I will follow you, why would I not?

Some of my best ideas for blogs lately have come while sitting in the computer room while my niece and nephew play their Disney games. I listen to them laugh, and brag about their accomplishments and my pen goes crazy with notes as I flip through my Bible (hello children's ministry calling!). I was reading Ruth yesterday, I got encouraged by the book when we studied it in our young adults group at church (miss my peeps!). Anyway im astonished at the way Ruth speaks about her love for her family and faith in what she has been called to do. Ive spoken a lot about relationships lately, not just for me, but also for many people who are dear to my heart and for those I dont know that are lost in there own relationships. Now my thoughts on it may make you angry and part of my wants to apologize for that, and then again part of me has trouble caring. Im a believer in that there are 3 components to a true relationship. Two being the person and their partner (sadly I have to pick my words carefully these days) and one being a spirit, the spirit of Christ. Losing sight of God makes us lose many things that are dear to us, those things He provided. I know many wonderful Christian couples who have had rough relationships and im not out to offend anyone who has been divorced, I want everyone and people of all kinds of relationships and pasts to see Gods work in this blog. I learned from Ruth one thing I already knew, that God calls each of us to walk His path and sometimes the ending is not what we expected but its worth more than we ever could have predicted. Ruth married a son of Elimelech and this made her the daughter in law of Naomi. Naomi had two sons. Elimelech (Naomi's husband) died and a few short years later so do her two sons. Leaving her with no husband or children. Naomi took her two daughters in law to Judah where the land had been blessed. Soon Naomi turns to her daughters and says "Go back to your mothers', I am no good for you anymore."1:8 At first both girls denied her but then Naomi explained that she would not bare anymore sons and even if she did, the women could not wait for the boys to grow old enough to marry. Basically, she had nothing to offer them. Hearing this, Oprah (another daughter in law) turned away and went back to her native land. Naomi once again encouraged Ruth to follow suit, but Ruth goes on to recite perhaps one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible, "Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Where you go I will go, wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God,. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us. " Ruth 1: 16-17. THIS IS REAL LOVE PEOPLE! Why should you want to be anywhere but with the person/people you love?! I hope someday to look into my husbands eyes and be able to recite this verse with true meaning. It should not be a chore to go with the one you love, or to walk with the Lord. Naomi is sure that the Lord has taken away all that she has but Ruth proves otherwise, she proves that she has faith in her mother and in the Lord. Naomi is rich with the biggest fortune of all, love, but like many of us, she doesn't realize that. She sees one tragedy as the end to all, that taking away those she loved left her with nothing when instead it left her with a daughter in law that showed true devotion and loyalty. And this continues to prove my ongoing point that sometimes our battles bring about our truest of true blessings. Once in Judah Naomi sends Ruth out to pick up scraps left behind by workers in the field of Boaz who we later discover was a relative of Elimilech. The kind hearted Boaz comes up to Ruth and basically tells her to go forth and pick with his own workers, that they will purposely leave some for you and Ruth is confused by this. Afterall she is a foreigner and has been welcomed into this land as one of the natives (we all know that probably wouldnt happen in todays world right?) Boaz answers "I know, but I also know about everything  you have done for your mother in law since the death of your husband." (Ruth 2:11). See? love and loyalty are rewarded by God. When Ruth chooses to sale her family land, Boaz agrees to not only purchase the land but to marry Ruth so they can bare a son and he will inherit the land. And they indeed do bare a son, a true gift from the heavens just like any child. The Lord gives new love and peace that surpasses all understanding to Ruth and to Naomi, the one that thought all had been taken from her. She now had received what she had lost. A son. And she now had someone to care for her when she became old, and someone to carry on the land. She had not lost anything!!! Sometimes our biggest battles lead to our greatest joys. I mean WOW! I find myself incredibly jealous of the selfless love that both Ruth and Boaz shared. It was a challenge for Ruth and Naomi as both left all that they knew and what little they did have, but they were rewarded in due time BECAUSE THEY WALKED THE PATH!! And they remembered to show the one thing we all forget. To love. In how many relationships do you honestly see selfless love? Its hard to get two people on the same page. But HELLO! Its right here in the black and white. Theres a big discussion that I never care to be a part of that certain things in the Bible are too old fashioned and that "God didnt mean for us to live this way forever" (blah blah) but I stand firm that this is one thing we should NOT change on. In 1 Peter verse 7 God tells men to take their wives as an equal even if they are indeed lesser and this is what Boaz did for Ruth! She was poor and picking scraps in fields, but he changed her life through love. Men, I challenge you to become Boaz, and women, dont be afraid to be a Ruth.