Part One

I’ve recently read through the Book of Ruth again, and have seen more of the excellence of Ruth, the daughter-in-law of Naomi. Out of loyalty to Naomi Ruth returns to Bethlehem with her rather than remain with her own family and friends in Moab.

A little background:
Ruth – a woman of excellence (A Moabite woman);
Naomi – (A Judean Woman) who tasted the cup of bitterness; yet a godly role model to her two daughters-in-law.

Naomi’s husband, Eliminech, took his family to Moab from Bethlehem because of the famine in the land. Naomi’s husband dies in Moab. Naomi is left with her two sons, Mahlon & Chilion. Her sons married Moabite women: Ruth & Orpah.

So what does this have to do with Mentoring? Plenty!

As we ponder on these words that Ruth speaks to Naomi it can only tell us how much she loved and respected her mother-in-law. My personal opinion is that Naomi was a godly mentor to Ruth and Orpah.

Chapter 1:16 “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you: for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Verse 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me….”.Wow! So, mentoring has plenty to do with Ruth being mentored by Naomi: Ruth saw God in Naomi! Ladies, it is my prayer that whoever God places in my journey that they will see Jesus in me. This doesn’t mean perfection or any legalistic belief system, but it does mean that they see my faith in God in the hard times and the not so hard times. And, there will be suffering on your journey: we live in a fallen world. I thank God for the women who’ve mentored me and for the women God has entrusted with me.

See tomorrow for Part Two on Mentoring!
Blessings,
Pat Spies

A Servant of the Lord, and a friend of Keswick