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Day 73, or March the 14th. You are a really special, ordinary person.

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Our thoughts today are from Ruth chapter 1, verses 3 and 4.

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Now Elimelek, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married

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Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other, Ruth.

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Now the big picture surrounding these verses. The Book of Ruth is one of only two books

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in the whole Bible which bears a woman's name. She lived during the period of Judges, but

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was from the east of the Jordan River, a land called Moab. A man named Elimelek and his

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wife Naomi migrated to Moab because of a famine in the Promised Land, and settled there with

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their family. Their two sons married local women, and one of these was Ruth. The whole

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family was rocked when all the men died. Only Naomi and her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and

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Orpah, survived, and Naomi decided to return to her homeland. Both Ruth and Orpah wanted

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to return with her, but she did all she could to dissuade them. In the end Orpah remained,

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and Naomi and Ruth travelled to Naomi's hometown of Bethlehem. Ruth married a local man who

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was called Boaz, and was a relative of Naomi. They had a son called Obed, who had a son

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called Jesse, who had a son called David, who became King of Israel.

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And now our action step for today. Little did Ruth know that her marriage and subsequent

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journey into the land of the Jews would give her a unique place in history as a direct

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ancestor of Jesus Christ. She was an average sort of person with a simple faith in God.

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She had a son called Obed, about whom we know almost nothing. In a sense, that's the end

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of her story, but God had other plans, which Ruth never knew anything about. She will be

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really surprised when you want to meet her in heaven. Are you a Ruth, not really standing

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out from the rest? God also has a special place for you in history, even though you

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may never discover it. Enjoy your life in the light of this. You are a key person in

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God's plans.