Then he <\/i><\/b>[Boaz] said, \u201cMay you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence\u201d <\/i><\/b>(Ruth 3:10-11).<\/b><\/p>\n
I am in awe of the words that Boaz said to Ruth.\u00a0 You can hear from his words that he is sincere and honest.\u00a0 Furthermore, he is a man of integrity who did not want to take advantage of Ruth but to do right by her.\u00a0 Don’t you think this man is worthy to bring home to meet your parents?\u00a0 You will be rest assured that you will be secure in his love for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n
Girlfriends, ever since we were young girls we long for security.\u00a0 We placed our security in our parents to provide for us a loving, nurturing and stable environment as we grow up and discover our place in the world.\u00a0 When we are ready to move out of our parents\u2019 home, we want to make sure that we get married to someone who will love and cherish us, who will provide for us and continue to give us the security we need.\u00a0 However, the reality of our lives is far from what our heart desires.\u00a0 Many of us have found ourselves hurt and broken because those whom we placed our security and lives into have not met our expectations; instead they have taken us for granted.<\/p>\n
There are so many things that cause one to become insecure and lose hope.\u00a0 I cannot tackle them all here but I will discuss two of them, namely loss and disappointment.\u00a0 When we lose loved ones like Naomi and Ruth did, it\u2019s so difficult to believe that your tears and sorrow will one day turn to joy and you will find another person to love again.\u00a0 Naomi\u2019s loss caused her to feel insecure in God\u2019s love for her; this was shown by her bitter expressions when she returned home to Bethlehem.\u00a0 She asked her relatives to call her Mara instead of Naomi.\u00a0 Loss brings with it doubt and despair.\u00a0 Naomi hoped that she and her husband would grow old together and see their great grandchildren.\u00a0 But her husband and sons died before this could happen.\u00a0 She never expected that her dreams would end in tragedy and loss.<\/p>\n
Unlike Naomi, Ruth reacted differently, she did not allow Naomi\u2019s bitterness to rub off on her, she could have stayed at home with her mother-in-law and joined in the pity party but she knew this would not help them in any way, they needed to eat and food was not going to come on its own.\u00a0 Ruth did not go out to seek a man to provide for their needs.\u00a0 Instead she set out to work in order to find food for both Naomi and herself.\u00a0 Through this act, Ruth found a man who would show her how to smile again, Boaz.\u00a0 Ruth had found security in the God of Israel before she met Boaz and the same God took care of all her needs.\u00a0 Through Boaz and Ruth\u2019s marriage, Naomi also realized her dream of grandchildren.<\/p>\n
Another cause of insecurity is disappointment.\u00a0 As women young or old, single or married, we have gone through situations that have left us so disappointed, we just want to dig a hole and hide.\u00a0 The father who promised to love and provide for us declares to our mother that he longer wishes to stay married, as such he seeks divorce and leaves us behind and never keeps his promise to come and see us, birthdays come and go without a call or a card in the mail.\u00a0 We grow up, we meet the perfect guy who promises us heaven on earth takes away our most prized possession and leaves us for our best friend.\u00a0 How about the woman who discovers that the man whom she married, who pledged to love and cherish her is nothing but a drunkard, and abuses her at every chance he gets.\u00a0 How does one keep sanity in such circumstances and not lose faith and become so insecure and manipulative in order to have her way?<\/p>\n
There is only one answer to all these situations, no matter how hard life becomes! I can only become a Lady of Security when I place my trust in the one who will never leave nor forsake me.\u00a0 His name is JESUS!<\/p>\n
Girlfriends, Jesus is the answer to all our insecurities, He alone can turn our mourning into gladness, our sorrow into joy, our mess into a message.\u00a0 In Isaiah 61:1-3 our beloved Saviour says:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.\u00a0 He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord\u2019s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and to provide for those who grieve in Zion \u2013 to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.\u00a0 They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Beloved, in order to be secure, we need Jesus to be the centre of our lives.\u00a0 He should be the constant in our lives because He never changes \u2013 \u201cHe is the same yesterday, today and forever.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 He is telling us to go to him with our insecurities and lay them at his feet.\u00a0 \u201cCome to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.\u00a0 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.\u00a0 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
LET\u2019S PRAY<\/b><\/p>\n
Father, I come to you with all my insecurities, I have been hurt and wounded by others and I have placed my security in the wrong hands.\u00a0 I realize that you are the security that I long for.\u00a0 Take my pain and hurt away.\u00a0 I exchange my ashes for a crown of beauty, turn my mourning into gladness, I also trade my spirit of despair for a garment of praise.\u00a0 Thank you Jesus for calling me an oak of righteousness.\u00a0 In Jesus Name Amen.<\/p>\n
YOUR ASSIGNMENT<\/b><\/p>\n
Look at the things most important to you, the things on which you spend the most of your time and energy (e.g., appearance, money, career, family, friendships, dates). If these were taken away, how would you be affected?<\/p>\n
Security is basing one\u2019s life on that which cannot be taken away. Are you building your life on what makes you secure or insecure?<\/p>\n
Be Blessed,<\/p>\n
Jackie<\/p>\n
__________<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
For the “Lady in Waiting” Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. You can order the book right through our website by clicking the “sign-up here” button at the top of our webpage; which is also where you can sign up to participate in this awesome bible study!<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Then he [Boaz] said, \u201cMay you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[144,147,293,425,495,538,544,545,554,593,654,920,942],"class_list":["post-3885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-singles","tag-bible","tag-bible-study","tag-debby-jones","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-hebrews-138","tag-isaiah-611-3","tag-jackie-chingawale","tag-jackie-kendall","tag-jesus","tag-lady-in-waiting","tag-matthew-1128-30","tag-ruth-310-11","tag-security","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-10F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3885"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8310,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885\/revisions\/8310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}