Ruth's divine Serendipity

    
     I didn’t grow up bound to religion or to a belief that a Supreme being existed somewhere up in the sky. My mother had taught me to believe only in the things I saw and understood. I lived life realistically based on sight, touch and feel. My feelings pushed me into a marriage to a man from a foreign land where they believed a God existed and had been accustomed to worshiping him. At first, it didn't make any sense to me but I was in love. Love throws caution to the wind. Few years down the line and here I was losing a battle to the cold hands of death.

Over the years I had watched my mother-in-law each morning sit quietly and whisper inaudible words when I asked what she was doing, she said she was talking to God, a God who she had never seen. At first, I found it absurd but after a few years, I began to be curious about this God. I asked a lot of questions about him and most times the answers I got seemed unclear.

   In my name housed my superpower. Ruth; Companion, friend. I always had my way with people, I was the kind of girl that had the most friends. I didn't understand the charm people always said I had. I was just a regular warm, friendly and compassionate person with the brightest green eyes and the biggest smile across my cheeks. But in recent times my spirit was broken, a poor widow was what I had become after Mahlon's death. 

As though losing a husband was not bad enough, my brother-in-law also died shortly after leaving us as a household of widows. A house once filled with so much laughter was now covered in gloom. Some days we all just stayed in our rooms and no one came out to talk with the other. My heart broke, even more, thinking about the fact that neither myself nor my sister-in-law, Orpah had bore children. These losses had taken a worse toll on my mother In-law, Naomi given that she had lost both sons and her husband.

    
    Ruth! A little cranky voice called out to me bringing me back to reality. “Ruth, please come join I and Orpah here” Naomi called out.

I arose and walked to the room where they both were. Sitting on the floor I tucked my legs in and sat staring into Naomi’s face, her eyes were puffy, lips were cracked and hair was uncombed. She was deeply hurt and I could see it in her eyes, grieve had crushed her. She had lost everything, her husband and her sons. She was ready to give up on life and even God didn't mean so much right now to her. She wore sadness as though it was a garment for everyone to see, death had shattered her heart and left the wind to blow the tiny pieces away.

     “Death has come to dwell in our home and has taken everything from me, I am a widow with no children and living in a foreign land. I have decided my dear daughters it’s time for you to go back to your parents while I leave for my country” Naomi spoke as though she had read my thoughts. Using the back of her hand to wipe the tears that streamed down her cheeks. 

 I and Orpah shaking our heads in disagreement moved closer to her and held her frail hands. “No we can’t leave you, we will go with you” we both responded.

“Yes please, I insist. May the Lord show you kindness just as you have shown me. please go back home to your parents” Naomi added.

Orpah kissed Naomi, got up from the floor and headed to pack her bags to go back home. 

It was the right thing to do but I couldn’t bring myself to leaving Naomi alone. She had become to me like my birth mother and I couldn’t leave her in the time she needed me the most. She was losing faith in God. And from all the stories she had told me about God, He wasn’t one who was unaware of our present conditions, neither was he one to leave us in time of despair. I had to stay to remind her of these things, I had to see her smile again and even if it meant going with her to her hometown until I was sure she was doing fine.

I clung to her like a newborn clings to suckle at her mother’s breast. 

“Don’t ask me to leave you against my own will. Wherever you go I will go, where you stay I stay and where you die I die, your people will be my people and your God will be my God” I insisted.She hugged me tightly and cried even more.

The next day we packed our bags and headed for Bethlehem; Naomi’s hometown.

Moving to Bethlehem meant I was determined to care Naomi and not allow her to feel the impact of not having a child of her own, this included putting my grieve aside and taking complete care of her. I will love her and be there for her through whatever challenge that the future will bring.

Sometimes we wonder what God really means when He says “never will I leave you nor forsake you”. We don't get to see him physically present always so how do we get to feel his comforting arm when everything is overwhelming?

In this case, Naomi had Ruth, someone who didn't share the same beliefs as her but was moved with compassion to swear a vow to stay with her through this grieve. This shows us that God is at work in the mundane details of our lives. He will do any and everything to make us feel comforted in times of hardship, it could be through a friend or a family member or even random stranger. He comes through to hold you tight in his loving embrace until you can stand again. 

The book of Ruth highlights the interplay of God’s purpose and human decision. The decision of one Moabite woman to follow God based on the convictions of her mother-in-law became a part of the lineage of Jesus. Ruth became the mother of Obed who was the grandfather of David.

How Awesome is God, that He can take a dark and lonely season in our lives to feature in a greater part of our lives later.
 There’s nothing that happens to you that is unknown to God. He is aware of every tiny little detail of your life and He is always willing to send help when we need it. God will always find a way and might use even the most unlikely people in ways we can never imagine.



 The little troubles we suffer now for a short time are making us ready for the great things God is going to give us forever. We do not look at the things that can be seen. We look at the things that cannot be seen. The things that can be seen will come to an end. But the things that cannot be seen will last forever. - 2.Corinthians 4:17-18