Zooming in on: RUTH

"Ruth" is means 'pity or compassion', but also means 'loyal friend'

Background

The book of Ruth starts in the heathen country of Moab, then later moves to Bethlehem. A famine causes a man by the name Elimelech and his wife Naomi to move from Judah to Moab. Elimelech dies and Naomi is left with her 2 sons who go on to marry 2 Moabite girls; Orpah and Ruth. Later, the sons both die and Naomi is left with her 2 daughters-in-law and encourages them to return home to their families. Orpah returns to her parents, but Ruth chooses to stay with Naomi, and cannot be persuaded otherwise as she has shared loneliness, anxiety and grief with Naomi, so they travel back to Bethlehem where they meet up with Naomi's wealthy relative; Boaz, a wealthy man. When they arrive in Bethlehem, it is barley harvest time, and not one to sit back and wait as events happened around her, Ruth decides to help glean the barley in the fields (a form of charity work for the disadvantaged such as widows and orphans). As she labours, she finds favour in Boaz' sight and often gets preferential treatment as he is Naomi's next of kin. In a very unorthodox manner, Ruth proposes marriage to Boaz and eventually they get married and have a son together by the name Obed, who becomes the grandfather of David and the ancestor of Jesus.

The Lesson

• Ruth’s obedience brought her into the privileged lineage of Christ.God guided Ruth every step of the way to her becoming His child and to fulfill His plan for her tobecome an ancestor of Jesus. In the same way we should be assured that God has a plan for each and every one of us. Her obedience and trust in God's plan and purpose caused Him to order her footsteps, and get her to a place of greater blessings.
• Ruth is an example of the virtuous woman depicted in Proverbs 31. she was devoted to her family and fully dependent on God, and spoke words of kindness, respect and wisdom.
• Ruth’s devotion to Naomi illustrates her love and loyalty, a characteristic we should all emulate. It was probably much easier for her to remain in her home country of Moab after she was widowed, but her commitment to Naomi magnified God's grace in her life.

A loving tribute to a true Proverbs 31 woman, my mother

Rise Up and Take Your Place

Have you ever thought about how seemingly insignificant YOU are in the fuller scope of the 7 billion people in the world? I mean there are 6,999,999 other people, so what difference can you make?

 Right? Wrong. You can change the world, by just being the change YOU want to see in the world as Gandhi said. Imagine if everyone looked at themselves as insignificant, and opted for inaction; the world would simply stay the same, if not get even more out of control.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the tag line of this blog is “Empowered To Empower”. I have been empowered through personal experiences and through watching other people’s lives. I have had so many “ah ha” moments through personal reflection and with the help of  wisdom imparted to me from others, and I tell you, it’s an awesome place to be…knowing that I may be one, but knowing the power of one to impact and change lives, and ultimately change the world. Knowledge is power, and the purpose of this blog is to impart some of what I have learnt to y'all. If I had the frame of mind of looking at myself as only 1 out of 7 billion, I probably would have stopped blogging log ago. 

I am hoping for increase in viewership of this blog, and that it reaches and touched those who need it, and for that I will require your assistance. I implore you to rise up and take your rightful place wherever you are, whatever your sphere of influence may be. Recommend articles that touch you, give me feedback either publicly or privately. Make suggestions/crit me on where I can improve, suggest other great blogs to check out, WHATEVER, but DO SOMETHING. Don’t shrink back at the challenge and daunting thought of you being only one person. We can be the change we want to see in the world, if we empower each other by sharing knowledge.

I'm baaaack :)

First off, my sincere apologies to all you loyal readers for the "disappearing act"... Unfortunately, technology had gotten the best of me, so I had been unable to upload articles, but all is well and sorted now so keep an eye out for the upcoming posts.

I've got quite a number of articles that I have been working on while I was offline. Look out for more editions of the popular "Relationship Series", as well as the promised and much anticipated "Zooming in On" articles. I will be featuring a mighty woman in the next article, as a tribute to my mother (March is her birthday month :)), and many more thoughts from my heart, lessons learnt and revelations and epiphanies I have had.

I am very happy to be back and I am so excited for where this blog is going and the lives it is changing. Please keep sharing, on Facebook, twitter, and "+1" it on Google.


Much much love to you all.

Tash

The Art of Hanging On

I've heard people say stuff like "winners never quit and quitters never win" and "when you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on". They may be cliches but they offer encouragement when it's easier to throw in the towel.

Each and every one of us have at one point or another been faced by an affliction. Times when we've felt pressed, and afflicted in every way, But, "many are the afflictions of a righteous man, but GOD delivers him from them ALL". this word offers immense comfort to me when I feel helpless, because I know whom my help comes from. No matter what I am faced with, I know that I will be delivered. 

My mantra is "Whatever happens in your life is either sent by or used by God".
Even when I struggle to see how He will deliver me, I call to mind His promises, and how He works ALL things together for my good. And not just my good, but as a child of the Most High God, yours too.

My prayer for whoever is reading this is that whatever you go through, His grace be more than sufficient for you. That in the midst of trials, you call to mind His promises and stand firm on His word and stay anchored in the knowledge that He IS GOD.

Zooming in on: JOB

A story of when bad things happen to good people.

Job is one of my favourite men from the Bible. Mainly because his story is almost parallel to the things that happen in everyday life to us ordinary people. Since being saved, Job is the one man I was able to immediately identify with as he went through the different seasons in his life.

So, who was Job?
The book of Job tells us that he was a RIGHTEOUS man; a just and good man who always sought to please God. He was rewarded by God with great wealth. BUT the devil was jealous of Job and began to vilify him before God claiming that Job was only righteous and faithful because God was blessing him, and if God stopped blessing him, He'd curse God. To prove Job's faithfulness and loyalty God allowed the devil to take away all his possessions and through a series of events, his cattle, servants, children and property were destroyed. Job did not complain, and said "God gave, and God has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

The devil was put to shame and wasn't satisfied. God permitted him to deprive Job of His health and Job's body broke out in lesions and sores of leprosy. His wife began to persuade him to complain against God. His friends offered little consolation, but Job remained firm and didn't lose hope in the mercy of God

Although Job was a righteous man, he shows his "humanness" when he complains to God. He cursed the day he was born and even pleads with God, but after all the emotional talk, Job STILL HOPED IN GOD and expressed confidence that his redeemer lives.

After several chapters of dialogue between Job and his friends, near the end of the book of Job, God finally answers Job telling him basically how insignificant he was as he was not there when the Lord created the earth. Through his speech, God revealed his majesty and power over all of creation including Job and Job promises God silence.

Eventually, Job confesses and repents and God rebukes his friends.
God rewarded his loyal servant and restored his health, wealth and family manifold.

The lesson
When you're faced with trials and tribulations, it is easy to be discouraged, especially if you are a righteous person. It is easy to look at the so called "unrighteous" who seem to have it all, forgetting the verse that says "many are the afflictions of a RIGHTEOUS man, but God delivers him from them ALL". We forget God majesty and his ability to deliver us from whatever trials or storms we encounter. Our attitudes during suffering and pain determines how long the pain will last. God is moved by faith and praise and if you will praise him through every circumstance, he WILL deliver you from every affliction, every chain that binds you and every mountain that blocks you.
Faith.

What the enemy is up to...

I came across the following article the other day and felt I had to share:

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, "We
can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and
knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that experience in Jesus Christ. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their
minds" he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work six or seven days a week, ten to twelve hours a day so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work . Overstimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR, CD's and their PC's going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and
break that union with Christ."
"Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail,
sweepstakes, mail order catalogues, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services and false hopes. Even in their recreation, let them be excessive.
Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. And when they meet for spiritual
fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion."

Has the devil been successful at his schemes? You be the judge.

The bottom line here is not to expect the devil to come to us with a horns and a three-pronged fork. His favorite tactics include stealing your time and controlling your mind.
Reanalyze what you spend most of your time on and the subliminal messages and images etched in your mind. Above all, use your time wisely and try by all means to be conscious of what you look at listen to.
In terms of ungodly music, or music that unsettles me, my stance has always been to kindly ask whoever is playing it to turn it down (within reason of course and if possible) or to excuse myself from the room. I'd much rather be labelled as a weirdo for not listening to something that doesn't add life to me than "roll with the crew" and end up with a whole lot of junk clogging up my mind.

What's new in 2012??

Hey people!

Tashy-b.blogspot.com is doing something new in 2012. Presenting the "Zooming in on" monthly special feature.

Once every month, for the next 12 months, I will be featuring and "zooming in on" 12 of the greatest characters in the Bible. Each post will be put up on the 12th of every month so keep an eye out for them! This will be in addition to the usual posts I put up. First post will be up this time next week :) *excited*

I find that often, people, especially us young people look north, south east and west, in magazines and tabloids for role models when some of the greatest people that ever lived are right there in the Holy Book.

Feel free to leave a comment here, or contact me directly if you have any specific individuals that you would like to be profiled.

Enjoy the coming posts

--Tash