Women of Courage

Why, oh why did I have to get up and out of bed this morning?  It's so beautiful and crisp outside, I just wanted to stay in bed a few extra minutes and enjoy the luxury of snuggling down under layers of sheets and blankets, with a tiny, soft, warm dog laying next to me!  Sigh - work.  Sigh - school.  Sigh - life.  That's why!  It took me so long to remember why I had to get up that I had to scramble to catch up with all I needed to do before I ever left the house!  Put dinner in the crock pot.  Water the animals.  Finish the laundry I washed last night.  Busy, busy morning. 

Poor Malissia - she wanted coffee this morning to "wake her up".  She had to settle for what the school had because she, too, had the iwanttostayinbed virus. 

Last night after church we finished reading the book of Ruth.  I have decided to begin studying the women in the bible over the next few weeks.  The girls and I have been studying modesty, pride, kindness, being a homemaker, and how to be a good wife.  I felt like this was the direction we needed to go.  Reading Ruth again gave me another chance to look at the details of a familiar story.  Naomi's subjection to her husband - no matter what the cost - and it was a great cost!  To leave her home land, her family, to go live in a foreign land full of strangers who worshipped a dead god.  The death of her husband.  Watching her sons marry women from this foreign land.  The death of her sons.  Still, she never spoke ill of her husband or her sons.  She treated her daughters-in-law with love and respect - showing them God's love.  The only bright spot in Naomi's life, the only redemption for her obedience, came in the form of a loving daughter-in-law, Ruth.  Thank God for Ruth!   God gave Ruth to Naomi, of that I have no doubt.  It reminds me of something I've always heard - when you stray from the Divine Will of God, there is hope - He can make things right.  That doesn't mean that there won't be scars, tears, heartache - but there can be joy, nonetheless!  Keep your eyes on Him!

Speaking of Ruth - what courage!  What faith and trust she had!  To leave her people and her god, to forsake the opportunity to go back to her parents and start a new life with a new husband - instead following her mother-in-law back to a land devastated by famine, to a life of poverty, back breaking work, lowliness and loneliness.  What love!  To learn to worship and love a new God - the One true, living God.  I am amazed at her trust in Naomi.  I asked Malissia last night what she would have done if she had been in Ruth's place and I told her to go lay next to Boaz, uncover his feet and wait for him to wake up.  At first she said she would because she knew she loved Boaz already.  However, when I reminded her that she did not know that Boaz loved her back, she changed her mind.  She said it would have been embarassing and humiliating - especially if Boaz woke up and was angry, or told her to leave.  Thank goodness Ruth was obedient and selfless.  What a blessing to have a loving mother-in-law, a man who loves you and can take care of you and cherish you, to know God and have His blessing in your life, to become the great-grandmother to one of the greatest earthly kings ever - David - and a direct decendent of our Savior!  WOW!  It's such a wonderful story.  Two amazing women!  Two shining examples of the type of women we can strive to become!