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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily

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Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day

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Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jennifer Goetzler, and after this short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor, will dive into today's Bible verse, Ruth

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Speaker 1: two twelve. Today's Bible verse is Ruth, chapter two, verse twelve.

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Speaker 1: It says, made the Lord, the God of Israel, under

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Speaker 1: whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you

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Speaker 1: fully for what you have done. The story of Ruth

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Speaker 1: teaches us that God's work in our lives is a

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Speaker 1: result being with him. It's a result and a reward

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Speaker 1: of trusting Him as our source and as our refuge.

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Speaker 1: If you've been feeling like you're running a race that

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Speaker 1: is non stop, if you're constantly checking the lane next

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Speaker 1: to you to see if you are winning, to see

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Speaker 1: if others around you are going ahead of you, this

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Speaker 1: verse is for you. You see, when we look at

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Speaker 1: the book of Ruth, we look at this story, we

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Speaker 1: see a woman who trusted God even when circumstances weren't

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Speaker 1: in her favor. When we look at the story of Ruth,

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Speaker 1: we find that her husband passed away, her father in

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Speaker 1: law passed away, her brother in law passed away. Life

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Speaker 1: wasn't looking like she had hoped for. Even when her

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Speaker 1: mother in law, Naomi, told her to go and find

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Speaker 1: a husband, to go, find provision, go find another life

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Speaker 1: and move on. She even told her sister in law

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Speaker 1: or but to go. Ruth rejected that thought. She told Naomi,

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Speaker 1: wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you stay, I

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Speaker 1: will stay. Ruth is a definition of faithfulness. She knew

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Speaker 1: that eternal reward was greater than the world's reward. And

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Speaker 1: through all this, Ruth she could have taken a negative perspective.

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Speaker 1: She could have compared her life in herself, her situation

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Speaker 1: to others. She could have fallen into the trap of

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Speaker 1: jealousy or resentment a hard heart. But Ruth was different.

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Speaker 1: Instead of falling into negativity and bitterness like her mother

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Speaker 1: in law did, Naomi actually even renamed herself Mara. She

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Speaker 1: told her people to color Mara because it meant bitter,

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Speaker 1: and because she was bitter. But Ruth chose to take

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Speaker 1: a different path. She kept going back to God as

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Speaker 1: her refuge and she saw him as her reward. As

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Speaker 1: she began to go out into the fields to gather

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Speaker 1: leftover grain. Ruth saw the Lord provide for her and

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Speaker 1: Naomi not only food for their stomachs for that day,

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Speaker 1: but provision that would only happen because of God. Even

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Speaker 1: the workers in the field. Scripture says knew that Ruth

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Speaker 1: was a virtuous woman, a woman who was a hard worker,

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Speaker 1: a woman who was respected, even though she had very little.

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Speaker 1: It was evident that Ruth was different. Like Ruth, we

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Speaker 1: must go to the Lord for refuge and seek Him

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Speaker 1: as our reward. And as we do this, like Ruth,

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Speaker 1: we'll see the reward begin to appear in our lives.

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Speaker 1: We'll see the reward of spiritual fruit. As we seek God.

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Speaker 1: Even those around us will see the evidence of God

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Speaker 1: at work in our hearts, and like Ruth, will be

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Speaker 1: a light wherever we go. When Boaz saw Ruth, when

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Speaker 1: the other workers saw Ruth, they saw a person filled

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Speaker 1: with spiritual fruit from being with God. They saw someone

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Speaker 1: that was a hard worker, who was virtuous, who was

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Speaker 1: even scriptures as modest and respected. That's because as God's

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Speaker 1: people were called to point back to him, as people

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Speaker 1: see the fruit of God in our lives. When we

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Speaker 1: look around, there are so many people who are waiting,

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Speaker 1: who are hurting, who are looking for a sign that

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Speaker 1: points to a savior and a creator. Ruth could have

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Speaker 1: spent her days in the field, looking around with a

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Speaker 1: negative attitude and perspective, and maybe becoming bitter like her

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Speaker 1: mother or law Naomi. But she chose to follow God,

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Speaker 1: to trust him as a refuge and to trust him

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Speaker 1: as her reward, and others saw. She didn't put her

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Speaker 1: head down in a negative way. She didn't find herself

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Speaker 1: comparing her life with others. Instead, Ruth understood that God

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Speaker 1: was preparing her. When we compare our story in our

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Speaker 1: lives with someone else's, we stop being present in the

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Speaker 1: place God is trying to grow us or prepare us.

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Speaker 1: If you're feeling overwhelmed or overlooked, maybe you're feeling behind,

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Speaker 1: let this remind you and bring things into perspective that

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Speaker 1: your refuge and your reward are found in the Lord.

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Speaker 1: And maybe where you are today isn't behind or a

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Speaker 1: place of lack, but a place where the Lord is

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Speaker 1: preparing you. So today I want to encourage you to

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Speaker 1: trust God's plan and seek him first as your refuge.

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Speaker 1: Don't look around to compare yourself or your life with

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Speaker 1: others instead, know that the Lord will prepare you as

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Speaker 1: you faithfully follow him, just like Ruth did. Let's pray,

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Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, thank you for being our refuge. Thank you

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Speaker 1: for being our place of safety and comfort when the

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Speaker 1: pace of life feels overwhelming. Would you remind us to

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Speaker 1: keep our eyes fixed on you when we're caught in

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Speaker 1: cycles or thoughts of negativity. Lord, would you help us

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Speaker 1: to keep our hearts fixed on Jesus to be more

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Speaker 1: christ Like in every way, Holy Spirit, continue to form

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Speaker 1: in us your fruit, the fruit that's everlasting and more

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Speaker 1: valuable than anything the world could ever offer. Lord, we

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Speaker 1: choose today to keep your kingdom as our reward. Lord,

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Speaker 1: have your way in our lives. In Jesus' name, we

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Speaker 1: pray Amen.