Chapter 1: Heartbreak, Loss, Pain

Chapter 2: Works, Waits, Serves

Chapter 3: Initiates, Surrenders, Trusts

Chapter 4: Redeemed, Restored, Rejoicing

Jeremiah 29:11-13 NLT

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

John 16:33b NIV

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Ruth 4:11 (Paraphrased)

May God make Ruth like the women responsible for making Israel great! 

May you prosper and be famous in Bethlehem. 

Ruth 4:13 NLT

So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the LORD enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son.

Ruth 4:13 NLT

So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the LORD enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son.

Ephesians 3:20 GW

Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us. By this power he can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.

Ephesians 3:20a MSG

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!

He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. 

Psalm 13:1-2, 5-6 NIV

How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing the LORD'S praise,

for he has been good to me.

Ruth 4:14-15 NLT

Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the LORD, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”

Isaiah 55:8 NLT

My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.

“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

Ruth 4:17 NLT

The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.

Ruth 2:10b NLT

“I am only a foreigner.”

Ruth 2:13b ICB

I am not even good enough to be one of your servants.”

Ruth 3:9 NLT

“I am your servant”

Ruth 4:13 NIV (Paraphrased)

Ruth became his wife. 

Ruth's Identity Changed:

I Am A Foreigner

I Am A Less Than A Servant

I Am Your Servant

I Am Your Wife

Ephesians 2:11-13 NLT

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. …In those days you were living apart from Christ. … You lived in this world without God and without hope. 

But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:19 NLT

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.

Hebrews 11:13-16 NLT

All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.