This week we studied the opening of Ruth, seeing her as a woman of fierce loyalty and quiet strength. After losing her husband, she chose to stay with her grieving mother-in-law Naomi, returning to Bethlehem as a foreigner and eventually marrying Boaz, becoming part of Christ’s lineage. Ruth’s story reveals God’s providence and redemption through ordinary people, extending His grace to Gentiles and showing women as full heirs of His promises. Naomi, bitter and broken, needed someone to stay with her in her pain—Ruth became that friend, bound to her and to God in covenant love. The meaning of Ruth’s name, “friendship,” beautifully points to this: a person nailed to the covenant, finding belonging in God and extending it to others. Like Ruth, we too can root ourselves in Jesus and offer His steadfast friendship to the broken and lonely around us.