Lessons from Noah's dove on how to start over
Have you ever had one of those moments where the Holy Spirit asks you to do something and it has you all confused?
Well, that was me when I was prompted to go back to the story of Noah this week.
You see, as far as I was concerned, I'd already spoken in depth about his female relatives (and what the events of their lives can teach us, as modern women). So, I really did not understand why God seemed to want me to revisit the story.
However, I'm glad I did because there does happen to be another female in Noah's life who is and was extremely instrumental to his story. A dove! One that teaches us the importance of:
Reliance on the Holy Spirit
Not being afraid to try again
Seeing failure as feedback so that we, like Noah, can manifest our God-given vision(s).
She also provides us with feminine symbolism for God as well as the Holy Spirit, demonstrating that we, as women, are not the cursed afterthoughts that we are often painted as. Rather we are also made in God's image and therefore powerful- all of which I shared on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.
Lessons from Naomi on How to Overcome Fear of Failure
Naomi, like Orpah, is first mentioned in the first chapter of the Book of Ruth. She was Orpah and Ruth's mother-in-law before her 2 sons (who were their husbands) died. What killed them was a famine that swept Moab and had also been responsible for Naomi's husband's death prior to this point.
The irony and saddest part about this situation is that Naomi and her husband had originally moved to Moab from Bethlehem years earlier to escape a famine that had swept that land. As such, by the time we meet her in Ruth 1, Naomi is grief-stricken and ready to return back to Bethlehem (especially because she had heard that the famine there was over).
Apart from being struck by the many lessons that can be gleaned from Orpah within this chapter about:
I also have new insights from Naomi about the fear of failure and how to overcome it.