Dear Ordinary Christian Sister,

The election was held over twenty-four hours ago at this point. A winner was declared, speeches were made, social media erupted, and here we are, a nation, still divided. A church divided. Families divided. Friendships divided.

You are getting up this morning, waking your children for school – whether to homeschool them, put them on a school bus, or drive them to a private school; you will make breakfast for your family, pack lunches, perhaps start dinner or make dinner plans. Or maybe it’s just you, or you and your husband, or you and your pets. But it’s your life.

I know you. I am you.

You will deal with laundry, dishes, scraped knees, arguments, tears, nightmares, bills, the household budget, groceries, and meal plans. You will answer phone calls, make doctor’s appointments, clean your home, and read stories aloud. You will giggle, laugh, joke, smile, multi-task.

I know you. I am you.

You will worry: about your children, your husband, your aging parents, whether ends will meet this month, if the washing machine will work today, if the school will call, if that child’s crankiness signifies the beginning of an illness, if your husband will have a successful hunt, if your car will hold out one more winter, if you can pay your health insurance.

I know you. I am you.

You are educated. Maybe you went to college, but maybe not. Maybe you have graduate degrees. Maybe you have a GED. But you read, you listen to solid teaching, you read the Scriptures to search truth for yourself. You don’t rely on mass media for everything – you research, you listen, you seek to understand. You ignore the rhetoric.

I know you. I am you.

You believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He has transformed your heart, saved you by His amazing grace. You would identify as an imputationist if you were a theologian. You attend a solid church or are starting the search for one. You study your Bible because you love God and you love His Word. You are a real-life honest Christian, not a “white evangelical” that the media has so readily vilified.

I know you. I am you.

But the last thirty-six hours or so have been particularly painful. You’ve been called hateful. Racist. Homophobic. Misogynistic. Sexist. Dumb. Illiterate.

Friends have said this. Family has said this. Oh, maybe not about you specifically, but these are the things being said about anyone who took a stand for Truth on Tuesday. The media has certainly said this. If you did not vote for Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, you have been slapped with all of these labels. If you did not mourn our country yesterday the proper way, you are wearing these labels.

I know you. I am you.

Dear sister…press on. Do the hard work. Lean into Jesus and the Truth of His Word. Love your Savior. Love your husband. Love your children. Love your church. Love your neighbors.

Show everyone they are wrong when they say that we ordinary Christians are what is wrong with this nation. Show them that we ordinary Christians are, in fact, everything that is good and right with our country. Show them that ordinary Christians are what we need – what they need if they want hope. 

Yesterday may have been a day of mourning, regardless of how you voted on Tuesday. Harsh things were said on either side.

Now we have real work to do: the ordinary, every day, hard work of sanctification that bears the fruit of righteousness that affects those around us.

The ordinary part of our country – the part that grows the food, builds the cars, manufactures the goods – have made themselves aware to those who consider themselves extraordinary. Now that people are aware that we are running the race, don’t drop the baton. This is the time to let your light shine so brightly that people have to question the reason for your hope – and you need to be ready to give the reason. Always. Now is the season.

Dear sister, we are not haters, bigots, racists, sexists, misogynists, homophobes. We are filled with the love of Jesus Christ and guided by His Holy Spirit. We are no longer slaves to the flesh, but are slaves to Him – we absolutely cannot be those worldly things. Now we have the real work to do: the work of showing Jesus to this world by bearing the fruit of righteousness, bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

It will hurt. Sanctification hurts. Bearing fruit hurts. We will be mocked, persecuted, belittled – and that’s just in our own churches and families, not to mention by the media and the intellectual elite. But we must stand up for the Truth of Scripture – tell people the Gospel and offer them the Living Water and Bread of Life.

We have the answers – we hold the key! Jesus is the answer to the problems facing our nation. You have the answers…you just have to be courageous enough to raise your hand and admit it.

I know you. I am you.

Love,

Rachel