What a vacation this has been!!! Pennsylvania, New York and now New Jersey, all in one trip; WOW!!! Many things have remained the same, some have changed for the better, others, not so much. When we went to Valley Falls to visit Linda's family, we made sure to stop by our first home there. Several years ago it had become run down and that was a downer. This fall, I am glad to say its being fixed up again and somehow the idea of it being restored is very pleasant indeed. Just around the corner from our old house used to be a little store called the "Curious Cat". This picture could have been one from that store and I still remember that unique smell of collectibles as soon as you went through the front door. Sometimes good things happen, sometimes not. Here is one such occurrence...
Ruth, Chapter 1
19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. It happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they asked, “Is this Naomi?”
20 She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty; why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
20 She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty; why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
Ruth, Chapter 4
13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you this day without a near kinsman; and let his name be famous in Israel. 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.” 16 Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it. 17 The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to Naomi;” and they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
It must have been so hard for Naomi to return home after losing her husband and sons. Its no wonder she wanted to be called Mara!!! But God had a plan and what a wonderful plan indeed!!! Eventually her daughter-in-law gave birth to a son; one whose grandson was one of the greatest kings of Israel!!! God has a way of turning sorrow into joy and adversity into blessing. I know, I have seen it over and over again in my own life. GOD IS GOOD...VERY GOOD, INDEED!!!