I Will Go

"Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."  Ruth 1:16

I love Ruth's story. I love how brave and determined she comes across. Her husband was dead. And she was willing to follow a woman that, to me, was very near and dear to her to a foreign land. I'm not sure if I have it right but, after reading this part of the Bible many times, I find Ruth to be very inspiring. It makes me wonder about her own family and friends. To me, someone who is willing to drop everything and move away, is someone who has lost most everything and has only one person that seems to bring them hope.

I can only imagine being in Ruth's shoes, desperately wanting to start over and get away from anything that would remind me of a life that once seemed happy and was now sad. Or maybe she saw the brokenness in Naomi's eyes and feared for her well-being. Maybe she thought it wouldn't be good for Naomi to be by herself and wanted to be with the one person that would understand the loss she had just experienced.

I feel like I can relate to Ruth a little bit. While I've not been married nor had someone that dear to me pass away, I have left my hometown to live in places that were foreign. It's happened several times. The first time was moving to Seattle to escape the town that held some bad memories. I thought that running away would solve my problems.

It didn't work.

The second time I left was for a mission trip to Guatemala. I stayed there for a year and, while the experience was amazing and spiritually challenging, I was so homesick.

The third time I moved away was years later when I felt the overwhelming call by God to move to Chicago. Everything fell into place and the doors were flung open to move across the country. It was an amazing experience to go through.

In some ways, I felt like Ruth but, I was speaking to Jesus about it. "Jesus, I will go where You are and Your people will be my people. You are my God and I want others to know about you too."
While I hadn't lost anyone close to me and, no, I wasn't feeling alone but, I had lost a little bit of my identity. Hindsight tells me it was God pulling me out of roles and commitments in order to prepare me for the move but, I remember being in those moments and feeling like something was missing.

Ruth and Noami built a new life together in Bethlehem. Ruth met Boaz and took steps that would be considered bold in those days. I admire her obedience to God and willingness to take those risks. It showcases her faith and confidence in His plan for her life.

I hope and pray that I could be as bold as Ruth.

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What About You?
Have you been faced with an opportunity to be bold and follow God's calling? Perhaps the beginning of Ruth's story, in the Bible, sounds painfully familiar to you. Would you do the same thing?