God is so cool...

I love it when the Lord ties in multiple aspects of my life to teach me something valuable, and at the same time equipping me for a task ahead. It is totally bonus when He heals my heart in the process. Truly, it is His grace abounding in my life.

For those of you who don't know, I happen to co-lead a ministry with my dearest friend, Andrea, known as Women with a Mission. This morning, we had our regularly scheduled meeting, even with the snowy weather. Only a few gals were able to attend, which set the intimate tone for sharing about things happening in our lives. We hesitated to go into the study on Ruth, but to forsake the Word didn't seem right, so we dove into a portion of the Scriptures from Ruth.

I had prepared a very lengthy teaching, so I selected only two different points to consider-- Christ as our kinsmen-redeemer and Naomi's perspective on the Sovereignty of God. It was so rich that we decided we should add a meeting date at the end of month, revisit the topic with everyone, and even share our testimonies following Naomi's example -- realizing that our own lives have a timeline of hurts, doubts, and redemption by the grace of God.

When I arrived home, I realized how dramatic the body of Christ truly is in encouraging one another. I wrote about it here, and have been reflecting on it all day. Tonight, as I was doing my Bible study homework, A Woman’s Guide to Servant Leadership: A Biblical Study of Becoming a Christlike Leader, I read this...

"God has called you to close fellowship with Him, but He also created you with a need for fellowship with others. don't be too busy or too distracted to enjoy the blessings of Christian fewllowship. There is great personal and spiritual strength from genuine fellowship."

This was complete confirmation of what I took away from this morning, and also preparation for the leadership meeting I was about to head to at church. As I continued reading, the study illustrated three different examples of Godly leaders -- Moses, who served his people sacrificially during challenging circumstances; Samuel, who humbly served the Lord though God's command was difficult; and Esther, an orphan and unlikely leader who God called to guide His people. These Biblical examples were so encouraging to me in terms of my church leadership role, and yet this is a study I thought I was doing for an entirely different purpose -- WoWAM. Hmmm...my 24 verse applies here, doesn't it!

But what stood out to me the most was this: I really do have a Naomi story right in the making, but I've been looking so closely at my feelings that I've lost sight of God's great plan. Like Noami, I've nearly cried out "call me bitter" when what I really needed to do was take a step back and see the bigger picture. While in the recent months, God has allowed some painful things to happen in my life, He has had a purpose in all of it. Tonight, I caught sight of that.

As I read the descriptions of Moses, Samuel, and Esther, I realized that God is shaping my heart into that of a servant leader, and using those painful experiences to call me further along in the course He's planned for my life. Like Moses, I've doubted the call. Like Samuel, I've felt the call ahead of me may be hard! Like Esther, I've felt like an orphan, and an unlikely canidate, but with a heart for my people. And God, the common denominator of us all, has a plan for my life, my pain, my hurts, that includes a redemptive end ahead of me. What an incredible joy and peace that perspective brings to my heart. I hope it makes you think of your life in a new light, as well.

What is your Naomi timeline? What is God doing, using, and redeeming in your life. Read the book of Ruth, and study the character of Naomi. She has so much to teach us! For a quick overview, read the later part of this post and then jump into the Scriptures.

Blessings and extravagant grace to you,