Thank your for sharing your thoughts Kelly.

Today we are his children but tomorrow we'll be just like him!

Lord, cleanse us and help us purify ourselves because of the hope we have of seeing you and becoming like you!
Transform us as we read your word these coming weeks and find YOUR extraordinary story being written in the lives of all the women who have lived before us.

My greatest temptation is to read this story and say "but that was ESTHER... and she was perfect and pretty and married to a King"...

But Esther didn't have the perfect background. She was an orphan living as a foreigner, far from her land. She married a King...much like a Disney movie, except she had to hide her heritage from him and she had to be away from the little family she had left... and the Royal life wasn't easy. She didn't even get to see her husband that often and she could only come near him by invitation... and for the next thirty days there wasn't any. Perhaps she felt alone, unwanted or objectified.

I once heard my Pastor preach that God will do anything to accomplish his will and he will provide us with everything we need to serve him. He gave Esther her beauty which led her to become a Queen. Amy Carmichael had brown eyes and God used her with those eyes in India.
Some have riches, some are orphan, some speak more than one language. Some are foreigners. There are no coincidences or mere genetics.

God has given ME (& you) exactly what we need to be used EXACTLY how he wants.
We are not called to wish for other's "greener grass"... or wait for better circumstances to be used by God. It's us he wants to use. JUST as he has made us.

"Do the next right thing"... that's all there is to it.
I am fighting myself to not get anxious over the distant future. Through my hard circumstances I have been doing what I never did before, being in complete dependence of God... constantly praying through life "What's next? How should I act? What should I say next?" As difficult as my current circumstances are, I don't want to waste the opportunity God is giving me to learn to submit to Him and live in dependece of Him.

I hope to, in retrospect, be able to see the divine peripety as you have seen it in your life. In the meantime, trust and follow.

I just came out of a conference with Dannah Gresh from which I was deeply convicted in this area. I seem to never grow past some sins and truth is some sins require us to wave our flag of surrender and take hold of the community God has put us in. Pray to God for deliverance but also recognize that this sinful areas shouldn't be battled alone.

Find godly friends, confess to them so they will hold you accountable and pray for you!! (What's better than having a friend cover you in prayer as you struggle!?)

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." James 5:16

I left the conference on Saturday and met with a friend Sunday afternoon (i literally just texted her "I have to tell you something"... before I could even regret my choice to confess)... she comforted me, we prayed together and I can already tell there is a great victory to come.

-Adriana

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." James 5:16
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

Dear Brenda,
I can't tell what exactly what will happen if you confess your sins but I can tell you that the Lord has PROMISED to forgive and bring healing through the confession of sin.
Choose to fear and obey God above all trusting that his promises are true.

I will be praying for you!!

Thank you Susan!! Will keep meditating on that quote as God exposes and changes my hear.
Ps. I absolutely felt your hug.

Oh how I NOW wish I didn't understand what this passages are about... I kept thinking about the meaning behind the passages, only to come up with some vague interpretation that in NO WAY applied to me.

BUT I too Meredith have wept the past few days because of a situation in which i believed I had been wronged... only today to find that the true cause of my hurt is my ENORMOUS PRIDE. I got to work early this morning, sat on my desk grieving... because I don't even know where to begin or how to change my heart. So I google (because I can't even pray) "pride in christians" and find the following quote "Romans 12 makes it clear that God demonstrates his love for his children through discipline". Today's devotional is FOR ME.

I feel very unfit, exposed, worst christian ever, like I should lock myself into a closet or something... because being humbled, with my sins exposed doesn't feel too good.

I expect to alternate between feeling loved and feeling like an absolute loser for not being spotless and perfect like I'd want to be (PRIDE), but I hope to cling to this truth: “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up" Hosea 6:1

Praying for all of us that are receiving discipline from God today!

First time joining in... so excited to keep reading this devotional! I have been a believer for years and never thought of re-reading Ruth. I thought the Sunday school version of the story “about the re-marriage of a woman” was enough. I was so, so wrong. Every day I finish a devotional thanking God for inspiring women like you to inspire others!

When I read the title of today’s devo I thought: what good can they possibly say about Naomi’s name change? So thankful God looks way past my own labels or the labels this world may give me. His name for me is the only one that matters! May I always know this truth!

I am reminded of a song by Cody Carnes- “I am all he says I am”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqLnL0Sa-WE

I had a hard time reading this article given that some of the lies were directed at women (#2, #3) and others at men (#6, #7, #8). I wasn't sure if the article was meant for the men or the ladies. Anyway some comments I'd like to add...

#3- I agree it's never okay to be rude and that being a friendly guy shouldn't be interpreted as leading women on. BUT (maybe I'm alone here) a guy being overly friendly with me will most definitely lead ME on. *This is probably because of all the pressure the church has placed on male/female friendships.* (I'm sure there are other women like me and I commend the men who put healthy boundaries in our friendship to guard my heart... setting boundaries doesn't mean being rude but simply acknowledging that too much friendliness for the sake of being friendly can be misinterpreted).

I'm not too sure on #6.... the real problem here isn't that men aren't interacting with women, it's that they aren't asking women out. Even if men and women were happily interacting and being friends with each other, women would still be hurt if men still didn't ask them out, which according to your example was the real cause of pain. In any case, we can't blame/resent men for not initiating since they are free to decide who and when to date.

I do stand behind #9 which sums up pretty well 99% of the Christian men I know. I joke around the fact that godly Christian men tend to set high and almost unreal expectations for godly, committed Christian women but end up marrying new believers or not as committed Christian girls in an attempt to get the "best of both worlds". I can honestly say I've been very hurt by the double standard and have even been tempted to act less godly since it's what's getting the godly men's attention.

Good article, loved your theory in #8, seems absolutley possible.