I Am Ruth, Part 1

I've been reading and studying Ruth lately and it has been wonderful (and I've just finished chapter 1). It is an amazing tale of redemption even in the first chapter! God is so good.

As I've been reading, I've been trying to place myself in Ruth's shoes, and I have seen things in the text that I may have glossed over before. Here's some of what I've been encouraged by so far:

• Elimelech and his family set out from Bethlehem to find food - not to be missionaries.
  God's plans were bigger than Elimelech and Naomi's plans. Why should that be a surprise to me? How many times have I set out to do something and God did so much more than I had even imagined?
• Ruth was separated from God
  Ruth was a Moabitess and the God of Israel was not her God. She wasn't seeking after God - but God was seeking after her! Before I came to know Christ, I may have gone to church every Sunday, but I wasn't seeking Christ. Just like Ruth, he sought me out. How glad am I that he did!
• It was through relationship that Ruth came to know of God's love
  Through the witness of her mother-in-law Naomi, Ruth came to know of God's love. God may have also revealed himself to Ruth through her ten years of marriage. There are many people who demonstrated God's love to me including Jackie, my youth pastor's wife. Yes, she told me of God's love but much more importantly she showed my God's love in how she lived her life.
• Ruth's life was radically changed because of her encounter with the living God
  After the death of her husband, she was given the option to go back to her old way of life and press the "reset" button. Because her life had been so radically changed, she refused (don't you make me do this!) to go back but instead chose to follow Naomi to a land she never know, to be around a people that weren't hers, but... to serve a God that she had come to know and love! My life in Christ is so much more than my life without Him could ever be. Go back to the way it was before I knew Christ? May it never be. I will choose Christ!

How wonderful it is to be able to relate to this precious sister of mine - Ruth! I am thankful for the message of love and redemption seen in her life and I am so blessed that I too know God's redeeming love!

Linking up with Holley Gerth!

Joining the Wise Woman Linkup!

How Do You Hold Your Husband Near To You?

He works nights. I work days. It seems so hard for us to connect sometimes. When I go to bed, I long for him to be there with me. When I rise in the morning, I think of him and pray for him.

He loves music. He often wants me to check out a song that he thinks is great. We don't always have the same taste in music. Yet as I listen to some of his favorite songs, I think of him and feel closer to him.

I want to make a playlist of a few of his favorite songs and listen to it at night as I get ready for bed and pray for him. Maybe that way, he will be near to me in my thoughts and in my heart when I go to bed without him.

What do you do to hold your husband close when you are apart?

Today, I'm linking up with Crystal Storms whose post today helped me to pray for a deeper connection!

What Was It About Her?

I love reading the book of Ruth. She is a heroine of mine and a great example of a woman with noble, godly character. If it weren't for the fact that it wasn't written until a few generations later, I would say she is an ideal Proverbs 31 woman. Her commitment, as a Moabitess, to the God of Israel shows the preeminence of our God. He alone is worthy to be praised.

Today, I want to reflect on her mother-in-love, Naomi. What was it about Naomi that made Ruth want to leave her people and stay with Naomi? How did the faith and the love of this woman who came to Moab with her husband and sons to escape a famine only to lose them, how did her faith appeal to Ruth?

She loved her husband and sons. The journey to Moab would have taken several days. But they were hungry and they needed food. So they would go to where the food was. Even though the Moabites followed a foreign God, Naomi was willing to go to Moab to care for her husband and sons.

She loved her daughters-in-law When hers sons died, Naomi wanted the best for her daughters-in-law. She knew that she could not provide another husband for them and wanted them to be taken care of. Go, she told them, back to your own families.

She loved her God Even though she had lost much and feared that the hand of the Lord was against her, Naomi still loved God and looked to Him to bless her daughters-in-law. She prayed a blessing over them as she urged them not to follow her.

After returning to Bethlehem, Naomi continued to love and guide Ruth. She is a wonderful example of an older woman loving, guiding, and discipling a younger woman. May it be said of me that I am like Naomi!

I am joining Holley Gerth for Coffee For Your Heart.

Praying for him and...

I love him. I really do. And I long for him when he's working nights and I'm working days. I think of him constantly when we are apart. Well, maybe not constantly, I was distracted by that driver who cut me off in traffic - didn't they know I was late? And I was distracted by the coworker who asked me for help... again... I thought they should know what they were doing by now. But still, I think of him a lot when we are apart. I love him. I really, really do.

And it saddens me because I don't know the last time he read his Bible or the last time he prayed. It's been a while since we've been to church together. So I pray for him. Every day. I pray for him because I love him and want to see him drawn closer to Christ. I pray for him every day.

Today, I was praying: "Direct his steps by Your Word. And let no iniquity have dominion over him." I pray for him because I love him. I love him. I love him.

But it hit me as I prayed, I need to pray this too: "Direct my steps by Your Word. And let no iniquity have dominion over me." Can I say that I am surprised that as I pray for him (because I love him), I am drawn closer to Christ?

Longing

I woke up this morning feeling crowded, like the walls were pushing in. Too many things on my to do list and not enough time to do them. Wake up. Exercise. Read my Bible and pray. Make lunch. Have breakfast. Shower and get ready for the day. Get in the car. Drive to work. Get ready for a meeting I lead. Make that two meetings. No, wait, let me check my calendar, three meetings. So much to do, I can't breathe.

All the while, I wanted to be in bed snuggled up next to the man that I love. To feel his breath against my body. To inhale the scent of his manliness. To thank God for the blessing that he is. But he is working nights and I woke up alone. With an ache in my heart that won't be soothed until we are together again. With so much to do before we are together. God, how can I wait for him?

But God says, "My daughter. I am here. I know the longings of your heart. Be still..."

When Facing Trouble

I was reading through Psalm 50 this morning and stopped to meditate on verse 15. I wondered to myself what does trouble really mean?

So, using my Blue Letter Bible app and looked it up.

The Hebrew word here is צָרָה tsârâh and it's meaning really struck me. Emphasis below is mine.

From the outline of Biblical Usage:

1. straits, distress, trouble
2. vexer, rival wife

From Strong's: tightness (i.e. figuratively, trouble); transitively, a female rival:—adversary, adversity, affliction, anguish, distress, tribulation, trouble

A rival wife, a female rival, trouble.

Anything that is competing for the affections of a husband, or of a child, or even competing for my affections - anything that is not in line with what God wants for us and is competing for our affections - that is trouble.

So, I call out to God to keep me away from things that steal my affections away. Deliver me from trouble and I will glorify You!

I Am Being Remade

Change can sometimes be difficult - even if it's change we long for.

But knowing that the master potter is changing me brings me comfort.

The woman I am, the woman I am becoming, show that the master potter is still at work, lovingly recreating me.

Sometimes change is difficult. But I trust in the God that is changing me.