Ruth Part 1: What Can I Learn from the Story of Ruth?
Apr 11, 2024Bible, Women & Bathrobes Episode 2
Join us in learning more about the story of Ruth from the Bible. We find ways to apply the experiences of Ruth from Ruth chapter 1 to women today. On this episode we are joined by Heather B. Moore, an amazing author who happened to write a novel about Ruth.
Key Talking Points
- What life was like for women during Old Testament times.
- Sometimes we want to isolate and be alone during grief or pain.
- The desperate situation for widows in Old Testament times, and how we are all beggars to God.
- We can be answers to peoples prayers in hard times—the angels God sends like Ruth was to Naomi. She was loyal and kind.
- Ruth’s true conversion to the God of Israel even in the face of such hard times, and leaping into the unknown trusting God will guide you.
- View family members & those we love through the lens of Jesus Christ with love and compassion and treat them that way.
- Pray and ask God to open your eyes to see others you are struggling with as He sees them.
Main Takeaways
- From Bonnie, “We can strengthen [relationship] bonds, but it takes going to God and asking for his help, and having Him remove the bitterness, and forgive…. [and] not judging.”
- From Heather, “Prayer can really soften our hearts. And deliberately praying, whether it's for someone that's hurt us or offended us… And if we can see someone through God's eyes, then it just brings that peace to our own lives.”
- From Tamara, “I think anytime we go through something hard like these women definitely have there's a there's always the option to tip towards God or away from God. … And I love that, in their grief, these two women stayed true to Jehovah to their God.”
Today’s Podcast Hosts & Guests
Tamara K. Anderson
Tamara, founder of Women Warriors of Light, is a dynamic speaker, award winning author, and a podcaster. She is driven by her Christian faith to inspire faith in Jesus Christ. Alongside her husband, Justin, she navigates the joys and challenges of parenting four children with autism, ADHD, and mental health hurdles. You can find out more about Tamara on her website: https://www.tamarakanderson.com/
Bonnie Randall
Bonnie Randall is a wife, mother, trainer, speaker, actress, copywriter, heart centered life coach and has also been a business and marketing consultant for over 20 years. Her real passion is to help people grow as individuals and teach them how to resolve limiting beliefs. Bonnie enjoys teaching about mental health, abuse prevention and recovery classes. She runs a trauma recovery support group and YouTube channel called, Come Off Conqueror, which helps survivors of abuse find Christ centered healing. Find out more at: https://www.youtube.com/@comeoffconqueror
Heather B. Moore
Heather B. Moore is a USA Today bestselling author of more than ninety publications. Heather writes primarily historical and #herstory fiction about the humanity and heroism of the everyday person. Publishing in a breadth of genres, Heather dives into the hearts and souls of her characters, meshing her love of research with her love of storytelling.
Her ancient era historicals and thrillers are written under pen name H.B. Moore. She writes historical women's fiction, romance and inspirational non-fiction under Heather B. Moore, and . . . speculative fiction under Jane Redd. This can all be confusing, so her kids just call her Mom. Heather attended Cairo American College in Egypt and the Anglican School of Jerusalem in Israel. Despite failing her high school AP English exam, Heather persevered and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University in something other than English.
You can find a Heather’s novel about Ruth here.
Please join Heather's email list at: HBMoore.com/contact/
Website: HBMoore.com
Instagram: @authorhbmoore
Facebook: Heather B. Moore
Keywords
#ruth #naomi #god #Biblestory, #BibleWomen #love #grief
#convertedtoChrist #JesusChrist
Transcript
Tamara Anderson 0:00
Question for you guys. Have you ever wondered how the story of someone in the Old Testament like Ruth, applies to you today? I know I've wondered that before and, and so we're going to dive in and figure out how we can apply some of these things from her life to us. Stay tuned.
Tamara Anderson 0:24
Welcome to Bible, Women & Bathrobes the podcast where faith meets comfort. Join us Tuesday and Thursday mornings as the gals from Women Warriors of Light and their guests, don bathrobes and dive into the inspiring stories of women in the Bible, and the teachings of Jesus Christ. From Esther's bravery to the Sermon on the Mount. We explore it all with warmth, laughter, sisterhood, and maybe even a few sleepy eyed moments. Tune in live or at your leisure as we learn lessons from scripture which empower women today.
Tamara Anderson 1:06
Awesome. Well, ladies, welcome to the story of Ruth, we are so excited to be with you today. And I need to introduce Bonnie and I are on as hosts and co host and we have a guest today and we are so excited to have her on. And so let me introduce Heather B Moore. So Heather B. Moore is a USA Today best selling author of more than 90 publications. Holy cow. That's all I can say. Because I've only published I think four or five things. Actually, I think it's five now. And let me tell you that the publication process is nothing to snub your nose out. There's a lot that goes on behind the scene.
Tamara Anderson 1:48
So Heather writes primarily historical and hashtag her story fiction about the humanity and heroism of the everyday person. Publishing in a breadth of genres, Heather dives into the hearts and souls of her characters meshing her love of research with her love of storytelling. Her ancient era historicals and thrillers are written under the pen name h be more. And she writes women's historical fiction, romance and inspirational nonfiction under Heather be more and speculative fiction under Jane read. This can all be confusing, so her kids just call her mom.
Tamara Anderson 2:34
Heather attended Cairo American college in Egypt and the Anglican school of Jerusalem in Israel. Despite failing her high school AP exam, Heather persevered and earned a Bachelors of Science degree from Brigham Young University and something other than English. You can join Heather's email list at HB moore.com. And visit that that's her awesome website where you can find her books. Her Instagram handle is author, HB more, and Facebook is hp more. We are so happy to have her on with us this morning. Thanks for joining us.
Heather B. Moore 3:12
Thank you so much for having me. I've been looking forward to this for a while.
Tamara Anderson 3:18
Oh, well. And here's the cool thing. The reason we're having Heather on this morning is because she wrote this awesome novel about Ruth. And I just thought, wow, if you can write a story about someone in the Old Testament, you've done your research. And so I thought this is great, because the women in Old Testament times God bless them, I think they had a pretty difficult. Heather, why don't you kind of paint the background of what life was like for women in the time of the Old Testament?
Heather B. Moore 3:52
Yeah, it was definitely was very challenging. As far as our modern viewpoint, one of the challenges I have as an author, when I write historical fiction, based on Old Testament characters, is trying to understand their mindset, and their culture. Because when I think of what their lives are, like, I get all caught up in well, that's not fair. And how come? How come they couldn't, you know, how come a woman can't own property? But, and, and how did she feel about that? Like I have to, and all of us, as we're studying the scriptures to try to understand, just in the context of the life they're living and the things that were were important to them may not be the exact same things that we feel like they should have, you know, been doing or making decisions on.
Heather B. Moore 4:41
And so for Ruth specifically, and Naomi, her mother in law, is they both became widowed as we know. And so this sets them into kind of a different sphere of life, especially Naomi because she loses both of her sons. And in ancient Israel, it wasn't just having sons was seen as kind of a war, it was definitely a blessing from God. And so she feels like she's probably been picked on a little bit, not only after her husband, but her two sons are gone. But her sons are her insurance policy, they're the ones that will ensure that she's taken care of in her old age.
Heather B. Moore 5:23
So she truly is destitute, not only grieving, but she doesn't really have a place to turn and that she can somehow live off of someone's charity, or become a beggar herself. So she, she obviously has a really good relationship with her daughters in law. And this is a little bit of a different situation than we may have today.
Heather B. Moore 5:48
But, but when a woman marries, in the in that era, she will then go and live in her in laws home, not necessarily sometimes they have their home built in levels. And so you might have your own level, but you're basically under the roof of your mother in law. And so you become very, very close. Unless you don't have a good relationship, then it'd be a lot of friction. You become part of that family, you're literally becoming a daughter to your mother in law.
Heather B. Moore 6:18
And so Naomi enjoy that relationship with her daughters in law, they seem to be even though there weren't children involved, for whatever reason, maybe the marriages weren't, hadn't been going on very long. And so but another thing that that Naomi dealt with is she was in a foreign land, and Moab but it wasn't the land of Judah, and it was a land where maybe Naomi and her husband, they were just one of the few who are actually practicing their religion. And so which is another way that Naomi was probably kind of set apart from her community. And so she didn't feel like she could go to people in our community for help. So she had to leave Moab in order to really ensure her future.
Tamara Anderson 7:05
Yeah, and this story, it talks a lot about loss. And, and so I, I thank you so much for kind of setting the stage there. I think that even though their lives are so different, though, that there are little points we can really glean from the stories. And so like Heather said, there was a famine that had been going on in the land at that point, and especially in the land of Judah, these Moab and Judah were like 30 or 40 miles apart, it wasn't that far. I mean, to us today, but to them, of course, they have to travel those 30 to 40 miles by foot or by donkey or something like that, you know, so it was probably farther to them than it was for us.
Tamara Anderson 7:57
And so they had gone Elimelech was Naomi's husband, and he and his wife and sons had moved to Moab during this famine, they kind of that's where they went, and then Elimelech dies, but in the meantime his two sons had married two Moabite women. And and so then the Lord, Well the two, the two sons died, like Heather said, and so, here are three grieving widows and, and they're all together, but what do you do? What do you do when, when, I mean, they didn't, they couldn't just go out and get jobs like we do nowadays. And so they're grieving, they need to support themselves, their husbands were also their their protectors, you know, and I think that that right there says a lot about these women, their desire to love and support and be with one another.
Tamara Anderson 8:24
And so then we kind of come to these verses where Naomi is saying, I can't help you guys have more kids because I'm too old to have more sons, which kind of was the I don't know tradition back then. But so she's She encourages them go back to your families. And she's just, you can see that she is just in the depths of grief. And and I don't know if any of you guys have ever been through grief, but she she's encouraging them to go off and live a better life and leave her.
Tamara Anderson 9:08
But why is it that sometimes when when we're in pain, we push people away? I don't know. Have you guys ever experienced that when you're in pain, you're just like, I just kind of curl up into a little ball and leave me alone. Everybody just,
Heather B. Moore 10:05
I feel, I don't know. I don't know if that's a personality of a woman or just my personality. But I feel like like, say I had like a surgery or an injury. It's like, I just want to be by myself and just almost like suffer by myself, because I feel like I can kind of get through it. And I don't I don't know, it's a release. And it's not like I want to be isolated. Because obviously if I need help, I'm going to welcome some help. But as far as like, enduring the pain, whether it's emotional or physical. I just want everybody gone. I just want to get through it, like white knuckle it, I guess. Yeah.
Tamara Anderson 10:45
I think we all have that tendency to just kind of ah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Bonnie, any thoughts on that?
Bonnie Randall 10:53
I mean, I've noticed that my clients and myself, it's just human nature, to isolate when you're going through trials, and you're going through challenges, and yet, what's also human nature for women is we, we might isolate from the men shut them out, which is kind of weird, right. But we also complain to each other. So we might isolate and not want help. But we will also talk to each other and complain.
Bonnie Randall 11:31
And, you know, we have this amazing ability to bond with each other. So I think it's interesting that she had that experience with those two daughters was and I felt like Ruth was the more I studied it, the more I realized it was so much deeper of a story than what I had originally thought it was honestly one of my least favorite Bible stories. I think I told you this Tamara, a few months ago, I felt inspired, I felt prompted to study the book of Ruth. And I just rolled my eyes at the spirit of like, what, Ruth, what is there to learn about Ruth, she's some daughter in law of this lady. You know, and I just thought, and so I started reading it. And I read through it, but I didn't do a deep dive and I just thought, Okay, it's about loyalty. Great. All right, what am I supposed to learn?
Bonnie Randall 12:33
And I felt the Spirit prick my heart and say, you've got some family stuff, you've got to get through anybody to forgive. And I thought that was the lesson. And then when you invited me to do the podcast and just study Ruth again, I just have to like, clearly didn't learn the lesson. There's some deeper stuff here with Ruth, what is the deeper? And oh, my goodness, my mind has been blown at the deeper lessons of Ruth, and I can't wait to hear what Heather uncovered with her research, because I know she spent even more time researching it than than I did. So I'm curious what you know, on the surface level, we have this one story, we have layers of story here. So I'd love to unpack that if we're ready.
Tamara Anderson 13:25
Yeah, let's do it. Um, I think we can't go much farther in this story without talking about Orpah. I guess that's how you say her name. She was the other daughter in law for Naomi. And Naomi said, you guys go back to your own families. And they both said, No, we'll stay with you. And finally Orpah said, You know what, I am gonna go back to my family. And I think some of us might, you know, in our hearts condemn her for that. But I also I think, at least in my mind, is I look at the different journeys we all take in life. We're all on a unique path, and we can't like say, Oh, well, she was inconsiderate for going back to her family, when perhaps that was the journey, Orpah was supposed to take. Do you know what I mean? So I I'd love to just kind of say don't be too judgmental, because she was on her own path and journey. Any thoughts there, Heather?
Heather B. Moore 14:20
Yeah, I mean, and that was their culture. So actually says, And Ruth chapter one, verse eight. And Naomi said unto her, her two daughters in law go return each to her mother's house. So her mother's house that is actually referring to matchmaking. scholars think that that Naomi is basically releasing them to go and marry someone else because they are they are married into Naomi's family, so they're going to feel that loyalty to her. And so she's kind of releasing them from that loyalty.
Heather B. Moore 14:53
And also is interesting because of course later there's the famous promise from her said I will go or you go now your God will be my God. So that's a very significant event because Ruth has a has basically joined like the same beliefs as Naomi. And so she has departed from her mom about Moabite ways. And the gods that that they worship in Moab, which would be probably multiple gods. And she has taken upon she's had the spirit testify to her that Naomi's religion is is the true religion. So she's she's actually converted her heart and maybe Orpah hasn't, you know, hasn't converted in that way. And so it's more than just this family tie. And this relationship and this obligation toward a mother in law, but, but also it's religious. And she, she knows that if she goes back to her own family, Naomi, or I sorry, Ruth goes back to her own family, that she'll probably have to put away the things that she believes in. And so that's another thing that I think that we, we kind of see what's happening, too.
Tamara Anderson 16:10
Yeah. You know, I was pondering this. Because sometimes when we go through something especially difficult, and these women clearly have what the loss of their husbands, we kind of have a tendency to kind of shake our fist at God a little bit when we go through the grieving process. And part of one of those steps is anger. And I know I interviewed enough people on my previous podcast to, to know that anger is a big part of grief. And so I'm just amazed at Ruth's ability to know even even though she was perhaps young in her faith, her ability to stay committed to God, even in a difficulty, like the loss of her husband, you know, any thoughts on that?
Heather B. Moore 17:05
I think I think that's a really good point. Because for for Naomi to put her trust in the Lord to return to Bethlehem, even though she she probably, if you look at this setup, so being in Moab, her husband didn't own property, which is, which is why there's no chance for her to stay there. And they are probably maybe renting land or working for, you know, another family or something to live there. And, but she probably could have gotten back with Orpah, or with Ruth, she probably could have gone and kind of begged her way into living with them. But for whatever reason she had, she had enough faith still in her that if she could, she'd rather return to Bethlehem and just take her chances there and hopefully, appealed to her kinsmen. And hopefully the famine was over. And I don't know how much a word traveled if she knew the famine was over yet or not. But she had that faith at least there.
Bonnie Randall 18:15
Didn't she have land? I think I remember reading. She had land in Judah. And so
Heather B. Moore 18:22
yeah, her her husband did. She doesn't have a right to it.
Bonnie Randall 18:26
They couldn't own land, correct?
Heather B. Moore 18:29
Yeah. Yeah, she doesn't have a right to it like, but when she went when she goes back, and we'll probably talk about this next time, but when she goes back to do to thy that anyone who's living there, they can let her live there. But unless she has a child, which she doesn't, anymore, she won't have right to do any inheritance on it. So that's why she has to rely on Ruth to marry and have a child to stay there.
Bonnie Randall 18:59
So with women back then, because they didn't have any rights, what were her options really available to her after losing sons and husbands? Like, yeah, begging, right, begging to just family to friends, like do you just show up? And literally throw yourself...
Heather B. Moore 19:19
mean, she could become a laborer, um, you know, she could work in a field, she could be a slave. She could, she'd have to just be dependent on someone and live a very, very small like, within her means very small means.
Bonnie Randall 19:34
That is, you know, again, the deeper meaning of of Ruth in the layers, right? Like, aren't we all beggars in some way? And that was one of the main things I took away from this story was, how dependent am I on my Lord and other people? And one of the things I think about as how as women, and one of the reasons I love Women Warriors of Light, is that we as a community have the ability to bond together and to lift each other up, and to help strengthen and encourage and all those things. I feel like that's, they are such a great example of helping each other in such a hard, hard time when they could have totally just fallen apart and fallen on to, you know, even worse at times, they could have not just fallen apart physically, but spiritually and emotionally. Two, and yet, they were there to strengthen each other. It's beautiful. Yeah.
Tamara Anderson 20:44
I love that Ruth tells her, you know, "Entreat me not to leave thee or to return to following after thee. For whither thou goest I will go. And wither thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and die God, my God." And basically, wherever you die, I'm gonna die. And I'll be buried there too. And I love that.
Tamara Anderson 21:09
Because I think sometimes when we're grieving, or we're in a hard place, and we're trying to push people away, God sends us angels, you know, we might be raving, you know, to God saying, why did this happen to me? And why can't you be here with me, help me, strengthen me, comfort me. And it's in those moments that God often sends us people in answer to those prayers. And here, Ruth, feeling prompted this is I'm not going to return to my people. I'm going to stay here with you. Until the day that I die. You know, that's how committed she was to staying with her. And what, what kindness what loyalty, I guess, are the words that come to mind. But also, what a beautiful act of her being an angel even in her own grief to her mother in law. Oh my goodness, I'm just amazed and blown away by just that part of the story. Any thoughts you guys want to share there.
Bonnie Randall 22:21
I have a question for you on that. Yeah, I read somewhere that the Moabites and the people of Judah, Judahites. Oh my gosh, I really am not the scholar here. They didn't get along they had historically some friction between them. Correct?
Heather B. Moore 22:45
Yeah, you have like the land of Canaan, where Moab is and the land of Judah. And there's definitely throughout history, there's definitely battles and conflicts between them.
Bonnie Randall 22:55
So for her to turn to Ruth or to to Naomi and to forsake her God's her religion right? And become Jewish essentially, in a way like she turned to that the God I am in Israel and all that. That's kind of a big deal. And then it sounds to me like that Scripture is a vow. It's a covenant almost that she's made with, with her mother in law. So I'm, I'm guessing here, and this is where I want you to explain like, culturally, this is a big deal that she's making this promise making this, this valve turning from her old life and turning so much trust and faith into her new god and into her mother in law. Can you explain kind of what's going on and what you suspect what's going on in her head?
Heather B. Moore 23:52
Yeah, I think that she has developed a testimony that she's really embraced Naomi's religion, and she's decided that she would rather leave everything that she has grown up with her family, her parents, her siblings. And and there's, I mean, I'm not a convert. I was born in my religion, but I've but I, I've heard a lot of stories of converts and how amazing of a transition they go through. And I think this is what, what Ruth has gone through. And so she's definitely I mean, when she leaves with, with her mother in law, she she'll never see her family again. I mean, I'm sure that's what I mean. Obviously, there's a chance but in her, but she probably knows this is a final, final farewell. Because who knows what will happen. I mean, they may not even survive the journey. You know, there's so many things that could happen.
Heather B. Moore 24:50
And so, but I also, I also kind of thought when I was working on the novel side of it, I thought, well, maybe she knows if she returns home to her mother's house that whoever, whichever man she married, we're never quite sure which which one was her husband. Traditionally, she would then be given to if if he has an inheritance, she would be given to her brother in law, so that if she had a child, that child could then have her husband's inheritance. So maybe her brother in law was kind of a yucky, nasty man or something, she's like, I'd rather just leave everything, then go back and have to marry that guy. But we don't know. But I really think the core of this is that she has converted to Naomi's faith. And she would rather face any trial or any hardship with Naomi then go back to having to worship. Yeah.
Bonnie Randall 25:50
What a beautiful example she is of leaping into the unknown. Taking a step into that dark and trusting that her new God will deliver her and will help her and Naomi be okay. I just think that is such an amazing example to all of us that when we are going through darkness, and we have such huge trials that we can trust that our God will be okay, or God will make it okay. And I think that she's just I don't know, if she's really been awakened to me. Like, I feel like I know her a little bit better. And I suspect that when you're when you were writing this story, she probably came alive for you, did you have any experiences where she I don't know where you may have felt connected to her or felt like you really understood who she was, or that you could speak her voice and help her come alive to all of us?
Heather B. Moore 27:06
Yeah, I feel like when I was writing, and it's been a while since I worked on the story, but that really the core of the story was was this, like you mentioned, like this loyalty, not only to your mother in law, but also to her new God. And, and so I was, so I think I put a lot of myself into the story thinking, How was my relationship with my mother in law, and my mother in law has passed away now. But she is a completely different personality than my mother. But my mother in law was just very, like just a very loving, very giving, very warm person. And even though Naomi goes through this very hard time in this grieving, I tried to, like kind of us, like, create a relationship that that was strong, because it was it was spiritual, it was beyond the petty things in life. I mean, I'm sure most people can can nitpick, you know, their in laws. We all have those experiences.
Heather B. Moore 28:12
But if we, if we have the eternal perspective, and we, we view our, our family members and our extended family members with, with how, how the Savior sees them, and why the Savior is willing to sacrifice his life for everyone, not just us, then I think we can see how the relationship between Naomi could rise above like the daily pettiness and daily hardships and daily you know, things that kind of buy gear or queue and, and really have that, that sisterhood, that relationship between them.
Bonnie Randall 28:50
I feel like that is one of the things that God was trying to teach me while I was studying, this was how I needed to get over some things that had happened in the past. Yeah. And I feel like reading her story, I thought, well, like, so it's really no secret my mother in law, and I didn't really get along for a long time. And I won't go into everything there. I don't want to like smear anyone's name or anything, but there are stuff that happened on both sides that we regret. And we've had to really work hard I've hatching that relationship and I feel like it's funny because you know, there's so many movies and like that story of the in laws not getting a daughter in law and things like that. That is just a story that is told, Right? that's just like a normal story. And I remember as I was living that feeling like this is ridiculous.
Bonnie Randall 29:58
And so when God said you need to study the story of Ruth. That's why I rolled my eyes because I was like, oh, man, I don't have a good relationship. And I just felt the Spirit constantly just be like, Bonnie, you gotta like go, you've got to forgive, you gotta move on, right? And so I love that you said, see them as God sees them.
Bonnie Randall 30:24
And I have to testify that as I started praying to see my mother in law, specifically her, as God sees her, he did open my eyes. And he did help me start to see how incredible she is. And I now say that she has amazing talents. And while we might not agree on everything, we don't do things the exact same way. That's okay, I can value her for who she is, and see her talents and see her spiritual gifts. And I now love being around her, I now call her for advice, we now have a really great relationship. And we've been able to mend that.
Bonnie Randall 31:12
And I feel like I have my own redemption story and Ruth and Ruth, my mother in law, and that we can strengthen those bonds, but it takes going to God and asking for his help. And having him remove the bitterness. And forgive like there was no way I could have done that on my own because we had done some not nice things to each other. And I needed to repent just as much as she did. And I'm very grateful to Heavenly Father for opening my heart. And I feel like that was a lesson I needed to learn not just about her, but about people in general. Right. And you opened it up Tamara with saying let's not judge or but that's one of the messages of Ruth is not judging.
Tamara Anderson 32:12
That's so great. Thanks for that awesome takeaway, Heather, any takeaways that you'd like to pull out from this first chapter of Ruth, before we close?
Heather B. Moore 32:23
Yeah, I just think overall, I love what Bonnie said. And I think that one thing she said was just so key is just prayer can really soften our hearts. And deliberately praying, whether it's for someone that's hurt us or offended us. I once did that. One year, I had kind of a major conflict with a colleague, and there isn't a way to separate myself out of it, I so I knew I had to change my heart. And I had to forgive, even though the situation was going to continue. And so I just I said for two weeks, I'm just gonna pray for her every day, multiple times a day, and I did. And the burden was lifted from me. And I just felt like, the situation is still there. And I'll always be there. But I'm not weighed down with it. And I can genuinely say that, I, I just want everything good for her. And I want her to be happy. And I want her to, to enjoy, you know this life. And you know, and I just love what Bonnie said about her mother in law because because we're going to have that situation, probably multiple times in our lives. And if we can see someone through God's eyes, then it just brings that peace to our own lives.
Bonnie Randall 33:43
And we have to recognize what is our part of that story, right? Like, that was humbling for me to realize I hurt her. And I needed to ask forgiveness and repent and change and come to myself.
Tamara Anderson 34:07
I love what you guys have shared here about the power of changing our hearts. And I think anytime we go through something hard like these women definitely have there's a there's always the option to tip towards God or away from God. And I've noticed that in any hard times that there's key points in everyone's story where you choose, am I tipping towards God in my grief and my sorrow and my anger? Or am I tipping away from him? And I love that, in their grief, these two women stayed true to Jehovah to their God. And I think it's a beautiful reminder that we have that choice in times of hardship and yeah, we may be angry.
Tamara Anderson 34:54
And I'd love at the end of here where Naomi even changes her name for a little bit instead of Being called Naomi, she asked them to call her Mara, which means bitter. So even though he may feel very sad and like life has made things so bitter for us, that we still trust in Him and trust that the end of that story isn't written yet, you know, that we can put our faith in Him and lean on each other be angels to each other in hard times, and, and that, of course, the at the end of the story. Everything does turn out. Okay. But while you're in that mucky middle part, just hang in there, right.
Tamara Anderson 35:40
Awesome. Well, let's close up for today. Thank you so much for joining us, Heather, and for helping us understand a little bit of Ruth and we will dive more into her story next week, on Thursday. So thanks for joining us people. And please share your comments, share this story. And be sure to check out Heather's book, we'll put the link for it in in all the social media stuff we do so you can see her beautiful version of this story as well. All right, have an awesome day.
Tamara Anderson 36:17
Thanks for tuning in to Bible, Women & Bathrobes hosted by Women Warriors of Light. We've loved exploring the stories of remarkable women are the teachings of the Savior today with you. If today's episode brought someone special to mind, be sure to spread the word. And don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a moment of inspiration and sisterhood. Just a friendly reminder, all opinions we share are entirely personal as we are trying to decipher and apply Bible teachings just like you are. Until next time, stay faithful. And may Your journey be blessed and illuminated by God's love.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
