Mother in Law

The story of Ruth is a perfect example of a wise and cherished Mother-in-Law. Naomi was Ruth’s mother-in-law, and she lost her husband and two sons. After the sons died, Naomi gave the young women an option to return home to their people. The other son’s wife decided to go back home, but Ruth wanted to stay with her mother-in-law, Naomi. They traveled and ended up in Bethlehem. Boaz was very well known in the land, so Naomi gave Ruth exact instructions on how to get the attention of Boaz. Ruth listened and ended up marrying Boaz. Shortly after she gave birth to a son and honored her mother-in-law with the child. Dedicating a child to someone is the highest honor possible. Ruth loved and cherished her mother-in-law, and she knew she was bitter from losing her husband and two sons so early in life, so she wanted to honor Naomi with the child. Remember in Ruth 4:14, the women said unto Naomi, “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer (grandson, as heir) today, and may his name become famous in Israel. Ruth understood honor and obedience which that assisted in marrying Boaz. Now, my mother-in-law was not a Naomi. In fact, because of her life and the choices she made, my mother-in-law was quite bitter and wanted her son to not marry again. Honestly, she wanted my husband to herself (weird right, I’m not lying). So the day of the wedding was quite difficult because of her longing for him to not remarry. She did everything in her power to stop our wedding. She was difficult when she did not have to be. She spoke to me in anger and this woman even called me names leading up to the wedding. She got my husband’s sister on board where his own sister told him in the middle of our wedding day that “he could still run.” She even got angry with my husband. The saddest part of the entire story is that most of my husband’s family did not even speak to me the day of our wedding. While the other guests were coming up to us saying congratulations, my husband’s family stood back in a circle just whispering (you can see it in pictures lol). Before the ceremony, my husband’s mom would come upstairs to my bridal suite and just look, not even say a word. It was the strangest thing. I knew it was weird because my best friend said something, and she rarely notices things. After our wedding, the attendees were asking why his family was acting so strange and rude (I have the text messages to prove it). Even with her angry spirit and people noticing that something was off, How did God move in my wedding? As a child of God, I wanted to dedicate my wedding day to Him. I knew God got us down the aisle because our relationship was not easy. I had prayer during our ceremony and people in the audience begun to cry and asked more questions where God was concerned. One young lady, who was bitter, angry, and swore off men, got healed during the wedding, believed in love again, and is now dating. My brother, who thought weddings were too much, now wanted one for himself. People continued to say all day that our wedding was the best one they've ever been to. Where God’s presence is so is His fruit of the spirit. I asked God for his presence and where God is, the devil has no power to destroy. Yes to me my wedding day felt like hell on Earth because of the difficulty of my husband’s family and their nastiness towards me but what’s funny is no one ever noticed that I was thrown off and hurt by what was happening. And do you want to know why? Because of Isaiah 41:10: So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And Joshua 1:9: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” So because God never leaves me nor forsakes me, I was going to get through my wedding day. Now the true message of this post is not the horrific things my mother-in-law did to me throughout the entire year of our dating relationship but the importance of mothers. I have been blessed to have a God-fearing woman as a mother, but I have come to understand the importance of mothers. I mean look at Hannah, Mary, and the Queen in Proverbs 31 who spoke to her son about having a virtuous woman. We love to speak about being a Proverbs 31 women, but it was a mother just giving wisdom to her son. Having a wise mother who helps her children to their God ordained destiny is important. So what happens when parents fail us and do not equip us to be Godly children in this fallen world? God has to take over and teach us lessons. Remember, when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up (Psalms 27:10). Yes my wedding day felt like hell at times but guess what? God moved and he did it in the most powerful way possible. He took the vails off my husband’s eyes where his family was concerned. Yes, I would of loved to have a mother in law like Naomi. I mean I was looking forward to another mother because I have a great relationship with my own. But God did not want that, he wanted my husband to be set free from the failures of his parents and learn that he is a child of God first and foremost. Even though his mother treated me poorly, I still made the decision to honor her, and God saw that so he blessed my wedding day. Remember, Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth (Ephesians 6:2-3). Your only job as a child is to honor as Ruth did by not leaving her mother-in-law in Naomi’s darkest hour. Remember, she lost her husband and two sons because of their early deaths she was left without grandchildren. Because Ruth always honored, God was able to do something powerful for Ruth…. marrying Boaz. God, we just thank you today for your goodness and mercy and we come to you just repenting for the times we did not honor our parents. God, we thank you for renewing our relationships with our parents and bringing forth new people in our lives to honor and learn from, In Jesus Name. Tune in next week for the blog, “My Wifely Duties,” where I disclose the hard lesson I learned this week about my failures as a wife. Love you guys and see you next week.