He Names Us Blessed

I am officially back in Athens and oh how good it feels. Although I am missing my family tremendously (hey mom and dad), I feel at peace knowing I am back in the same city as my closest friends. This year, I moved into a house right on campus with three of my friends. I’ve been here a week and it has already been 1000x better than my living situation last year. Our house is beautiful and very well taken care of by our landlady and I am extremely fortunate to be able to call it home for the next year. As most of my roommates and friends have been doing sorority recruitment this past week, I have had the majority of my day to myself. I recently came across a website that provides daily devotions on a certain topic. It has filled my part of my day with joy as I am guided through parts of the Bible. The website is www.shereadstruth.come and I HIGHLY suggest checking it out. I’ve loved both the studies I have done so far.

I am currently reading through the Ruth study and just finished reading Chapter 1, which is filled with heartache, faithfulness, love, and encouragement. At the beginning of the chapter, Naomi loses both her husband and her two sons. All that she has left are her two daughter-in-laws, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi insists they go back to their families to begin a better life for themselves. Both are hesitant but Orpah leaves and heads back to her family. Ruth, however, cannot be persuaded to stay. She vows to do six things with Naomi: travel, dwell, claim her people, worship her God, die where she dies, and be buried where she is buried. Ruth as ALL in and Naomi could not argue.

They begin their journey back to Naomi’s hometown, Bethlehem, where the people of her town greet her. She says she is no longer Naomi (Pleasant), but Mara (bitter). She has reached the end, she is encompassed in heartache and doesn’t know where else to turn. She went away full and came back empty. YET, she does not get angry with God, she does not renounce her faith. She acknowledges God without blaming Him. She believed God was sovereign, even in her tragedy.  Naomi couldn’t not even begin to fathom her bitterness becoming beauty, but her sovereign God could. How incredibly encouraging is that? Naomi, a woman who just lost her husband, two sons, and a daughter-in-law does not blame God, does not get mad at Him, but instead chooses to trust in Him and believe that He is sovereign even in her darkest times.

Naomi may have named herself Bitter, but God names her Blessed. In fact, He names all of us Blessed. He names us Forgiven. He names us Beloved. He names us Redeemed. These names hold true even when our circumstances may say otherwise. When our tragedies, our loss, our sadness covers us, these names still ring true. And why is that? Our God is a God who is mighty over our afflictions, our bitterness, and our past because he sees and provides our blessings, beauty, and future. He sees what is ahead, He knows what is coming. And even though our circumstances may change, they DO NOT change our God or the saving power of Jesus Christ.

YOU are NOT named by your circumstances, but are named by a loving, forgiving, redeeming God who loves you more than you will ever comprehend. So take hold in that truth today and the rest of your days. Because even in your darkness times, God is whispering your name: Blessed, Forgiven, Beloved, Redeemed.

Have a great week!

God Bless,

Mallory