I believe that Emmanuel God, who is with us, said,

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

The Shunammite woman, who went to Mount Carmel

to meet the prophet Elisha because of her dead son,

said to Elisha the prophet,

"As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you"

(2 Kings 4:30).

She deeply desired Elisha the prophet to return with her to her house.

When reflecting on these words,

I thought of what Ruth said to her mother-in-law Naomi:

"Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.

Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.

Your people will be my people and your God my God.

Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.

May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,

if even death separates you and me!"

(Ruth 1:16-17)

Finally, seeing that Ruth was determined to go with her,

Naomi could no longer persuade her,

so they left together for Bethlehem (vv. 18-19).

The prophet Elisha also had to follow her (the Shunammite woman)

(2 Kings 4:30).

We believe in Emmanuel, God with us, who said,

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age"

(Matthew 28:20).