Christ Redeems

“Hide yourself in God, so when a man wants to find you he will have to go there first.”

~Shannon L. Alder

Today I had the awesome pleasure of once again teaching during my church's middle/high school Girls Day event. I think this is maybe my 4th year or so doing it and I've loved it every year I've been involved.⁣

The lesson I shared today was on the topic of Christ Redeems (kinsman redeemer). I shared out of the book of Ruth to show how Christ redeemed in the lives of Ruth and Naomi based on a series of difficult choices Ruth made. I also shared some of my own personal stories, like the experience of my dad passing away, to help them see how it works in our own lives.⁣

I think this was one of the most powerful lessons I've shared. They were able to hear about God's original design for us with a focus on as a woman during the first session and then about how sin ruins in the second session from two other adult leaders. It was awesome to tie it all together for them with the third session. In conjunction with the discussion questions we reviewed as we read through parts of Ruth, I shared from a DIY Bible Study:⁣

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧: 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦-𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘙𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴...⁣

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥'𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘙𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳-𝘪𝘯-𝘭𝘢𝘸, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘸. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘙𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘻 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘥'𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵."⁣

Little did I know as I prepared for and taught this session (as well as listen in on the second session) that I would get so much out of the message for myself. The biggest takeaway for me was 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, especially during challenging times when it's not as easy to do. I believe the ladies in attendance were able to takeaway what they were meant and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to pour into them and myself 💜⁣

This photo by Henry Be reminded me of the small flicker of hope that burns inside of us all. I pray, particularly for us women, to keep that flicker burning as we learn to trust God the same way the Ruth ultimately did in her life. As women, we have so much in us to make powerful waves for generations to come. #BeEncouraged #LightShineBright #DoItAfraid #faithoverfear