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Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

“MOM!”

“Mom!”

My eyes blurry with sleep, blink open, and I am momentarily confused before realizing why I’d awoken and what was happening.

“Yes, Jonny?” I call back across the small landing that separates our bedrooms, rising up on an elbow to peer into the night-light’s dim glow to see whether his little body is hurtling in my direction.

“I love you!” he yells. No hurtling then, I realize as I lie back down, pulling my share of the covers back to equal as Aaron grunts at my tug.

“We love you, too!” Aaron and I call back sleepily in unison as we all snuggle back in, with Aaron adding a wry, “Now get some sleep!” We both know that we’ll probably do this little ritual once more before the sun rises.

Our family chuckles over that phase in our collective lives—the year that Jonny would wake up and holler that he loved us and then wait for our response, sometimes multiple times a night. He was seeking reassurance that we remained close by, needing only to hear our voices before, comforted, he snuggled under his covers and settled back to sleep.

I was telling a friend about the year of the “I love you” call and response, when it occurred to me that I do that with Jesus—I call out to him when the car skids on ice, when my child crashes his bike in front of me, when danger suddenly looms—not because I doubt he is there and I’m looking for him, but precisely because I know he is there, and I find comfort and draw strength and courage from his closeness even as I watch a situation spiral out of control.

We are promised the closeness of God when life unexpectedly goes off the rails, when we are walking through the darkest valleys of our lives. Before we call, he is close by, both Comforter and Protector. And when we call out to him, he responds.

Lord, thank you for being close to us, especially during our darkest moments. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: Collect stories of how God has come through for those around you —and then meditate on those stories when life is hard and you need to remember that he is our close Comforter and Protector.