The Lord

Follow Day 15 Lydia, Spaghetti, and Waffles

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Acts 16:6-15, 40
Romans 12:1-21
Mark 8:34-38

Follow, Day 15

Men’s brains work like waffles; women’s work like spaghetti.

Have you heard this analogy? While I’ve never read the book in which it’s presented, I am very aware of the concept. Men are able to compartmentalize their thinking (waffles), whereas women have several thoughts moving at once that may be under, over, in-between, wrapped around, tied in knots, etc (spaghetti).

For example, when my husband asks what I’m thinking, I need to follow one specific noodle in my mind to figure out how it connected with what we were originally talking about. In other scenarios, I will bring up a topic from a previous conversation and he will acknowledge he hasn’t considered it since because he “tucked that thought in its waffle square.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure if my brain truly existed in the “waffle-sphere,” things would end badly. I’d tuck something away safely in a square and promptly forget about it forever. Or I would ineffectively label my squares and end up with a massive, jumbled laundry pile of sorts, one with random thoughts falling away like errant socks rolling down the sides and disappearing (is this where all the missing socks go?).

The more I imagined life with a waffle-mind, my thankfulness for how the Lord wired my brain grew. With these thoughts, I began writing this Journey Study and was surprised to encounter an entirely new and challenging perspective on our dear sister in the Bible, Lydia.

Lydia’s story graces only a few verses in Scripture, but a great deal about her can be inferred from those lines. If you already read the Acts passages at the start of this study, excellent! If not, take a minute to read now. (Acts 16:6-15, 40)

Paul encountered Lydia outside the city gates of Philippi, yet Lydia was introduced as being from the city of Thyatira. Looking at the map of Paul’s missionary journeys in the back of my Bible, I discovered Thyatira and Phillippi are not neighboring towns; Lydia was a traveler. 

Additionally, she was a seller of purple cloth, for which Thyatira was famous. Note the verse does not say she was married to a seller of purple cloth; no, Lydia was a business woman, defying social norms by actively working.

She is also described as God-fearing. Paul found Lydia and other women gathered in prayer outside of the city gates. These women were humble and determined enough to step outside the boundaries of the city (most definitely the physical ones, but perhaps the societal, economic, and emotional boundaries as well) in order to seek the Lord. Lydia’s presence was intentional as she denied her own convenient comfort. (Mark 8:34)

After Lydia is introduced, we are immediately told what she was doing: listening. Because she was actively engaged with Paul’s words, “the Lord opened her heart to respond.” (Acts 16:14) If I were to envision this scenario occurring today, it might look like a woman intentionally moving to a place where she can encounter the Lord. For me, that would mean leaving my phone in the other room, having my journal and a pen ready to write thoughts to and from the Lord, and time enough to be still and truly listen.

Lydia followed through on the Lord’s nudge to respond. Holding nothing back from the Lord, she and her household were baptized. Then, she served as hostess to Paul and his traveling companions on multiple occasions. She demonstrated hospitality, generosity, humility, focus, and faithfulness. (Romans 12:6)

Now, in a perfect example of my brain’s spaghetti-like wiring, let’s jump back to how Lydia’s example showed me two ways in which I am asking the Lord to help my “spaghetti-ness.” First, like Lydia, I’m learning I must carve out time to be with the Lord and listen. The compartments of church and my personal time with Him cannot be replaced by other things. Failing to prioritize those will be detrimental to myself and those the Lord is entrusting to me.

Second, I do compartmentalize some areas that I shouldn’t. The phrase “separation between church and state” is not a biblical concept, yet it aptly describes a pattern of distinct boundaries between Jesus and the rest of my life. Rather than existing in separate compartments, what I learn in church and during my quiet times MUST bleed over into the other facets of my life. I must blend my heart for the Lord with my work environment and ethic, my home life, and my time in community. This does not mean I have a “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper sticker on my cubicle, but it does mean that I live to be a light to those around me. 

Lydia took all she had and used it for the glory of the Lord.
As a result, her entire household met Jesus.

Paul and his companions were blessed, ministered to, and energized for their journeys.
The kingdom gained a hard-working evangelist with a broad sphere of influence.

Beloved, as we consider our lives, where might God be calling us to use what He’s already given us for His glory?

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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Follow Week Three! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Click the above image for today’s Digging Deeper!

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The GT Weekend! ~ Redeemed Week 1

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The GT Weekend!

At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to
reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ.
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other women in prayer,
rest your soul in reflective journaling,
and spend time worshiping the Creator who
longs for intimacy with each of us!

Worship Through Journaling

Worship Through Journaling

1) Whether you are gleefully looking into the face of your future with bright eyes and high hopes, or you have weathered many storms of loss, heartache, and grief, the Lord has a storyline for you. Regardless of where you are in your journey, whether beginning, middle, or end, the Lord’s pen has not yet halted, leaving you alone. He, the maker of our stories, invites us deeper, moving beyond the surface to see the woven fabric underneath. The tale He weaves touches more lives and carries deeper significance than we can fathom. Will you surrender your pen to His hand and allow His fullness to overwhelm you or will you keep holding onto the myth of control, attempting to navigate the pages of your story on your own? Take some time to journal out what it looks like to surrender your happily ever after to the Lord.

2) How often have you felt deeply that the Lord was indeed against you just as Naomi felt? She voiced her feelings, her beliefs, clearly. Yet, God did not hold this gut-wrenching honesty against her; rather, He walked beside her in her grief. Naomi felt alone, but she was not alone. She felt abandoned, but God had never left her side. He was intimately involved with every detail surrounding Naomi’s situation, even her agony. Can you relate to Naomi? When have you walked a pathway of grief so painful you have wondered aloud if the Lord had left you alone? Feel the freedom to express your fears and your feelings, but don’t sink your teeth into them so firmly you’re unwilling to hold onto truth. To help you practically remember the truth of God’s nearness and love this weekend, click for a free printable you can download and print for your bathroom mirror or kitchen wall!

3) Often, we find it most easy to look back over the plotline of our lives and see our struggles, our lows, and see the landscape which caused pain or loss. As you reflect on these periods in your own life, where do you see the goodness of the Lord showing up and being present with you? As Naomi, full of grief and loss, left all she knew and returned to a homeland with empty hands instead of full, the Lord provided for her. She did not see the fullness God would bless her with. She could not know the redemption that was coming, but still, He was faithfully walking beside her. His proof was Ruth. Take time to reflect on your own proof of the Lord faithfully showing up and walking alongside you. Praise Him for never abandoning! Share those moments of victory with someone else who might need encouragement to keep trusting the Father! If you don’t readily see His hand, pray and ask Him to show you! He is near!

Praying Scripture back to the One who wrote it in the first place is a great way to jump start our prayer-life! Pray this passage from Joel 2:25-27 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

I will repay you for the years
that the swarming locust ate,
the young locust, the destroying locust,
and the devouring locust—
my great army that I sent against you.
26 You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied.
You will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
My people will never again be put to shame.
27 You will know that I am present in Israel
and that I am the Lord your God,
and there is no other.
My people will never again be put to shame.

Prayer Journal
Ah Lord God, that You would love me enough to plan for my salvation and my rescue from my own sin before the beginning of time is profoundly radical; I could think of this amazing love and never grow tired of it! But Your love is more pervasive still, intent on redeeming all things! God, this love is too magnificent for me to grasp! I am so unworthy of such divinely intimate love! To walk beside me in my brokenness, and point my eyes forward to the hope of redemption is amazing! Thank you for loving me so deeply, Father. How wonderful you are! Remind me of these truths and teach my heart to worship You in good times and in difficult!

Worship Through Community

Can we pray for you? Reach Out! We’d love to pray for and with you!
Send us an email at prayer@gracefullytruthful.com

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Comment Here or in our Facebook Community Group!

Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

Redeemed Day 5 Comfort In The Bitter

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Exodus 15:22-27
Ruth 1:1-22
Matthew 20:17-28
Philippians 2:12-18

Redeemed, Day 5

Murmurs whispered swiftly through the small town, carried by dusty, sandaled feet. A sudden sense of excitement and curiosity pulsed through Bethlehem as two women approached. Questions swirled among small clusters of residents as all peered intently at the two figures.

The older woman walked with an authority that conveyed she knew the town well, and as excitement grew, a woman nearby exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” The elder woman stopped suddenly, and electricity charged the air as all within earshot waited for her reply.

“Don’t call me Naomi.” She bit the words off as if they were a weapon. “Call me Mara, for the Almighty has made me bitter.” The younger woman walking beside her slipped a comforting arm around her tense shoulders, but she stiffened and continued. “I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

When Naomi left her hometown as a younger woman, she was in a far different season of life. Life in her new home of Moab was good. There were hardships, sure. It was a time of famine, after all. But for the most part, her life was pleasant. Which was fitting; the name “Naomi” means “pleasantness.” Her life was following the natural order.

Marry a good, upstanding Jewish man. Check.
Build a family together and continue the lineage. Check, check.

Her list could have been mine. Or yours too, maybe?

But then.

Elimelech died. Her person. The one with whom she built a life. The one she cleaved to, having left behind her family and friends. Gone.

Every plan for the future, every marital hope, every daydream glimpse of her beloved as a gray-haired grandfather, telling stories to delighted little ones. Vanished. Gone forever, like a wisp in the desert air. As a widow, she found herself facing an unknown future, alone.

Her sons married, and years passed.

It’s likely she began to look forward with expectancy as she waited for news of grandchildren. Scripture doesn’t say if those ten years were hard or soft, but sudden loss came to call on Naomi again with the death of not one, but both, of her sons.

Another defining facet of her identity, marred forever. Stripped of the treasured roles which defined a woman’s value, she grieved both those she loved and her cultural purpose. Wounds of loss and disappointment were raw and gaping for a time, but eventually, they began to harden.

Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, and Ruth insisted on joining her.

Scripture doesn’t describe the scene of Naomi’s return in quite the detail my imagination paints, but it isn’t difficult to picture, is it?

By the time Naomi and Ruth reached Bethlehem, Naomi’s heart posture was apparent. The grief and loss she had endured were not submitted to the Lord, but were instead allowed to harden into bitterness. By telling the women in Bethlehem to call her “Mara,” she drew a clear parallel between herself and the Israelites’ experience wandering through the wilderness with only bitter water to drink.

Anger, frustration, self-pity. Bitterness.

I imagine as they approached Bethlehem, her mind was flooded with memories of the day she and Elimilech left, and the sorrow of that initial separation. The naive, wistful thoughts about returning together in the future, perhaps with a few mischievous grandchildren in tow. Instead, she returned with her son’s widow, carrying a burden of grief and sorrow.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. 

Oh, Naomi. I’ve been there. The words feel familiar, because they are familiar. They’ve split through my hurting heart more than once.

And maybe yours, too, Sister? 

Have you let your own plans, or the experiences in your life, define you?

Have you let them fill you? 

I have. 

Just like Naomi, we can all reflect on times we have sought what only God can give
us from our
husband,
family,
friends,
career,
health,
talent,
reputation,
safety,
security,
political party, or
fill-in-your-blank.

But dear friend.

If we are filled and defined by what we want, or by our relationships or experiences, how are we any different from the rest of the world? Do any of those things fill us with light or God’s truth? 

More importantly, if we are full of those things, how can He fill us with what He desires? 

Ouch.

The truth of what happens when we allow ourselves to be filled by anything but our God is illustrated by Naomi’s response to the pressure and loss in her life. She allowed herself to be filled by something other than the Lord, so when those people and relationships were no longer in her life, she was empty. The wounds of loss allowed her hard heart to spill out when she publicly blamed Him for all she endured.

She missed the comfort the Lord provided her in Ruth, but she also missed the opportunity to share with the townspeople about the comfort, peace, joy, and fruitfulness the Lord provides in hard seasons.

And friend? We are in danger of the same. When we allow ourselves to be filled by anything but God, we are missing the blessing He longs to extend to us in both the famine and the plenty.

Lord, You are the author and creator of life. Your plans are far above any I could devise. I confess my desire and need for control, and I choose to repent today. Heal the places in me that need a touch from You, and teach me how to walk in Your way. All I have is Yours. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

Ready for more? Dig Deeper!
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Looking for yesterday’s Journey Study?
Share your thoughts from today’s Study!

Don’t miss today’s Digging Deeper!     And we’d love to hear your thoughts from today’s Journey!    Comment Here!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Redeemed Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Click the above image for today’s Digging Deeper!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Redeemed!

Redeemed Day 4 The Lord Is Against Me: Digging Deeper

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Digging Deeper Days

Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out The Lord Is Against Me!

The Questions

1) What does “at the right time” mean for the helpless? (verse 6)

2) How does God prove His love for us? (verse 8)

3) What does the apostle Paul, the author, mean by saying that we will be saved “much more” by Christ’s life? (verses 9-10)

Romans 5:6-11

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 How much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

Original Intent

1) What does “at the right time” mean for the helpless? (verse 6)
Chapter 5 begins by recounting the gains that come with being declared righteous by God. The righteousness of Abraham has been credited to all who have his same faith in God’s promise of a Redeemer. (Romans 4:20-24) As we stand in His grace, we experience peace with God, and we rejoice in our temporary suffering because of future hope. Paul begins with the good news before describing our condition in Adam (Romans 6:12-14) as part of the human race. It is especially good news because we recognize how the world was primed for Christ’s coming. Paul writes, “God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” Paul was always in awe of God’s love for people who didn’t deserve it. Just like himself! (1 Timothy 1:13-15) His love isn’t given to us in a trickle, it is poured out in our hearts. A broken and hopeless world was eager in every way for Christ’s appearance. Jews and Gentiles alike were spiritually, economically, linguistically, politically, philosophically, and geographically prepped and ready for a Savior they so desperately needed. (Malachi 3:1, John 6) So, Christ died exactly when we who were sinners needed a Savior. His timing was just right for all. (enduringword.com)

2) How does God prove His love for us? (verse 8)
What a difficult decision was made for the Father to send His only Son to an undeserving world! (John 3:14-17) In the Son, God was reconciling to Himself those who were vile and rebellious. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19) Paul understood the enormous sacrifice God was making. Beyond our human comprehension, God’s love is so deep that He gave Himself through Christ on the cross. Jesus’ unity with the Father is shrouded in mystery, but it is also an essential and core belief to understanding the love of God. (John 10:25-30) The finished work of Jesus’ death on the cross is the definitive proof of God’s love. He can give no greater proof.
“It would be easy to see the cross as demonstrating the indifference of God, a God who let the innocent Jesus be taken by wicked men, tortured, and crucified while He did nothing. Unless there is a sense in which the Father and Christ are one, it is not the love of God that the cross shows.” (Morris, Epistle to the Romans)

3) What does the apostle Paul, the author, mean by saying that we will be saved “much more” by Christ’s life? (verses 9-10)
Previously (verses 1-5), Paul referred to five blessings of being declared righteous (aka, justification): 1) righteousness itself (verse 1); 2) peace with God and 3) access to God (verse 2); 4) joy in the hope of God (verses 3-5); and 5) the indwelling Holy Spirit (verse 5b). Still there is “much more” the Lord gives! Paul explained how our sin separates us from God resulting in our helplessness to save ourselves. But God’s love is so great He offers us reconciliation through Jesus Christ’s death. Even greater though is our deliverance from His holy wrath. Paul refused to separate himself from this vitally important truth about salvation, while it is true we must be saved from our own unrighteousness (Romans 3:22-26), as God’s enemies we must also be rescued from His righteous wrath (verse 10). John Trapp said, “It is a greater work of God to bring men to grace, than, being in the state of grace, to bring them to glory; because sin is far more distant from grace than grace is from glory.” (studylight.org) It is mercy to us that we are reconciled to God through the death of Jesus. It is even greater mercy that we will be rescued from being eternally separated from God, and from His angry judgment

Everyday Application

1) What does “at the right time” mean for the helpless? (verse 6)
It likely seemed late to those waiting for hundreds of years. But Jesus’ coming – His birth, death and resurrection – was done at the perfect time in God’s plan. (Galatians 4:4-5) We are told by Paul that God’s love is communicated through the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5) The Spirit, also given at the right time (Acts 2:1-4), helps us recognize and walk in God’s love every day. In the 80s, singer, Sandi Patti, sang these words, “The Father gave the Son, the Son gave the Spirit, and the Spirit gives us life so we can give the gift of love. And the gift goes on.” (The Gift Goes On) We were doomed. We were needy. And God showed up in His impeccable timing with a perfect gift! “Helpless emphasizes moral frailty rather than physical weakness. We were quite powerless to help ourselves or even to understand. In short we were up a creek without a paddle, and did not even understand our abysmal predicament.” But JUST IN TIME God’s love triumphed where human power (and understanding) failed.” (preceptaustin.org)

2) How does God prove His love for us? (verse 8)
“What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul, what wondrous love is this, O my soul! What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul?” (Author Anonymous) In his book, “What Do we Believe, Why Does it Matter?”, Professor Jeff Asley said, “When we see how Jesus died, we ‘pour contempt on all our pride’. On the cross, which is the ultimate sign of man’s hatred, the love of God accepts humankind in its most extreme sinfulness and bitter enmity. God’s ideal love both motivates us and empowers us to emulate this love.” God proved His love by dying for His enemies. The apostle John said in his gospel, quoting Jesus, that no one has greater love than to willingly die for a friend. (John 15:13) Jesus went even further, however, and loved even more greatly when He died for His enemies. “Amazing love, can it be that I should gain from the Savior’s blood? Me, the one who cause His pain. The one who caused Him to pursue death. Oh, how can it be that God would die for me?!” (Charles Wesley)

3) What does the apostle Paul, the author, mean by saying that we will be saved “much more” by Christ’s life? (verses 9-10)
MUCH MORE! Sisters, it is difficult to fathom any more grace being bestowed upon us! Rebecca said, “He is not repulsed by our lack of faith, our bitter tears, our slowly plodding feet, or the misnomers with which we title our stories. He smiles, holds out His hand, wipes our tears, and invites us to take just one more step. When we pushed the Lord away angrily, He drew near and sacrificed Himself for us, spilling His blood and providing the payment for a debt to Death we owed, but could never pay.” As the redeemed ones, we are presently experiencing the ‘much more’ of our salvation as we also wait for the ‘much more’ of our salvation. It’s past, it’s present, and it’s future grace. We have experienced a pardon from God, though we were guilty if we choose to accept it. That finished work of Jesus on the cross sustains us day to day. And one day, His shed blood will eternally purify us and protect us from God’s reasonable wrath. (Hebrews 9:11-14)
“Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power,
till all the ransomed ones of God be saved, to sin no more.
Till all the ransomed ones of God be saved to sin no more.” (by William Cowper)

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!

Digging Deeper Community

Share What You’ve Learned!
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Our Current Study Theme!

This is Redeemed Week One!
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Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

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Redeemed Day 3 The Lord Is Against Me

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Ruth 1:6-14
Joel 2:18-32
Romans 5:6-11

Redeemed, Day 3

No access to food.
Out of work.
Uprooted from home.
Three family deaths.

In a post-COVID-19 world, these descriptions are more easily relatable for all of us.
As we watched our entire globe shut down from a virus we couldn’t stop, stealing away commonplace freedoms, our jobs, our toilet paper (!!), and threatening the lives of those we love most, our world was upended. The life we’d enjoyed before phrases like “shelter-at-home”, “quarantine”, and “shortage” became everyday idioms seemed to quickly fade away and we wondered when, or if, “normal” would ever return.

For those who lost precious loved ones, nothing would ever be the same.

Ache.
Loss.
Broken.
Empty.
Bitter.

These words filled the pages of Naomi’s story.
Her tagline had become, “My life is too bitter for others to share.” (Ruth 1:13)
She was alone, and had resigned herself to seek out her existence in the lowest position possible of loss and defeat.

“The Lord Is Against Me!” her heart screamed.

One day, Naomi would dandle grandbabies on her knee. (Ruth 4:16)
One day, hope would shine brilliantly where her tears now flowed without end.
One day, Naomi would witness the unimaginable happen before her eyes as her daughter-in-law remarried and restoration was reborn. (Ruth 4:10-13)
One day, Naomi’s great-great grandson would be King David, the man after God’s own heart, through whose line would one day come the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. (Matthew 1:5-6)
One day, happiness would dance in all the places where brokenness now resided. (Ruth 4:17)

But for now, all her heart could feel was empty, bitter, and broken.
Though she frequently repeated what she felt to be true to others, “the Lord is against me”, it wasn’t true.

The Lord God hadn’t left her.
He was, and always had been, infinitely closer than she imagined. (Isaiah 41:9-10)

The Lord God saw every loss she’d experienced.
And He carried her tears in His own bottle. (Psalm 56:8-9)

The Lord God had not glossed over her emptiness with the callous heart of an all-powerful Being.
He was intent on her restoration and her filling. (Joel 2:25-27)

Despite the true reality of the Lord’s ceaseless presence, His purposeful call on her life, and His tender-loving compassion as He carried and guided her,
all Naomi could voice was, “The Lord Is Against Me.”

Oh my heart, I am right there with you, Naomi!
It’s so much easier to allow the immense weight of feelings and circumstance wrap around us like a heavy knitted blanket, than to shirk the comforter, pick up the armor of God, and sink our fingers into the tightly woven rope of God’s truth.

With gritted teeth and streaming tears, we CAN cry aloud….
You ARE near to the brokenhearted, God! (Psalm 34:18)
You DO see my painful circumstances! (2 Chronicles 16:9)
You are NOT oblivious to the widespread devastation I feel in my heart (Psalm139:1-5)
You have wiped my tears before, and I KNOW You will do it again. (Psalm 56:8-9)
You are a God of FULLNESS. (Ephesians 3:19)
You are LOVE! (1 John 4:16)
You hold all HOPE, and You, You cannot lie. (Titus 1:2)

So, here, in the shadows of my heart’s jagged edges, I will choose to cling to truth over deception. I will lift a tongue to praise You, one slow word at a time. As tears continue to streak my face, I will repeat, “You are my God, and there is no other!” (1 Chronicles 17:20)

We stand generations far removed, and deeply benefited, from Naomi’s story, easily tracing the handiwork of the Lord over her remarkable life. We can quickly point out the flag of redemption wildly waving amidst the rubble of her seeming defeat.

But Naomi could not.
And God still walked beside her.

Sister, friend, ME, hello!
How deeply the Lord God loves the journey of walking with us!

He is not repulsed by our lack of faith, our bitter tears, our slowly plodding feet, or the misnomers with which we title our stories. He smiles, holds out His hand, wipes our tears, and invites us to take just one more step. “Trust Me.”

The Almighty is not offended at our painful, angry jabs back at Him, nor is He threatened by our dismal decision to wrap ourselves in emotion rather than truth.

But He does want to move us forward,
into truth,
into fullness,
and into redemption.

As we move forward with Him, He faithfully provides in the most unlikely ways, at the most unlikely times, but that is just like the Lord our God to take our impossible and draw out God’s glory! (Matthew 19:26)

As Naomi, bitter, hurt, angry, and grieving, determined to return to her homeland because “she had heard the Lord had paid attention to His people’s need by providing them food” (Ruth 1:6), the Lord provided by giving Naomi the gift of Ruth.

Ruth would be a physical reminder to Naomi that God had not abandoned her.
Ruth would live out loyalty and love that mirrored God’s heart to her.
Ruth would wrap her arms around Naomi’s, weep with Naomi, and walk every step beside her, loving Naomi as God loved her.

And herein we see the beauty of the Lord’s provision to us in the middle of our gutsy, rash decree that “The Lord Is Against Me.”

No, Sister, He isn’t.
He never has been.

When we pushed the Lord away angrily, He drew near and sacrificed Himself for us, spilling His blood and providing the payment for a debt to Death we owed, but could never pay. He provided then, and He provides for us now. (Romans 5:6-11)

Hope.
Forgiveness.
Renewal.
Redemption.
Give Him your pen, Sister; let Him finish your story.

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Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Redeemed Week One! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

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