Ruth and Naomi

 What’s my name?... Like right now?? No one really knows… but most people go with any combination of Tiffany, Bleak, Johansen, and/or Cantrell... MOSTLY everyone… except one person in this entire world who, in her heart would call me Ruth.

 Growing up I had learned the basics about Ruth and Naomi. Like most of us, I felt like more of the focus had been on Ruth rather than Naomi.

 I also have always “believed” in my religion, but really, I lived a life where fun was first priority and religion came later. That was until I met a “BOY” (yes, of course) who changed my life, and helped me dig deeper into what I had been taught to believe all my life. This “boy” became my best friend. Call me egotistical, but FINALLY there was someone I had a hard time keeping up with, and someone that I didn’t scare away. I will never forget the time he told me that he wanted to marry me because I reminded him so much of his mom. Man, was that romantic!

 So, of course we got married. It was never easy until the last six months of our life together… Looking back, I can now view the seemingly constant down pour of trials in our marriage as a crash course of learning important lessons most don’t learn until they are 80.

 Things got better when we had our little girl…

 We named her Reese.

 Just 18 months later, we were shocked by another miracle baby.

 We named her Jaclyn.

 On November 30th 2011, just before we were about to hold baby Jac in our arms, I saw my best friend in the middle of the night only this time he wasn’t asking me if I was ok, I was asking him.

No response.

 Till this day, we still don’t know why.

 On December 2nd 2011, I was standing in the kitchen when the words of the woman I had mentioned before, named Ruth, came strongly into my mind at the most random time. “…Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge, your people shall be my people, And your God, my God…”

 I walked slowly to the room where I had just spent an entire night on the floor weeping in disbelief, but there she was… my mother in-law, whom I now saw as my Naomi. I walked up to her and sat down next to her without knowing what to say. Somehow, I managed to open my mouth and say, “I will always be with you, and I will never leave your side.” She finally opened her eyes and looked right at me in disbelief. She hugged me and wept in my arms while muttering, “thank you thank you thank youuu…”

 Later, she mentioned she had felt strongly that she and I were like Ruth and Naomi. I knew it was true, but I didn’t know what exactly that would mean until later on.

 For the next 6 weeks, time stood still for Naomi and I, but was filled with an odd combination of unthinkable pain accompanied with unimaginable miracles and insight. Naomi and I were experiencing the unexplainable joy and relief as the Lord taught us continually, opened our eyes to see miracles, and gave us strength to testify for Him.

 January 12th 2012, Jac was born and there Naomi was, and there she stayed.

 Six weeks later, I was on my way to Oregon, and felt like I was betraying Naomi. But the Lord reassured me that it was right to leave. He also showed me that Naomi never left and that she was always going to be there.

 Someone new was placed right in front of me, and I, (Ruth), was afraid to tell Naomi, but I did anyway and Naomi trusted me and was happy for me. Again, there she was, always there, always in my heart.

 I married this “someone so new” and felt like I had betrayed her again. I will never forget that phone call and what Naomi had said to me, “I trust you Ruth. He is a good man.”

 Through the ups and the downs of being with someone new, Naomi never left me even though she was filled with pain and sorrow from losing her own son. She stayed right by me, pushing me, picking me up.

 I was starting to understand what our “Ruth and Naomi” story was going to look like and how it was going to work out without being able to be physically present with Naomi at all times. Back and forth Naomi flew and drove. Always there, and always by my side.

 Twins. Of course twins. While Naomi never left me and was always by my side, she had once seen my twins on the other side on a bitter-sweet day. Naomi loves those babies.

 As more and more trials came, more very painful growth occurred. Naomi selflessly drove and flew to help me fight each and every one of them for years- picking me up, pushing me, and never leaving my side.

 At the brink of my very own death, I knew Naomi would be there, I knew she understood, and I knew that she loved me and has always been my Naomi even years before we had this new perspective.

 My “Ruth and Naomi” story never focused on Ruth like it had in the past. I now know that on December 2nd 2011, when The words of Ruth entered my mind, they were never Ruth’s words, but that they had always been Naomi’s. “…Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge, your people shall be my people, And your God, my God…”