Burnt out and preparing to leave the field, I envisioned myself limping back home. In those days of depletion, I had taken stock of my life and labeled myself “failure” in three major areas: living overseas, ministry, and being an adoptive mom. Apart from my effort in packing our family’s essential belongings into what would be our duffle bags’ final trip across the ocean, I felt I had nothing of any real value to show for 20 years of investment in global work. 

Emptiness. 

I think Naomi must have resolved, as she limped home after the death of her husband and two sons in a foreign land, that her life would be bitter until her final breath. She even declared to anyone interested in listening as she re-entered her homeland that her new name was Mara (bitter). No longer Naomi (pleasant). 

And she blamed her misfortune on the Almighty, who had let her down in significant ways. 

“I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.” (Ruth 1:21a) 

In the depth of Naomi’s despair though, there was still a thread of hope. God’s redemptive story in her life planted a seed of possibility with this description: she arrived in Bethlehem with her faithful daughter-in-law Ruth “as the barley harvest was beginning.” (Ruth 1:22) 

God’s plan for them involved a godly man named Boaz, who provided protection for Ruth in his fields, and a year or so later... 

The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth.” Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. (Ruth 4:14-17) 

An empty old woman who was sure that her brittle branch would be cut off, somehow found herself an essential shoot in the family tree of King David. And generations later, in the line of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah. Can you imagine her surprise? 

And can you imagine God’s delight in transforming Naomi’s emptiness into a fullness she never thought possible? I have a feeling He wants to do the same for us today.