Feeling like your story has wandered far from where you thought God would take you—and wondering if it’s even worth trying to come back? This episode walks with you into that question through the story of Naomi and Ruth.
Description
Angela kicks off a special Black History Month series with her friend, author and Bible teacher Tika McCoy, to explore Ruth 1:7 and what it means to “leave the place where you’ve been living” and return to God when life has fallen apart. Through Naomi’s journey from fullness to emptiness and back to joy, and through Tika’s own story of loss, divorce, and renewed faith, they talk about leaving bitterness, wrong beliefs, and misplaced hopes—and turning back to the God who restores.
Episode Highlights
- The setting of Ruth: chaos in the days of the judges, famine in Judah, and Naomi’s family moving to Moab, a land of false gods, in search of provision.
Why Naomi’s losses (husband, both sons, security, and future) would have left her socially and economically vulnerable as a widowed woman with widowed daughters-in-law. - The turning point of Ruth 1:6–7: Naomi hears that God has visited His people with food and chooses to return to Judah, even while bitter enough to say, “Don’t call me Naomi; call me Mara.”
How Naomi remains faithful in her bitterness—teaching Ruth about gleaning, about God’s law, and about the kinsman-redeemer—and how that faithfulness opens the door for Boaz and, ultimately, the lineage of Jesus. - Tika’s personal “Naomi moment”: sitting angry in a church pew after loss, grief, and divorce; realizing she couldn’t fix her life first and then come to God; and choosing instead to “leave Moab” spiritually and return to Him as she was.
- The slow, surprising ways God restored: learning to live alone, travel alone, and experience Jesus as constant love and companion—even without the marriage, motherhood, or grandchildren she once imagined.
- A key takeaway: you don’t have to wait until you feel less angry, less broken, or more “put together” to come back to God. Return now. He can handle your honesty, and He delights to restore what you thought was beyond repair.
Key Scripture
Great Quotes
- “Naomi returned to God bitter and empty—but she returned. That’s what changed everything.”
- “There is no such thing as ‘I’ll get my life together first, then I’ll come to God.’ He is the One who does the restoring.”
- “I wasn’t leaving a physical land, but I was leaving anger, shame, and the belief that I would never be loved again.”
Connect with Tika McCoy
- Website & Newsletter: tikamccoy.com – monthly newsletter, encouragement, and updates.
- Books - affiliate links:
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