with us

"What is your favorite name for God?" he had asked the congregated hearts.

My thoughts had never lingered on the subject long. People spoke, in awkward loudness that tried not to shout: "Savior"  "Redeemer"  "Messiah"

All I could think of was one word:
Emmanuel.

"God with us" according to Strong's Concordance, a combination of a word for god and the preposition with.

Why do I love that so very much?

What if I really believed that of God? What if I really lived as though He were with me? I forget Him sometimes, in my frailty.

How would I change if I knew in the depth of soul that I walked in the company of God?

In the heaps of messes, in the stretching shadows, the dimming light, the aching burdens, the wrenching pain--
He

is

here.

And He knows pain. And He is with us, in us, around us, before us, among us, and for us.

Here. With. Not nearby, but with.

May I never forget.