Anyone who has made a post on social media has experienced what it’s like to be vulnerable. The definition of vulnerable is to be open to moral attack, criticism, temptation, capable of or susceptible to being wounded or hurt. One of the most common weapons used to hurt people and make them feel vulnerable are words. Think about how many friendships are ended because of words. Once we’ve been wounded we generally build walls that keep us from being vulnerable to the possibility of being hurt again. This kind of thinking makes it very difficult to embrace new friendships and often results in missing out on great possibilities. When Naomi and…

It’s very common in the Travel Industry for people to venture into the unkown. My first international trip was to Europe when I was 17 years old. I had never been out of the country and I was wide eyed and eager to see different cultures, try new foods and explore historical sights. I was very naive and had no idea what to expect. Of course I would imagine what I would see and how much fun I would have, but nothing truly prepared me for the adventure. One of the things that surprised me the most was that you could be in one country for breakfast and in a…

Relationships can be complicated, messy and frustrating. But they can also be filled with love, understanding and life long frienships. Everyday we have a choice of whether or not to remain in our relationships. Those choices take heartfelt determination to offer grace, love and forgiveness, while remembering that the other person is also faced with the same choices concerning us. Think of the examples that we have in the story of Ruth. Daily she chose to encourage a bitter woman. Daily she chose to walk and live with her. Daily she chose to find ways to serve her and all the while she did it with a kind heart which…

Like Naomi, Ruth was well acquainted with grief and loss. She too had lost her father-in-law, her husband, her brother-in-law and had no children after ten years of marriage. Her pain was just as real and raw as Naomi’s. In her loss she fully understood Naomi’s situation, her discouragement, her bitterness, her hopelessness and yet she didn’t compare her situation to others or blame God, rather she used it to help someone else. When given the opportunity to return to her family she didn’t hesitate to make her choice known to Naomi that she would go with her and would make a new life in a new land and would…

Have you ever felt like you have nothing or that you have lost everything? That’s exactly how Naomi felt. Her husband had died leaving her with two sons. In time they married foreign girls from the land they were living in and after about ten years both of her sons died. There were no grandchildren to carry on the family name and Naomi was away from her homeland with big decisions to be made. She decided to return to her native land and informed her daughter-in-laws. Naomi encouraged both of them to return to their families and start a new life saying, “it’s more bitter for me than for you,…

Last weekend we were at our weekend home by the river and I was struggling with emotions over some personal issues and praying that I would handle them correctly. A breeze started and I got up to close the umbrella on the patio table. Right then I saw a dear friend of mine walking towards our camper. What a beautiful site! It made me want to cry. She sat by the river and we talked about other things, but just her presence reminded me that I have a friend who understands because she had been in the same situation years before. Her friendly visit quieted my heart and brought a…

In the story of Ruth, Naomi had made a decision to return to her home in Bethlehem. She informed her two daughter-in-laws of her decision and suggested that they also return to their parents home and begin new lives. One daughter-in-law named Orpah did just that and with tears in her eyes returned to the life she had known before. Ruth made the decision to go with Naomi and begin a new life regardless of the unknown. We are also faced with a decision to remain in our lives that we’ve come to know and be comfortable with or to choose Christ and venture out into a new life with…

The story of Ruth is not only about friendship but about redemption. It was in her relationship with Naomi that the Lord led her to be where He had planned and for a purpose much greater than she could ever imagine. As a foreigner, Ruth knew what it felt like to be an outsider, to not fit in, to be different and to know rejection. But that all changed when she made the choice to go with Naomi and made her commitment to God. “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…

Everything about the Christian life concerns relationships. First with God and then with each other. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus modeled the perfect relationship with God while He was here on earth. He taught us that God operates in relational ways and invites us to have the ultimate relationship with Him. The bible is full of stories of relationships between God and people and between people and each other. We…

For the month of June I’ll be studying the story of Ruth and Naomi. It’s a beautiful message on true friendship and I’m excited about how God will use this to open the door to many new relationships. To go along with the daily blog study, I’m inviting you to take a friendship challenge with me. Throughout the month of June I’m going to send a letter, a notecard, a text or email to a different woman each day letting her know that I’m thinking of her. Women that I know from church, my neighbors, acquaintances and anyone that God leads me to. I may mention something I admire about…