Moms of Grace

A Broken Naomi
Interesting thoughts Cayla! I am especially intrigued by the last paragraph. Your question was: Are there dark circumstances in your life that cloud your vision of God?
I am reminded of the book that I brought up during our meeting regarding the illustration of Naomi. The book is called "Shattered Dreams: God's unexpected pathway to joy" by Larry Crabb. It is one of the most profound and heart changing books (outside of the Bible) that I've ever read. In this book it's suggested that entering into the pain of our darkest circumstances is where we find our deepest pleasure: an encounter with God. I'll share a few excerpts from the book that will hopefully give a little more insight to the book of Ruth.

Don't sanitize the story. Naomi did not say, "I'm having a hard time. Most nights I cry myself to sleep. But God knows what He's doing. My family died for good reasons that I cannot see but I claim by faith. I know nothing enters my life without passing through His tender hands. My hope is in the Lord."
That may be what we think she should have said, what we wish she had said, but it's not what she did say. She was miserable, and she saw God as the source of her misfortune.

The Western church has become a community of either the victorious or the acceptably broken. Either we speak glowingly of our love for Jesus-usually because the blessings are abundant-or we struggle nobly through hard times, convincing others and sometimes ourselves that we're doing better than we are. With each other we're more proper than real, more appropriate than alive.
Naomi broke the rules. She stood broken before her community, admitting who she was rather than pretending to be who she should have been. The result was more pain and, although not right away, more hope. Had she deadened her pain and behaved appropriately, she would have found the contentment of Buddha(what is meant by this statement is explained in the book)and missed the joy of Christ.

Through all of our pain God wants us to realize our desire for the Ultimate Blesser, God Himself, rather than settling for anything less. Do I live life longing to experience little "blessings" along the way that make life easier and make me happy or do I live life to experience the Blesser Himself, God?

The Spirit's masterpiece is the man or woman who much prefers to live elsewhere, who finds no deep joy in the good things of this life, who looks closely in the mirror and yearns to see something different, whose highest dream is to be in the Presence of the grace-filled Father. It is the person whose life here is consumed with preparing to meet Him there.

Carol