This morning God brought my attention to Naomi, which surprised me when His instructions said to go to the book of Ruth. I love that story! Walt and I made Ruths vow to Naomi part of our marriage vows. But what God showed me was about Naomi.

Ruth 1:20-21 NLT “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Instead call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why should you call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy?”

Sometimes in the middle of our struggle to understand, we blame, and very often we blame the wrong person or thing. We fail to understand what has happened to us or why, for that matter. Who can know the mind of God or the ways of God?

Why that much loss? Now that I think of it, Naomi was very much like Job. But when she held her first grandson in her arms, she forgot about her sorrow and knew that the Lord had truly blessed her. In reality, God blessed her the day she was born.

Why the day she was born? Because God has good plans for each one of us and those plans gave her Ruth. Life can be hard sometimes and so totally unpredictable, but instead of viewing God as the cause of our sorrow, we must view him as the master builder.

It all starts with a pile of wood, blocks and various supplies on an empty lot. To most who observe, they just see a mess but soon it will turn into a beautiful dwelling place. Only the master builder knows the end from the beginning. He’s seen the blueprint, he knows the outcome. Trust the master builder!

Whatever you’ve been through, don’t get so focused on it, that you lose sight of what God is in the process of doing with you. He’s promised something beautiful, so be patient, wait and see. Your end will be better then your beginning, better then you could ever imagine. He’s building his Kingdom and you’re a part of it. Don’t be surprised if you look around and find chaos. You just don’t have HIS perspective. Trust the Master. He knows what He’s doing!

Father, I would never have planned this for myself but I know You have. There’s nothing that happened or will happen to me that you won’t use for Your glory. Be big in me today. Bigger than all my history is the future You’ve arranged because You love me. And I love You! More then my heart can express. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Sandy G