I’m haunted by these verses at times. They speak about rejoicing when there seems to be nothing in our circumstances worth rejoicing over. I know Philippians 4:4 encourages us to “rejoice always”; but have you ever wondered how to do that? Do you remember a time when you found it hard to find anything to praise or rejoice over? You knew that you should, but couldn’t?

In the past, when I read the book of Ruth, I focused on Ruth, the main character, but this time I was drawn to Naomi and read it through her perspective. Just imagine having to face all that this woman faced in such a short amount of time: Continue reading →

Welcome to the second semester of Women in the Word. If you’re joining us for the first time, we’re excited you’re here and we look forward to getting to know you! You can click here for more details about our study and don’t forget to subscribe by email to receive our posts. If you want to be part of our community and join in the conversation, request an invitation to our closed facebook group (link below). Are you ready to begin? We are!!

Father, we praise You for Your steadfast love, grace and mercy and thank You for bringing us all together to study Your Word.  Open our eyes and show us marvelous things in Your Word. Help us to not be just hearers of Your Word but doers. Guide us, transform us, bring us together in unity and to You we will give all the glory. In the precious name of Jesus we pray!

Our journey through the Women in the Word continues in the “days when the judges ruled.” (Ruth 1:1) The time of the judges is that period of Israel’s history between the death of Joshua and the ministry of Samuel. What was this time like? We just need to turn to the last verse in the book of Judges to find out. “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.’ (Judges 21:25) And so a man named Elimelech, whose name meant “God is my King”, moved his family from Bethlehem, the “House of Bread”, to Moab because there was a famine in the land. Famines in Old Testament times were often a judgment from God. (Deuteronomy 11:13-17) While in Moab, Elimelech died leaving behind his wife, Naomi and their two sons. Tragedy struck again when both Naomi’s sons, who had married Moabite women, died. What was ahead for Naomi and her daughters-in-law? What do we learn from their relationship with each other and with God? What do we learn about God? Join us this week as we look into this story of loyalty, romance and redemption during one of Israel’s darkest times. Continue reading →