Christian Parenting.

Hey friends, welcome back to Pardon the Mess.

This would be maybe, I don't know, the fifth time I've recorded this wine and I pray in Jesus' name that he says what he wants to say, because I keep fumbling this one up so much. But if you're new here, my name is Courtney, and we do prayers together as a community on Monday, just short and sweet episodes. And on Thursdays, I interview people and try to learn about being a Christian parent and how we can grow in that role.

Keeping God is our number one and our family is a higher priority.

So join us for each of those.

And this week 10, we were going through a journal called A Great Cloud of Witnesses.

And on week 10 of the school year, we are specifically going to pray about loyalty.

And as we learn about that, we read about Ruth in the Bible.

And it made me giggle thinking about Auburn football. So if you've been around, you know that I'm a

massive fan of Auburn University. My daughter's there, fourth generation. And so we've been

longtime fans. But this season, football season, particularly, has just been so deflating. We've

never been this bad. But it has been so deflating. And I was joking with my husband like, good thing, they're cute. You know, like when your dog does something bad and you're like, well, good thing, you're cute. If your kids do something bad, it's like, man, good thing I love you. But Auburn, good thing you're cute and good thing I've loved you for a long time because this football season is about to do me in. It makes me kind of want to be

don't tell, an A&M fan. I'm like, let's go A&M. Look at them winning all these games. But I will never leave. I'm a loyal Auburn Tiger, but I'm also a loyal follower of Jesus. You see that transition? Look at that go. But in Ruth, we learned about her in the

Old Testament and the book of Ruth, and her story is all about family and loyalty. We see a moment

when her husband dies and she's given the choice to kind of move on, but she stays with her

mother-in-law, Naomi. And we see through her story that because she is loyal and stays where God has her, that he rewards that,

and she is blessed by that. And so let me read Ruth 116. You probably heard this verse before,

but when she was given the choice to go, Ruth replied, don't ask me to leave and turn back,

leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. And what we learn about Ruth through the story is she made a choice to stay when others would have left and some did. She was really not worried about herself. She was worried about others and she stayed loyal to God and what he called her to and loyal to her mother-in-law. What character? I'm like, I don't know if that would be me in that scenario, but man, I learned so much about her selflessness, her humility, and her faith, and that she really shows that she trusts God, that he would take care of her even when she couldn't see it. And what we learned about God or what I learned

about God in this is that he really will take care of us. He rewards Ruth for her faithfulness

and reminds us all to stay faithful even when it doesn't make sense. So I want you to think,

just pause and like ruminate on the idea of loyalty and just that covenant love and that steadfast love,

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