She DecidedSample

This path reminds me of Naomi and Ruth in the Bible. After Ruth’s husband died, she remained loyal to Naomi, her mother-in-law. She could have gone home to her family, but she DECIDED to stay. How uncomfortable? But she stayed because God called her to stay. Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi was not of her own strength, but His. What kind of God is this who could draw us against all odds into what seems like the least comforting of circumstances?- AN ALL LOVING GOD! Who knows what is best for us outside of ourselves? A God that knew following her dead husband's mother would lead her to her favor with Boaz. When He saw her he asked, "Who does SHE belong to?" Because she belonged to the Lord, He was able to pick her out of a field! His favor is on you when you decide to follow Him!

Let’s talk about “DE-CIDING”- So, before I got into administration I was an English teacher, so if you’ll allow me I am going to put my English Teacher hat on for two seconds;

The prefix DE comes from the Latin root word to indicate privation which means a NECESSITY of removing something; or the separation OF something harmful"

The suffix CIDING- is also Latin and it means “Killer”- or “the act of killing” like pesticide, or genocide.

So, when Ruth DECIDED to follow Naomi it was necessary for her to lay aside or “KILL” or her desires and follow Christ.

When we DECIDE to follow Him, we are CHOOSING to kill our personal desires even through pain and choosing to be made new in Him.

The moral of the story is that God is still pursuing your heart and wants to RENEW you in the midst of your pain. He still wants you to DECIDE to stay with Him in the middle of your trial so you can really see how good He is. How do you know how good He is, if you don’t become vulnerable enough with Him? He wants to be close to you, He wants to listen.... but, we must choose Him.

Today I encourage you to choose Him, decide to follow Him, and decide to let Him in Like Ruth did. She did not know the path she was going to take, she just knew that she trusted that path because she decided to follow Jesus.