Many have our personal and family stories of this kind. My father-in-law contracted multiple sclerosis, and was an invalid for over twenty years, while my mother-in-law had to cope with raising seven children on a limited income. Yet he and she continued to trust in the Lord, and left a legacy of faith that includes three children and spouses, and three grandchildren, serving in Christian ministry.

Karen Goodall has a husband dying with Lou Gehrig's disease, and a 14 year old son being treated for leukemia. He is the oldest of six children. Despite her challenges Karen considers herself blessed. While appearing cursed with bad luck to others, she is convinced that this is part of God's plan for her family. "I've never questioned why this is happening," she said at Wolfson Children's Hospital. "I know God is on our side." How does she know this? An estimated 200 volunteers from Builders Care - a charity of the Northeast Florida Builders Association - spent 10 days renovating their house on Florida 16 in rural St. John's County. It expanded it from three to five bedrooms. Karen sees a certain logic to what has happened. The family is better able to deal with her son's leukemia now that the house has been expanded. There is also a better understanding of how hospitals work because of her husband's ALS. Mill Creek Baptist Church are taking donations to support the Goodall family. About $30,000 has already been raised. Karen Goodall is trusting God for the future. God is taking care of her through others: the building volunteers, her church, and those who are contributing money to support her family. (Larry Hannan, Florida Times-Union, Saturday, April 5, 2008)

What does it mean to trust in the Lord when life is full of pain and the future seems bleak?

Let me tell you about Naomi. She was married to Elimelech and they had two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. They lived in Bethlehem on some family property. There was famine in the land - probably due to drought - and living conditions were hard. There was no work in the area so they decided to move to neighboring Moab, where there were better prospects. After they arrived in Moab, Elimelech took sick and died. Naomi's two sons tried to provide for her. They married two local women, Orpah and Ruth, and tried to have children. After about ten years in Moab, their wives had not become pregnant, they had not prospered, and both Mahlon and Kilion became sick and died. Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband and far away from where she was raised. What was she to do? It seemed as though the Lord had taken away from her all that she held dear.

She heard that conditions had improved back in Bethlehem of Judah. So she decided to return home. She told her daughters-in-law to go back to their mother's homes, and wished for them the prospect of finding a new husband. They wanted to go with her but she told them that she could offer them no prospects. She was too old to remarry, and even if she did and had more sons, they could not wait for them to grow up in order to marry again. In her despair she said, "It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord's hand has gone out against me!" (Ruth 1:13)

Orpah decided to return home, but Ruth, in her memorable words pledged to stay with her mother-in-law. "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." (Ruth 1:16,17)

The two women travel to Bethlehem. When they arrived and were greeted by the people Naomi grew up with, who knew her when she was a young wife and the proud mother of two sons, she broke down and lamented, "Don't call me Naomi (which means pleasant). Call me Mara (which means bitter), because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." (Ruth 1:20,21)

She attributes her misfortune, the heavy blows that life has bestowed upon her, to the Lord. How can she believe that the Lord would take care of her tomorrow when her present is so full of pain and grief? She has no husband, no children, no income, and only a daughter-in-law to be her companion. What future does she have? What does she have to look forward to?

It is Ruth who goes out to work. When Naomi discovers that she has met a distant relative Boaz, an honorable and generous man, she encourages her to cultivate his attention. One thing leads to another, and Boaz proposes to buy the family property and marry Ruth. The elders of the town, who witness the transaction, pray that Ruth will become like Rachel and Leah, who built up the house of Israel, that Boaz would become famous in Bethlehem through the offspring the LORD would give them.

They marry and the LORD enables Ruth to conceive and she gave birth to a son. 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." They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Naomi could never have imagined that things would turn out this way. God never deserted her, even when she thought he had. He took her circumstances, her pain, her grief, her decision to return home, and the loyalty of Ruth, and used them to bless her and future generations. What appeared to her to be a tragedy, turned into a blessing beyond her dreams. Her bitterness was taken away.

What does it mean to trust in the Lord when life is full of pain and the future seems bleak? We do not know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future in his hands. We can trust in him to do what is right, not just for ourselves, but for generations yet unborn. What seems a tragedy can, after many trials, result in unexpected blessings.

"These trials have come so that your faith - of even greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:7)

"Don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too." God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." (Matthew 6:4)

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