Message of Hope: God will always give you the freedom to choose. He does not force anyone.
When crisis hits or life gets to be just a bit (or a lot) too much, it is often easier to hide from the world and let our emotions rule our hearts. Moving beyond the pain or exhaustion we feel goes against our human instinct. Ruth had every right to feel like crawling into bed with no intention of ever getting up again. She could have done that and let grief rule her future, but she didn’t. She took a step forward in the midst of her pain and grief and found that God was already ahead of her, planning her future and getting everything into place for her.
Read and S.O.A.P
Today’s story is about personal choice. Have you ever heard it said, “choices make choices for you.” This works both ways – for the good and for the bad. So let’s explore how to make good choices that put us in good situations.
Read Ruth 1:14-22.Which verse(s) stands out to you? S.O.A.P it.
If you want, share all or part of your S.O.A.P. in the comments below this post. 
Living in the Moment 
I hope you had a great weekend spent with friends and family. We got to spend a day or two with my parents and my sister in Toronto after my parents arrived from Santa Cruz. It was so good to see them and to see the kids bond with them as though they haven't been gone the past two years. Olivia was only three months old when they left, but thanks to Skype both Mikail and Olivia easily ran into their arms to welcome them. So wonderful!Ruth 1:14-22S- “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” Ruth 1:20-21O – Ruth went through a very, very difficult time and although she was going through the motions of making the best of it, deep down inside she could not imagine ever feeling joy again. She felt empty and could not imagine being filled up once more. She could not imagine bitterness becoming beauty and changed her name to reflect this change. She named herself Bitter, but God is sovereign and He can see bitterness becoming beauty. Naomi named herself bitter, but God named her blessed.A-Sometimes it is easier for me to allow my circumstances to control me than to wrap myself in the names that God has given to me. Blessed. Forgiven. Beloved. Redeemed. Sometimes it is easier to give into circumstances, but these names God has given us hold true no matter the circumstances we are in. God is mighty and with us through our difficult times and our blessed times. He is there in our bitterness and in our beauty. He is there in our past and in our future. This was all done at the Cross. Circumstances may change in life. They WILL change in life, but God is the same now and forever. He does not change and circumstances don’t change Him. What comfort there is in that.P- Lord, Naomi did what we all so easily do. She put a period where You put a comma. Lord let us always remember that You are above our circumstances. Where we so easily put a period in our lives, you are simply putting a comma and filling our lives with immeasurable blessings and beauty. Thank you, God! Help each of us to make choices that bring 'life' to us and build us up. Help us to recognize when we are placing those 'periods' instead of the 'commas'.
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Cathy BarkmanS – 6 But Ruth replied, “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. 17 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.”O – I am surprised at Ruth’s determination to remain with Naomi. I’m not sure that I would have been so generous, especially since Naomi was returning to her own people and Ruth’s people lived somewhere else. A – Knowing the whole book of Ruth, I am reminded to ask God’s guidance and direction in my life and then to follow it. It may not always make sense to me but I still need to follow God’s plan for my life as I believe He sees a bigger picture and knows what’s best for me.P – Thankyou for Ruth’s example of what it means to follow you. May we trust you to lead us through the difficult times in our lives.
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