Several years ago, I realized during Vacation Bible School that our youngest children needed the extremely simplified version of God’s promises to us. Ones they could remember. Ones they could hold on to when life got hard – because it always will.

This is where I ended up:

God loves you.

God is always with you.

You can be brave.

There is nothing in all creation or within you that will make God not love you. Nothing you can do or anything anyone else can do to you. God will always love you. Period.

God is always with us. Before us. Behind us. Above us. Below Us. Between us. Inside us. There is no where we can go that God is not already there.

Because God loves you unconditionally and because God is always with you, you can be brave. Brave enough to face fears. Courageous enough to live into showing God’s love. Strong enough to believe in hope even when all seems lost.

Though you all are likely not children reading this, something I know from experience is that when life gets difficult, sometimes we need the simple. The easily explained. The uncomplicated assurances that will get us through the day.

So here is your mantra for today: God loves you. God is with you. You can be brave.