Margot Starbuck, author of The Girl in the Orange Dress: Searching for a Father who does not Fail, spoke at our church last night. She brought a banner–about twelve feet high and six wide–constructed of brightly colored and different patterned squares with the words, "I am the one who is WITH YOU and FOR YOU."

She explained that it took her a long time to recognize that God is FOR us, cheering us on, believing that we are valuable, naming us his beloved.

Later, she realized that God also is WITH us, physically present, particularly through the words and deeds of other people in our lives.

There are people, she said, who are FOR us, but not WITH us, cheerleaders at a distance. And others who are WITH us, but not FOR us, criticizing us up close.

And then she suggested that whenever we read a Psalm and see the word LORD in all caps (which in the Hebrew is YHWH), substitute the phrase, "I am the one who is with you and for you."

What a difference it would make if we believed it.