There are seasons in life that change you.

Not because you wanted them to. Not because you were ready for them. But because life happened, and somewhere along the way, you realized you weren’t the same woman anymore.

That’s what I thought about while reading Naomi’s story.

She had experienced so much loss that when she returned home, she didn’t even want people calling her Naomi anymore.

She said, “Call me Mara.”

Bitter.

And I understand how someone gets there.

I’ve walked through seasons where life changed in ways I never expected. Seasons where I had to let go of what I thought things were going to look like and figure out how to keep moving forward.

And sometimes, when enough things happen, it’s easy to let what you’ve been through start telling you who you are.

But something about Naomi’s story really got me.

She told everyone she had returned empty.

But Ruth was standing right beside her.

Naomi couldn’t see yet that the woman standing beside her would become part of God’s restoration in her life.

That made me wonder how many times I’ve focused so much on what changed, what hurt, or what I lost that I couldn’t recognize what God had already placed right beside me.

Naomi also thought she had nothing left to give.

But she did.

She had wisdom.

She had experience.

And eventually, that wisdom helped guide Ruth.

I relate to that too.

Some of the things I’ve walked through are things I never would have chosen. But they’ve shaped the woman I am today. They’ve changed the way I love people, the way I lead, the way I show up for my family, and especially the way I trust God.

Maybe that’s part of redemption too.

Not God pretending the painful things never happened, but Him taking what we’ve walked through and somehow giving it purpose.

By the end of Naomi’s story, she’s holding Ruth’s baby, Obed.

The same woman who once said she was empty was holding evidence that God had been working all along.

And Obed would eventually become the grandfather of King David, placing Naomi right in the middle of a story that would ultimately lead to Jesus.

She couldn’t see any of that when she called herself Mara.

And that might be what I love most about her story.

Mara was how Naomi felt. It wasn’t who she was.

Maybe you’re in a chapter right now that has made you feel bitter, disappointed, rejected, lost, or empty.

Feel it.

Talk to God about it.

Cry about it if you need to.

But don’t let that chapter rename you.

Because you might be calling something your ending while God is quietly writing what comes next.