Ruth - an epic tale of redemption

Ruth. She need a redeemer. Her past was not clean and her future was not certain. Yet, she trusted the love of the one who redeemed her.

Did you know that there are only 2 (count them, two) books in the bible named after women - and Ruth is the only non-Jewish woman. I say this book must have something significant for us based upon this fact. Here is a Moabite woman (In early Old Testament, Lot had relations with his daughter and moved to Moab, which became know as a land full of sexual immorality and a dark land) who is seen as nothing, has nothing - no family to way to provide for herself. Ruth lost her husband, brother in law, Father in law, and was left as a widow with her widowed mother in law Naomi. Ruth clings to Noami and refuses to leave her. In this day in age, following a widow means no security, no family, no income, no provision. Ruth - an outsider. Destitute. But to Naomi, Ruth showed unexpected loyalty by insisting on staying with her.

"Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and you God my God. Where you die, I will die and here I will be buried".

The story continues of as Ruth and Naomi travel to Bethlehem for work and for food. We see Naomi broken, desperately pleading to God about why she has experienced such sorrow. We see as Ruth goes out and picks up grain in a field of Boaz, he approaches her and seeks after her. He falls in love with her immediately-he becomes her protector and provides her with food and security. Through Boaz, Ruth is redeemed.

What a picture of Christ and his people! Here we are, with nothing and worth nothing and yet Christ saved us from death! Oh, sing praises! My heart yearns for Him!

Jesus alone has the right to redeem us. He is divine over us and he is human like us. Jesus alone has the resources to redeem us- he has power over sin and he has authority over death! (He is like us in every way except one, he is sinless. To save us from our sin, he must have no sin. If he was sinful, he must as well be saved from sin).

Boaz was the one who could redeem Ruth. To be redeemed in that time she must be redeemed by the closest kin. For Ruth to be redeemed, Boaz must have the right to redeem her, he must have resources to redeem her and he must have the resolve (want) to redeem her. Ah, can't you just see it? The love story of these people as a reflection of the love story of Christ and his church!

Jesus alone has the resolve to redeem us. He seeks us as his own, he saves us by his mercy and her serves us at his table.

Thank you Lord. Thank you for reminding me daily of the redemption through the blood of your son, for forgiving our trespasses, according to the riches of your grace you have given to us!

Autumn sky

Morning. Some days it comes so early I can hardly stir from the comfort of my sheets and the warmness of my bed. This morning was no different than most. I opened my eyes to the darkness and stillness of my room. Wesley had already left for her workday at the hospital and Heather in New Orleans.

Mornings like this one remind me of mornings in my dorm room in college. I would wake up to the slight chill in the air and snuggle deep back down. Except waking up is a bit different now. I don't have a cheery roommate who rolls her desk chair across the floor and says a cheery "good morning" before we head off to class.

I wake up as an adult readying myself for work, still feeling like I am 18.

It's an exciting chapter in my life. Soon my mornings will look different again, something new and different and comfortable.

So, this morning when I woke up, it didn't look different from most mornings. The chill was in the air, my eyes opened to darkness. But every morning I remember to rejoice in each stage of life, each opportunity to wake up and live in awe of Christ.

Kisses from Katie

Katie Davis came to our church last night. If you are unframiliar with her, let me catch you up on her story. Katie grew up in Brentwood Tennessee and moved to Uganda right after graduating high school for 10 months to teach kindergarten. What she didn't know at that time, was God's plan for her was a little more than a 10 month commitment. Katie lives in Uganda raising her 13 adopted daughters, running Amizama Ministries. She has a new book out called Kisses from Katie. Please check it out and her blog as well to see all the amazing things God is doing in this world and in the lives of so many.

My heart is overwhelmed by the joy and love she has for God's people. I am so blessed to be a part of God's family and to see his works around me.

Today, as I sit at my computer, my soul longs further for Christ, for serving him and for teaching his truth. So often, (let's be honest, all the time) I am consumed with what I want for my life, what I should do, what I do to advance, what can the world do for me. My heart is consumed by the sin and ugliness of this world and the things around me (material possessions, career advancement, me-minded thoughts). God, I cry out to you, my soul thirsts for YOU. You command us to be obedient, you don't ask. I long for your will and I praise your name to the ends of the earth.

My wedding dress

What a fun time I had with my Mom and sister this past Saturday! Whoo-wee we were busy!

Saturday morning I woke up and met my Mom and Kami at my house and we headed to Pottery Barn (I picked out our bedding) and went to lunch just in time to make it to The White Room in Cahaba Heights at noon.

Amazingly, I FOUND MY DRESS! It was more perfect than I could have imagined. I cried the entire time I had it on:) Tears of joy of course! I can't describe it (my fiance reads this blog) but in 5 months I can share pictures of it! Boom. I also found my veil-it matches perfectly.

When we left, we went to look for the wedding book (got it from Wedding, Etc. in SoHo) and stopped to get coffee at O'Henrys.

Finally, we ended up at Bella Bridesmaid and picked out a beautiful artic blue bridesmaid dress by Jenny Yoo. Ah, done again. I also found a gorgeous dress for after rehearsal/honeymoon, etc.

Sunday, my Mom and I went back to confirm the bridesmaid dress and to lunch.

I am exhausted and ready to slow down a bit. :)

Friday afternoon in Atlanta office and weddng planning

So, I love our multiple offices for work. We have our HQ in Birmingham and our other offices in Atl, Mobile, Chattanooga and Charlotte. Today, my boss and I are in the Atlanta office for work and I just love it! Our employees here are so sweet and it's just a cool town to be in. We walked down to eat at the Terrace cafe, a couple of blocks form the office. Ah, good day!

Okay, new topic. Tomorrow Mom, Kami and I will be going to look for my wedding gown!! AHHH. 156 days til I get to marry Stephen! It feels like such a long time but I know in reality, it's not too far away. So far, we have booked the church, venue, flowers and cake. Now on to the photographer. My Mom has been such a huge help figuring out the logistics of it all! Thanks Mom!!

Stephen and I are now trying to decide on our honeymoon-we have an idea but I will let everyone know once its official!

We also have had fun looking for "our" house stuff and starting to Register! I can't believe there is so much to do, but its super fun!! We have no registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond, but will do other places a little closer to time. Let me tell you though, the scanner thingy is super cool and waaaaaaaayyyyyy to easy to use. HA!

We re also getting engagement photos on October 29th, just when the leaves start to change colors. I think we will be going to Historic Highland Avenue, downtown Birmingham. Seriously, I can't stop smiling thinking about it all!!!!!!!!! Okay, okay. Back to reality now.

Happy Friday!!

Engaged!

Wow, what a whirlwind of a weekend! I am so blessed to be marrying Stephen!! I can't wait to see what this journey will look like, and I am excited to see how we together can serve the Lord better.

So, the engagement story. I was thinking the engagement would happen on our one year anniversary-he threw me off! Friday night my good friend Lauren came in to town so the girls went to have a girls night and the boys were going to a movie-the robot wrestling one. So, I leave work (had a flu shot that day) and headed home to go to dinner. Heather and I headed to meet Lauren and Meredith at Taziki's and Wesley was getting off work to join us. We ate and had a merry ole time. We decided to go and get a Red box movie and head back to my mine and Hezzy's house to watch (Meredith said Amy Barrett was using their house). so, we proceed to red box where I take my precious time-suggesting we hit up two other red boxes since we didn't find anything we liked. Lauren very quickly shot down that suggestion and just get a movie (sorry, I didn't know Stephen was waiting). Let me back track a little and let you know Hezzy took my car to Old Navy to shop for a minute while we ran to red box. Meredith said she was going to text Hezzy to let her know where we were, but she texted me instead. The text was meant for Stephen. All it said was 5 minutes away, so of course I'm thinking she is texting Heather we are on our way back home in case she beat us there. Poor Meredith thought she ruined it. Not at all, things aren't obvious and don't add up til after everything was said and done.

Once we leave red box and head home, I get out of the car and Meredith drops her phone. Lauren stays back to help her and I walk to the door because I have dresses, food, purse, keys and phone all in my arms and I am going to put them down. So, I unlock the door and go to unlock the dead bolt and realize the dead bolt is unlocked (I remember watching Heather lock it) and open the door.

The first thing I see is Stephen's camera by our table going off, turn my head to the right and see Stephen in the middle of the room, candles on our coffee table and a beautiful large wooden box and posters of Europe displayed all over the room. I was so shocked and knew at that moment what was happening I stepped back out onto my porch and look back where Meredith and Lauren were (I cant see them because its so dark) and then step inside. Sweet Stephen called me to him and I immediately dropped all that I was holding and walked to him and hugged him. I was so excited and anxious and surprised he had to pull me off of him so he could ask me a question.

He then proceeded to say he loved me and "I can't wait any longer to do this". I said okay, he got down on one knee (I started crying) and asked me to marry him!!!!! I of course said yes!!! I could barely stand from it all so we sat down and he showed me the box saying he had another surprise. In the box was 8 letters he had written over the course of him planning our engagement (from asking my Dad, picking out the ring, etc). What a romantic! Then he asked if I could handle on more surprise. My family, his family and some of our friends were at his house waiting for us to come! My family and friends had known for weeks about our engagement and never spilled the beans! That's good, because I might have bugged some of them a lot!

I changed and we headed to his house where we were greeted by everyone with congratulations and best wishes! What an incredible night!!!

I am so excited to be marrying my best friend and love!! I am a blessed woman:)

Going to the chapel and were going to get married on MARCH 10th!!!!!!!!!!