I think one of the hardest things about trusting God is wanting to know what happens next.

I want the confirmation. I want the details. I want to know that if I take the step, everything is going to work out the way I’m hoping it will.

But Ruth didn’t get any of that.

Her story started with loss. She lost her husband, her life changed completely, and suddenly the future she probably imagined for herself was gone.

Then Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem.

Ruth had a choice.

She could go back to what she knew, or she could follow Naomi into a completely unfamiliar life.

And Ruth chose to go.

What gets me is that Ruth didn’t know what was waiting for her in Bethlehem.

She didn’t know about Boaz.

She didn’t know she would eventually become a wife again.

She didn’t know she would become a mother.

She definitely didn’t know that generations later, her name would be part of the family line of Jesus.

She just said yes.

And I can relate to wanting to know more before saying yes.

There have been so many times in my life when things changed unexpectedly and I found myself standing between what was familiar and whatever came next.

Sometimes I handled those seasons with faith.

Sometimes I tried to control every detail.

Sometimes I questioned God the entire way.

And sometimes the only thing I knew how to do was keep moving.

I think that’s one reason Ruth’s story feels so different to me now.

Because she reminds me that starting over doesn’t always look exciting.

Sometimes it looks like grieving what you thought your life would be while still getting up and doing what needs to be done.

When Ruth arrived in Bethlehem, she didn’t immediately step into some beautiful new life.

She went to work.

She gathered leftover grain so she and Naomi could eat.

That was her next step.

Nothing glamorous. Nothing that probably felt life changing.

She was simply faithful with what was in front of her.

And while Ruth was gathering grain, God was putting pieces together that she couldn’t see.

She ended up in Boaz’s field.

Boaz noticed her character.

He had heard about the way she cared for Naomi and everything she had left behind.

Eventually, the woman who arrived in Bethlehem carrying so much loss found herself experiencing restoration she never could have planned.

But even that wasn’t the end of what God was doing.

Ruth became the great grandmother of King David and part of the lineage of Jesus.

Her little yes became part of something so much bigger than her.

That makes me wonder how many times I’ve looked at one small decision and thought it wasn’t significant because I couldn’t see where it was going.

Maybe we aren’t supposed to see everything.

Maybe sometimes God only gives us enough light for the step we’re standing in.

I’m learning that I don’t need God to hand me the entire plan before I trust Him.

I don’t need to know exactly how something will work out.

I don’t need every question answered.

And I definitely don’t need to understand how all the pieces fit together yet.

I just need enough faith for the next yes.

Because Ruth didn’t know where hers would lead.

But God did.

And the same God who already knew what was waiting for Ruth in Bethlehem already knows what’s waiting on the other side of the steps He’s asking me to take too.

So maybe faith isn’t saying yes because I know where I’m going.

Maybe faith is saying yes because I know Who I’m following