so you can face the years ahead with a plan and not just a worry.

One last thing.

If this letter meant something to you, please forward it to two people you love. A friend from church. A brother or sister. Someone who feels as alone in these times as you sometimes do.

Many of you found these letters because someone shared them with you. Thank you for doing the same.

Was this letter forwarded to you? You can receive them yourself, free, here: https://fatherthomasletters.com/subscribe

P.S. If you would like to go deeper, you can find my guides here. If you would rather listen, my podcast is here, for the car or the kitchen. And if you would like to receive the letters I write only for my closest friends, you can become a Friend of Father Thomas here. God bless you.

For my Friends of Father Thomas, I have written something more this week. The hardest prayer I prayed this morning, and why I prayed it.

For my Friends

Thank you for being here, especially this week. Your support keeps these letters free for everyone else, including many people who are hurting this morning.

I want to tell you about the hardest prayer I prayed today.