Guest Blog written by: Jessica Brown

loss.
love.
legacy.

the three twine together to form the testimony of our lives.

have you ever suffered a loss from which you thought you’d never recover?
yeah, me too.

i have been so blinded by loss that i could not see the path in front of me.
it is only after you have navigated through the pain and grief and heartache the path begins to clear.
often times, leaving you to look back and see the Hand that guided you the whole way.

such is the story of ruth.

ruth was a stranger from a land that worshiped idols.
yet, she married a husband from bethlehem.
when he died, she clung to naomi, her mother in law.
despite naomi’s best efforts to get ruth to stay, she insisted she go with her back to bethlehem.

and so the story begins.

two women on a journey of redemption after suffering much loss.

ruth, a stranger in a strange land, never complained or argued.
she didn’t have pity parties. or attempt to take matters into her own hands.
she was a woman of integrity.

and she found favor in the eyes of boaz.
through her loss, her heart learned to love again.
and because of her love a legacy was left.
for you.
and me.

i am constantly amazed at how God uses the least likely to accomplish His will.
boaz was born of a former prostitute, rahab.
and ruth gave boaz a son, obed.
and obed had a son, jesse.
and from the root of jesse, a King was born.

ruth is a story of providence.
the protective care of God.
the knowing that God is in control of all things.
our loss.
our love.
and our legacy.

i was ruth.
for i was a least likely woman.
like israel, i didn’t have a king and followed whatever my heart desired.
until one day, i came to know my kinsman redeemer.
a King who has used my least likely nature and ordained a legacy for me.

may we trust the loss in our lives to the One who counts our tears.
may we embrace the least likely and believe that God is the author of all our stories.
may we claim Him as our kinsman redeemer and leave a legacy that speaks the gospel to those around us.