Podcasts about when ruth

Ruth 3 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 One day Naomi said to Ruth, “My daughter, it's time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for. 2 Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he's been very kind by letting you gather grain with his young women. Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. 3 Now do as I tell you—take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don't let Boaz see you until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do.” 5 “I will do everything you say,” Ruth replied. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor that night and followed the instructions of her mother-in-law. 7 After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he lay down at the far end of the pile of grain and went to sleep. Then Ruth came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. 8 Around midnight Boaz suddenly woke up and turned over. He was surprised to find a woman lying at his feet! 9 “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the corner of your covering over me, for you are my family redeemer.” 10 “The LORD bless you, my daughter!” Boaz exclaimed. “You are showing even more family loyalty now than you did before, for you have not gone after a younger man, whether rich or poor. 11 Now don't worry about a thing, my daughter. I will do what is necessary, for everyone in town knows you are a virtuous woman. 12 But while it's true that I am one of your family redeemers, there is another man who is more closely related to you than I am. 13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning I will talk to him. If he is willing to redeem you, very well. Let him marry you. But if he is not willing, then as surely as the LORD lives, I will redeem you myself! Now lie down here until morning.” 14 So Ruth lay at Boaz's feet until the morning, but she got up before it was light enough for people to recognize each other. For Boaz had said, “No one must know that a woman was here at the threshing floor.” 15 Then Boaz said to her, “Bring your cloak and spread it out.” He measured six scoops of barley into the cloak and placed it on her back. Then he returned to the town. 16 When Ruth went back to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “What happened, my daughter?” Ruth told Naomi everything Boaz had done for her, 17 and she added, “He gave me these six scoops of barley and said, ‘Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'” 18 Then Naomi said to her, “Just be patient, my daughter, until we hear what happens. The man won't rest until he has settled things today.”

Read the full blog post and view photos.This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Ruth L. Schwartz, a writer, teacher, and consciousness-shifter. Ruth has published eight books and taught at six universities, and now she runs the Conscious Girlfriend Academy, the leading global program supporting lesbians and queer women to date wisely and love well.Ruth was born to parents who were only 18 and 20 when she was born. Her mother had never even held a baby before and they didn’t know they had to burp a baby. They all had to learn together how to be parents. When her dad was off at a college class, she and her mom would be sat home, crying together.Her father was brilliant, but his life was a cautionary tale for Ruth. He changed from a magical figure in her early childhood to mentally unstable, volatile, and addicted to speed when she was 10. As an emergency room physician, he was a thrill seeker until he lost his job and ended up on the streets addicted to heroin. He died earlier this year at the age of 79.Ruth places a big emphasis on trying to make use of things that have happened to her in life.“You often hear that the wounds become the gifts, but also the gifts become the wounds.”Ruth came out as a lesbian at the age of 20 when she was in college. “I love the complexity of being with women.”Perhaps because she’s drawn to complexity, some of her relationships have been complex as well. When Ruth was 28, she fell in love with a Puerto Rican woman named Gladys whose kidneys failed a few years later.  “I donated my kidney to her because I loved her. It just seemed like the thing to do. I had two. She needed one.”Then several years ago a long-time partner transitioned from female to male. They started Conscious Girlfriend together in 2013 to teach other queer women how to be conscious girlfriends. In the past 7-1/2 years, women from 22 countries have taken Ruth’s classes.Her students who come out later in life are often floored at the degree of intensity that often exists in relationships with other women. Ruth teaches queer women how to navigate the complexities of relationships with women and how to date more wisely.The Conscious Girlfriend Academy is a worldwide community of women who thought they were the only ones who had experienced these things. What Ruth enjoys the most is helping women find other likeminded, growth-oriented women.Before Ruth founded Conscious Girlfriend, she wrote poetry, taught creative writing, worked as a health educator, and earned a PhD in transpersonal psychology. Ruth is inspired by the women she works with every day through the Conscious Girlfriend Academy. She told of a recent conversation with a woman who suppressed her own sexual identity because she lives in a conservative area in the south. Now she is meeting other women with similar stories, and she's getting to talk about her relationships in ways she has never had the chance to before. She describes it as grit and resilience all the time.“I feel very fortunate that all the ways I've woven all accidents into my purpose have led me to this place.”Next week I interview Julie Allen with Mary Rose Boutique NW and Mary Rose Foundation on Companies That Care. Julie’s created a clothing boutique where every woman can leave feeling beautiful, and her sister foundation raises money to pay for eating disorder treatment for girls who cannot afford it. The following week I’ll be back to Finding Fertile Ground with Melissa Pierce, who was widowed with two young children at a very young age.

Ruth 2 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 Now there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi's husband, Elimelech. 2 One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.” Naomi replied, “All right, my daughter, go ahead.” 3 So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech. 4 While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. “The LORD be with you!” he said. “The LORD bless you!” the harvesters replied. 5 Then Boaz asked his foreman, “Who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to?” 6 And the foreman replied, “She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. 7 She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes' rest in the shelter.” 8 Boaz went over and said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don't go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. 9 See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.” 10 Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. “What have I done to deserve such kindness?” she asked. “I am only a foreigner.” 11 “Yes, I know,” Boaz replied. “But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers. 12 May the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.” 13 “I hope I continue to please you, sir,” she replied. “You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me, even though I am not one of your workers.” 14 At mealtime Boaz called to her, “Come over here, and help yourself to some food. You can dip your bread in the sour wine.” So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her some roasted grain to eat. She ate all she wanted and still had some left over. 15 When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her. 16 And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don't give her a hard time!” 17 So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that evening, it filled an entire basket. 18 She carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law. Ruth also gave her the roasted grain that was left over from her meal. 19 “Where did you gather all this grain today?” Naomi asked. “Where did you work? May the LORD bless the one who helped you!” So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. She said, “The man I worked with today is named Boaz.” 20 “May the LORD bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.” [...]

When Ruth gives her quiet and determined commitment to Naomi that she will go where she goes, worship the God she worships and die where she dies, she has no idea the inheritance that will stem from these words. We see mirrored in Ruth’s commitment to Naomi a similarity with God’s constant commitment to his people; to be their God, to be with them in the highs and lows, to commit to them. Ruth’s quiet commitment leads her to the fields outside Bethlehem where she meets and marries Boaz, her son Obed will be the father of Jesse who will be the father of King David and Jesus Christ the Messiah is born in that line too. Her quiet and unsure ‘yes’ to commit to her family and commit to a new God lands her in the lineage of the Saviour of the world. We never know where our quiet commitments could lead us and we never know how the faithfulness of God will work its way out in our lives, but we do know the beginning. It starts with Yes.

Get ready to meet the space brothers, Creep Street! This week Maureen and Dylan discuss a UFO cult with a passion for cinema! When Ruth and Ernest Norman founded the Unarius Academy of Science, their goal was to prepare humankind for the immanent arrival of an interplanetary alliance. What they created was a Public Access Television sensation! Citizens of the Milky Way, prepare yourselves for the Cult of Unarius!

Paul JonesProverbs 16:25 (NKJV) 25 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.Ruth 2:1-3 (NLT) 1 Now there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi’s husband, Elimelech. 2 One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.” Naomi replied, “All right, my daughter, go ahead.” 3 So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech.Romans 8:28 (NKJV) 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Psalm 37:23 (NKJV) 23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.Job 38:1 – 4 (KJV) “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is it that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man: for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.” Ruth 2:2-3 (AMP) 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one [of the reapers] in whose sight I may find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So Ruth went and picked up the leftover grain in a field after the reapers; and she happened to stop at the plot of land belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. Ruth 2:5-10 (NLT) 5 Then Boaz asked his foreman, “Who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to?” 6 And the foreman replied, “She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. 7 She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes’ rest in the shelter.” 8 Boaz went over and said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don’t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. 9 See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.” 10 Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. “What have I done to deserve such kindness?” she asked. “I am only a foreigner.”Ruth 2:11-13(NLT) 11 “Yes, I know,” Boaz replied. “But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers. 12 May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.” 13 “I hope I continue to please you, sir,” she replied. “You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me, even though I am not one of your workers.”Ruth 2:14-17 (NLT) 14 At mealtime Boaz called to her, “Come over here, and help yourself to some food. You can dip your bread in the sour wine.” So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her some roasted grain to eat. She ate all she wanted and still had some left over. 15 When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her. 16 And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don’t give her a hard time!” 17 So Ruth gathered barley there

God's sovereignty had led Ruth to a worthy man's field named Boaz. When Ruth tells her mother-in-law Naomi, she quickly comes up with a plot to "help" God's plan. Naomi would use Ruth in placing her in a vulnerable position all alone. Boaz on the other hand loved Ruth and protected, pursued and provided for her.

The world lost a mighty voice on Friday, September 18th. On this episode we celebrate the life and legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Though she seemed quiet and shy, Ruth was brilliant with a quick mind and a big heart. When Ruth learned about lawyers who worked to ensure people were treated fairly, she dreamed of becoming one. She was determined to make the world a more equal place for women, men, immigrants, and people of color. And she did just that, first as a lawyer, and then as a judge. Ruth made history as a voice for oppressed people in America and as “The Great Dissenter” on the U.S. Supreme Court. About the Narrator: Priscilla Chan is co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. As a pediatrician and teacher, Priscilla’s work with patients and students in communities across the Bay Area has informed her desire to make learning more personalized, find new paths to manage and cure disease, and expand opportunity for more people. She is also the founder of The Primary School, which integrates health and education and serves children and families in East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven neighborhood in Menlo Park, California. Priscilla earned her BA in Biology at Harvard University and her MD at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She completed her pediatrics training in the UCSF/PLUS Pediatrics Residency. Credits: This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes, and Meg Murnane, with writing by Alexis Stratton and narration by Priscilla Chan. Jestine Ware edited all scripts and Janice Weaver fact-checked all scripts. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure who coordinated all credit recordings and narrator donations.

When Ruth and her husband Pat heard the diagnosis of cancer, they made a choice to trust God instead of panicking. Where is God when your family is suffering? Ruth brings words of hope to help us through this pandemic from her latest book, In a Boat in the Middle of the Lake. Learn more about Ruth Schwenk and the book In a Boat in the Middle of a Lake.

When we left off last week, Ruth had just gone home to Naomi with the six measures of barley in tow. When Ruth conveyed everything that happened at the threshing floor, Naomi said, “Just wait, child. He will not rest until this matter is settled. You can be assured that he’ll do it today!” This is where our story picks up—the morning after their encounter at the threshing floor. Boaz knew what he had to do—he had to give the other man (the closer relative to Elimelech) the opportunity to redeem Elimelech’s widow and widow daughter-in-law. The issue would need to be settled once and for all. As he made his way back into Bethlehem that morning, I’m sure that his mind was racing trying to consider every possible outcome of this delicate arbitration that was about to take place.

This Summer we're reuniting with the stories of some of our favorite Rebel Girls. This week, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Once upon a time, there was a girl with a mighty voice. Her name was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Though she seemed quiet and shy, Ruth was brilliant with a quick mind and a big heart. When Ruth learned about lawyers who worked to ensure people were treated fairly, she dreamed of becoming one. She was determined to make the world a more equal place for women, men, immigrants, and people of color. And she did just that, first as a lawyer, and then as a judge. Ruth made history as a voice for oppressed people in America and as “The Great Dissenter” on the U.S. Supreme Court.About the Narrator:Priscilla Chan is co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. As a pediatrician and teacher, Priscilla’s work with patients and students in communities across the Bay Area has informed her desire to make learning more personalized, find new paths to manage and cure disease, and expand opportunity for more people. She is also the founder of The Primary School, which integrates health and education and serves children and families in East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven neighborhood in Menlo Park, California. Priscilla earned her BA in Biology at Harvard University and her MD at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She completed her pediatrics training in the UCSF/PLUS Pediatrics Residency.Credits:This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes, and Meg Murnane, with writing by Alexis Stratton and narration by Priscilla Chan. Jestine Ware edited all scripts and Janice Weaver fact-checked all scripts. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure who coordinated all credit recordings and narrator donations.Sponsored by: www.rebelgirls.coUse promocode REBELPODCAST to get 15% off your first purchase!Resources: Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon and Shana KnizhnikRBG (2018 film)Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De HartMy Own Words by Ruth Bader GinsburgSisters in Law by Linda HirshmanNo Truth Without Ruth by Kathleen KrullRuth Bader Ginsburg by Jonah Winter

This Summer we're reuniting with the stories of some of our favorite Rebel Girls. This week, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Once upon a time, there was a girl with a mighty voice. Her name was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Though she seemed quiet and shy, Ruth was brilliant with a quick mind and a big heart. When Ruth learned about lawyers who worked to ensure people were treated fairly, she dreamed of becoming one. She was determined to make the world a more equal place for women, men, immigrants, and people of color. And she did just that, first as a lawyer, and then as a judge. Ruth made history as a voice for oppressed people in America and as “The Great Dissenter” on the U.S. Supreme Court.About the Narrator:Priscilla Chan is co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. As a pediatrician and teacher, Priscilla’s work with patients and students in communities across the Bay Area has informed her desire to make learning more personalized, find new paths to manage and cure disease, and expand opportunity for more people. She is also the founder of The Primary School, which integrates health and education and serves children and families in East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven neighborhood in Menlo Park, California. Priscilla earned her BA in Biology at Harvard University and her MD at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She completed her pediatrics training in the UCSF/PLUS Pediatrics Residency.Credits:This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes, and Meg Murnane, with writing by Alexis Stratton and narration by Priscilla Chan. Jestine Ware edited all scripts and Janice Weaver fact-checked all scripts. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure who coordinated all credit recordings and narrator donations.Sponsored by: www.rebelgirls.coUse promocode REBELPODCAST to get 15% off your first purchase!Resources: Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon and Shana KnizhnikRBG (2018 film)Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De HartMy Own Words by Ruth Bader GinsburgSisters in Law by Linda HirshmanNo Truth Without Ruth by Kathleen KrullRuth Bader Ginsburg by Jonah Winter

When Abraham needed a burnt offering to sacrifice and to offer to God, God provided a ram in the thicket. When Ruth and Naomi needed a kinsman redeemer, God provided Boaz. When God's people needed a faithful leader to direct them into the Promised Land, God provided Moses. When the widow woman needed sustainence for her and her son, God provided a prophet and a miracle. When the whole world needed a Savior to die for their sins, God gave His Son, Jesus Christ. Whenever their has been a need, God has provided. He also provides the day of wrath for the wicked. Philippians 4:19 King James Version (KJV) 19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

It’s time for Layton to get the plan in motion. Till has officially joined the other side and it’s time to equalize the train with the tailies. When Ruth finds out the truth about Melanie from the commander and the Folgers, they confront Melanie. As she gets locked up, the revolting begins. It is nothing shy of a complete blood bath ending with a devastating loss for the tailies. Rachel Goodman https://instagram.com/rachelradnerauthor Trina Dong https://instagram.com/heytrinadong Bryant Santos https://instagram.com/thebryantsantos Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more After Shows for your favorite TV shows and the latest news in TV, Film, and exclusive celebrity interviews, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com

When Ruth & Gehrig Visited Kentucky by Gary Fogle

Do you doubt? Get stressed? Hurry God? Just me? Ok... of course we do...we all do. We doubt and we settle and we lose sight of the reality that our God is not just some distant disinterested lower case “g” god...our God, the God we sing to and about, the God we pray to and read about, that God is our God and he’s the creator of the universe. When Ruth and Naomi returned to Bethlehem, I’m sure their plan was to survive. They just wanted to get what they could get from the edges of the harvest fields and hope for the best. But God had other plans. It may be the same for you today as well. Survive. You may find yourself in a dire situation at work, in your family, with relationships, even in your marriage...and making it work is the best you can hope for. Do right. Keep your head down. Just get through this. But God has other plans. I promise you. There is nothing in God’s Word that should ever leave us thinking that surviving is his will. God has blessing, abundance, grace, mercy, and more ready for us. Why should we doubt this for our situation today?  Why are you cast down, O my soul,    and why are you in turmoil within me?Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,    my salvation 6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me;    therefore I remember you (Psalm 42) Listen to this message from Ruth and be encouraged. Join the Dwelling Richly Community Bible study group. Download the latest lesson at http://www.jennifergrichmond.com Jennifer blogs at www.JenniferGRichmond.com and posts fun ideas, delicious, recipes and encouraging devotionals along with the deep and faith-building Dwelling Richly Community Bible study. Studies are available download and you can go at your own pace on your own or with a small-group. Most studies also have an accompanying video series on www.YouTube.com/c/JenniferRichmond New episodes every Thursday...and sometimes extras too! Subscribe to the Dwelling Richly podcast and don't miss an update!

The Faithfulness of Ruth, of Boaz, of God Fr. John Wallace October 27, 2019   Today we’re going to look at the Book of Ruth. At its core it’s a beautiful story of redemption. And in it we encounter Amazing Faithfulness! The Faithfulness of Ruth. The Faithfulness of Boaz. And the Faithfulness of God. The book of Ruth takes place at a dark time in Israel’s history. It’s near the end of the time of the Judges. A time marked by lawlessness, by war, and by famine. A time in which the people allowed their hearts to wander far from God. In fact, the last few chapters of the Book of Judges end with this refrain: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” It was a time that needed hope! That needed people of faith to do the right thing! It was a time that needed God. Ruth in a way is like an Abraham figure. In Genesis 15 it was Abraham’s faith in God - his belief - his trust - that was counted as righteousness. If you remember, Abraham was called out of the Land of Ur - to leave his home and his family and his land - to follow God and begin a new age of faithfulness to him. And Ruth is also called out of her own land - the land of Moab. And she leaves her home and her family and through an act of faith begins a new chapter for the people of Israel. But why was this story recorded about a Moabite widow? What makes her story so special? Why are we talking about her faithfulness 2,500 years later? We find out in the last chapter of the Book that Ruth was the Mother of Obed - who was the father of Jesse - who was the father of David - who became Israel’s greatest king. And the Gospel of Matthew starts like this - “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.” And Matthew lists Ruth as one of Jesus’s ancestors. Which means Ruth the Moabite - is the great, great, great - (29 greats) grandmother of Jesus. OK - So let’s look at Ruth’s Faithfulness. Then Boaz’s faithfulness. And finally - God’s faithfulness. First - Ruth’s faithfulness. The story starts with hardship. It’s a time of famine in Bethlehem. So Naomi (who will become Ruth’s mother-in-law) moves with her family to Moab - a sworn enemy of Israel - to try to make a life there. When they get there, Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, dies. Then her sons get married to some Moabite women. One marries a woman named Orpah, and the other marries Ruth. But then her sons also die - leaving Naomi widowed - without a husband and without her sons - in a foreign land. When she hears that God has blessed her homeland with rain and a harvest - she decides to return to Bethlehem. Better to be a widow in your hometown than to be a widow in the land of your enemy! And she tells her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab, return to their father’s houses where they will be cared for - and find husbands for themselves among their own people. But Ruth refuses to leave Naomi and speaks some of the most beautiful and faithful words in all of Scripture. She says: Don’t tell me to leave you! 16 … Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Isn’t that beautiful?! That’s Ruth’s faithfulness. She wants to remain with Naomi. She wants to serve Naomi’s God. No matter what it costs! She’s going to leave everything she has known, her family, her homeland, her everything - to make Naomi’s people her own people. And Naomi’s God - her God. And you know what? God can use that kind of faithfulness! And he does! And so Ruth comes with Naomi to Bethlehem. And when they get there, Ruth tells Naomi - “let me go into the fields to glean - so we can have food.” Back then, in Israel there was a law about gleaning. It was the law that landowners couldn’t harvest everything from their land. They had to leave gleanings for the poor. It was how the poor were cared for at the time. They could go in after the harvesters and collect whatever had fallen or wasn’t harvested. That’s what Ruth wanted to do. And so she did. And the field she began to glean in happened to belong to a man named Boaz - a relative of Elimelech - Naomi’s husband who had died. Let me read this from chapter 2 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone in whose sight I may find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4 Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Who is this young woman?” 6 The servant answered, “She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment.” We learn several things here: One: Boaz was a close relative of Elimelech - Naomi’s late husband. And he was wealthy. We also learn that he’s an honorable and faithful man. When he got to the field he greeted the workers: The Lord be with you! and they replied - The Lord bless you. Ruth has found herself in the field of a good man. And the last thing we learn is that Ruth is a hard worker. She worked and gleaned in the field all day - without taking a break. Listen to what happens next: 8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?” 11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!” I love that. Boaz is so impressed by Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi and he wants to protect her. And he prays that she will be rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel - under whose wings she has come for refuge! When she comes home that night with her gleanings, Naomi is amazed by how much she has brought. And she asks, “who’s land were you gleaning in” When Ruth says that she was gleaning in Boaz’s land - and that Boaz had been kind to her, Naomi rejoices! Boaz is a relative! And a good man! And best of all - He can act as a redeemer for them! Let me explain what it meant to be a Redeemer in Israel. Redemption was a beautiful thing! And Redemption had a very specific meaning. To redeem something meant to buy it back! You could redeem a piece of property or a field that had fallen into the hands of another family. Or you could redeem (or buy) a family member to get them out of prison or out of slavery. Sometimes families would lose their property. Maybe they fell on hard times. And so they’d have to sell it to pay debts. Or maybe they didn’t have land - so they had to sell themselves into servitude for a set amount of time - or until the debt was paid. Property, or people, in that condition could be redeemed. But that’s not the beautiful thing about redemption. The beautiful thing is who was able to perform the redemptions… Who was able to act as redeemer! The laws about the redeemers were very clear in Old Testament times. In Israel there was something called a go-el, a Kinsman-Redeemer. And In order to be able to redeem a field, or a person who is in prison or in indentured service, you had to be a relative. You had to be family. And not just any family, but close family. The Go-el (the kinsman-redeemer) had to be the nearest relative. And the reason is - The whole idea was to keep the family land in the family! If someone else bought the land - They were just buying it for themselves. But if the Go-el - the nearest relative redeemed it - it kept the land in the family. And it turned out that Boaz was a close relative of Elimelech - and so he could be the redeemer - to buy back Elimelech’s land - and provide for Naomi and Ruth. When Naomi realized all of this - she rejoiced! God was showing them favor! And she told Ruth that she should propose to Boaz. Because that was the other thing about redeeming the land. If Boaz redeemed the land - because the heir to the land was dead (Naomi’s son / Ruth’s husband) he would also have to marry Ruth - the heir’s widow. So she could have a son who could inherit the land. and keep it in the family. That was another law at the time called Levirate Marriage. It was about preserving the lineage of a close relative that had passed away. But here’s the thing - when Ruth asked Boaz to act as redeemer - this is what she said to him: she said “spread your cloak over your servant, for you are go-el.” She was asking him to protect her, to cover her with his cloak, to be the redeemer of their family, and to make her his wife. And he gladly agreed. He had noticed her. She had been kind to him. And he saw how she had been gracious to Naomi. And even though she was a foreigner in his field - in his eyes, she was a treasure. But there was one problem - there was another who was closer in relation to Elimelech - so before Boaz could act as redeemer, he had to give this other man the option to do so. But when the other man found out that he would have to marry Ruth, the moabite, he refused. So Boaz was free as the nearest willing relative to act as Go-el and to redeem Naomi’s land. And as kinsman-redeemer, he also got a bride named Ruth. And soon she gave birth to a son, named Obed. The father of Jesse, the father of David. That’s Boaz’s faithfulness. And all of that is beautiful! But what’s even more beautiful - is God’s faithfulness. So let’s go all the way back to the Exodus when God is promising to save his people from Egypt. Listen to this from Chapter 6 2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob… and I established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 And I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.” You know what God was saying? He said - I will redeem you. I will be your Go-el. I will be your redeemer. And remember - The Go-el had to be the nearest relative! And God says to Moses - I want to be your Go-el! In Matthew 13 Jesus tells his disciples that 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered; and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” I used to think that that was about us selling everything we have in order to get the kingdom of heaven. And it might be! And if it is the kingdom of heaven is totally worth it! We absolutely should sell everything we have to buy the field and get the treasure that is the kingdom of heaven. It’s totally worth it! But now I’m not sure that’s what it is anymore! What if instead - the man who found a treasure in a field - is Jesus? Like Boaz who found Ruth in a field. And what if the treasure in the field is us? And what if the man covered the treasure to protect it? Just like Boaz covered Ruth to protect her with his cloak? And what if the man in his joy sold all he had, and gave up everything so he could buy the field like Boaz bought and redeemed Naomi’s field? And what if buying the field / redeeming the world meant - like Boaz - that he could marry his bride? 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered; and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” What if the treasure is us and the field is the world. And the man is Jesus who in his joy gave up everything and bought that field? Some commentators say that the Scroll in Revelation 5 - the one with the seven seals - the one that only Jesus, the Lamb of God, was worthy to open - some commentators say that it contains the unfolding of all of history. Other commentators say it’s the deed to all creation. Like a deed to a piece of land - or a field - in need of redemption. We don’t know for sure! But we do know that only Jesus was worthy. Only Jesus was able to break the seal and open the scroll. And we also know that Only Jesus could be our go-el. Only Jesus - who was both God and Man - could pay the price to redeem the world and marry his treasured bride! Listen to this from Revelation, Chapter 5. No one was found worthy to open the scroll. Only Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah was worthy. And then it says: 6 Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slain… 7 And He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. 8 When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain (and listen:) and by your blood you redeemed for God people from every tribe and language and people and nation; 10 and you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.” Why was he worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? Because he was our Go-el! Because he paid the price of redemption. Because he redeemed us by his blood. That’s the faithfulness of God. Back in Genesis God promised Moses that he would redeem his people. That he would do what only our nearest relative could do. And so when the time was right he came as one of us. And became a full member of the human family - became our nearest relative - so he could be our Go-el! And he was Born - the Son of Mary, the Son of David, the Son of Ruth and Boaz, the Son of Abraham, the Son of God. And he paid the price of redemption with his blood on the cross. Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God for his faithfulness, for the faithfulness of Ruth and Boaz. And for the faithfulness of his Son Jesus - our Savior and our Redeemer. Amen.

After losing everything, Noami returns to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law Ruth, and with no hope. When Ruth reaches Bethlehem, everything changes for both of them. You can support Messy Scripture on Patreon at http://patreon.com/hidturner. Music for this show: Like Me by Jay Someday | https://soundcloud.com/jaysomedayMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

The Fast Track researchers have just published the results of their pilot study, and they are VERY excited about it! But does this optimism match the actual data? Don’t miss an explosive episode of All Fired Up, as I walk you through this paper step by step, breaking down into plain English what actually happened when 21 teenagers were starved three times a week for 6 months, all in the pursuit of short term weight loss. My guest is the incredible Ruth Leach, whose eating disorder began at the age of 9, when her whole family started fasting for ‘health’. Ruth not only survived her eating disorder, she is now a fierce advocate for everyone at the coal face of this deadly illness. We are LIVID about the lack of information being given to parents and kids who are being introduced to a lifetime of metabolic damage, weight cycling and disordered eating. The Fast Track trial is STILL GOING AHEAD, and we need to keep pushing back against this antiquated, weight biased, dangerous approach to teen ‘health’. Share this one far and wide!!   ShowNotes This week we bring you Part 2 of The Fast Track Trial, where we dig into the results of the newly published Fast Track Pilot Study. A pilot study is a mini-version of a larger trial, a practice run for ‘the real thing’, and the results can give you a pretty good idea of what kinds of results we can expect from a larger trial. I really wanted to get a ‘plain English’ summary of what happened in this trial out there. An article in The Age newspaper about the Fast Track controversy stated that: "While the trial is the first of its kind, Professor Baur said it had come off the back of a successful pilot program in which 25 teenagers followed a similar model and saw benefits in their cholesterol, blood pressure, liver and heart function." Which is interesting, because Louise was reading the results of the pilot study at the time, and was noticing that in fact the trial results showed no changes in blood pressure, overall cholesterol, or liver function, and only 1 small change out of 9 measures of heart function. This is quite different to what the media was saying! It is so important to go back to the source and have a look at the scientific studies behind the media soundbytes, so you can fact check and see what actually happened. This should be easy, but in reality it’s not. Reading a study is actually quite complicated, and even when you have degrees and training in science, it can still be quite difficult to make sense of what happened. This is why I am here to unpack it for you! It is important for parents and teenagers who may be being targeted to participate in this trial to clearly understand what is likely to happen as a result of taking part. This is why I am doing this podcast. The article has just been published in the Journal of Nutrition, and the title is “Intermittent Energy Restriction is a Feasible, Effective and Acceptable Intervention to Treat Adolescents With Obesity”. What an impressive and optimistic title! But does the optimism match the data? The pilot trial took place at Sydney Children’s Hospital at Westmead, kids were recruited from the adolescent  “O” treatment clinic. 45 kids aged between 12 and 17 were approached, and 30 said yes. There were 25 girls and 5 boys, and the average age of the kids was 15. All of the teens were supposed to have a BMI of 30 or more. In fact, they ranged from a BMI of 27.7 to 52.4, so at least one was well below the weight threshold.** 3 of the kids were from Aboriginal or Torres Strait islander background. 6 of them were born overseas. We don’t know more about the cultural background of the rest of the kids. The experiment ran for 6 months under a dietitian. There were no psychologists or eating disorder specialists involved. For the first 12 weeks all of the kids were placed on Optifast (shakes) and allowed just 600-700 calories a day for 3 days of the week. The rest of the week the kids were told to follow ‘healthy eating guidelines’. After 12 weeks teens were ‘invited’ to either keep starving for 3 days a week, or they could change to starving for 2 or 1 day a week, or they could swap to a ‘continuous prescribed healthy eating plan’ for the next 3 months. 7 of the kids didn’t make it past the 8 week mark. These tended to be ‘heavier’ kids. We don’t know what happened to them after that. 2 more dropped out before the experiment ended, so overall just 21 teens finished the whole 6 months.​ The kids were given a Fitbit, but were not given any instructions about physical activity. Mysteriously, the pilot paper never discusses the fitbit results. The primary measure they were looking at was weight loss at 12 weeks, with secondary interest in weight loss at 26 weeks, and they also did a range of health marker measures and one 20 item questionnaire which asked about eating disorder symptoms. 28 of the kids were categorised as ‘insulin resistant’ at the beginning of the study. At 12 weeks, and 26 weeks, the study reports weight change, but it’s actually quite difficult to figure out what that means. This is quite common: weight change in scientific papers can be reported in a huge variety of ways, eg BMI change, z score change, % excess weight loss change. Weight change was primarily reported as ‘percentage point change in BMI 95th%ile’, a very confusing statistic which stops everyday people from figuring out what the actual average change in weight was. A researcher can tell you something is statistically ‘significant’ even if it’s not that meaningful in real life. In the paper, it was reported that at 12 and 26 weeks the kids demonstrated a reduction in the percentage point change in BMI 95th%ile. But what does this actually mean in terms of real life weight change? It is impossible to tell. Luckily, the lead author presented her data at a conference where she did talk about the average kg weight loss for 19 of the 21 study completers. At this conference, she reported that after 12 weeks of intermittent starvation, the kids had lost on average 3.5kg. But by 26 weeks, these changes were not maintained; the teens had regained 1.4kg, so in total after 6 months of regular starvation, they were @2kg less than when they started, and they are likely to keep regaining. That’s not a big change, especially given the huge effort, and we know weight will keep coming back. We know this is the norm for most people who diet: dieting triggers a metabolic defence response, and our bodies fight to regain any weight loss. This is not a failure or a problem, it is the body’s built in response to dieting. What a difference between the raw data at a conference and adding the statistical wizadry in the published paper! There’s more to this story: in the paper,” Figure 3” is a graph which represents each of the kids percentage point BMI95th%ile change at 12 and 26 weeks. There’s a cute little diamond which represents each kid. And when you look at Figure 3, you can clearly see that one kid really stuck out from the rest of them: this kid lost WAY more weight at 12 and 26 weeks than the others, who really didn’t lose much at all. And it seems that this kid - this ‘statistical outlier’ - is responsible for changing the story of this data from concluding that weight loss between 12 and 26 weeks was ‘not maintained’ to saying that it was maintained, all because of one child who may in fact be developing an eating disorder right in front of us. Instead of removing this outlier (which is what a lot of researchers would do, because one person’s unusual results are skewing the data, and this isn’t what science is all about), it was left in. The fact that one person had an unusual response was not discussed in the paper. This is why it’s important to read the studies! To see what actually happened. We can also see in the Figure that at both time points, several of the kids had GAINED weight above the starting point - 3 at week 12 and 5 by 26 weeks. This is normal when we look at it from the perspective of the body’s response to starvation, but weight gain was not discussed in the paper. If you have almost a quarter of your sample over shooting with weight gain, it should be discussed!! Worryingly, the results show a significant reduction in height between 12 and 26 weeks. This was not discussed in the paper. This means that the teens' growth cycle is being interrupted. If a growing body is not getting adequate nutrition, the body will stop growing in order to compensate. Any impact of starvation on the teens’ menstrual cycle was not investigated. Given that 25 of the 30 were girls, this is staggering. Metabolic impact of starvation on the teenagers’ growing bodies was not measured or discussed in the paper. 28 of the 30 kids were reported to be ‘insulin resistant’ at the outset of the experiment. This was exactly the same after 6 months of semi starvation. Measures of cardiometabolic risk including cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin resistance did not change after 6 months of intermittent starvation. Small changes in plasma triglycerides were reported, but these were in the normal range to begin with. A small increase in fasting plasma glucose occurred at 6 months, but overall no changes in insulin resistance occurred. Expensive and complicated vascular structure and function (heart) measures were taken, of 9 vascular measures only one was significantly changed by 6 months - arterial wall thickness. Measures of these factors were not taken for all of the completers. The comments made to The Age newspaper regarding the effectiveness of the Fast Track pilot are not true. The teenagers in the pilot study did not see "benefits in their cholesterol, blood pressure, liver and heart function". At best, one aspect of a secondary marker of heart function improved at 6 months, but the majority of bio-markers were unchanged. Dietary restraint - a measure which can indicate disordered eating and presence of an eating disorder - was significantly increased by 26 weeks. These scores were elevated to start with and became even higher as the starvation diet progressed. The paper does not discuss this at all. Although the paper reported ‘improvements’ in emotional eating and eating for external reasons, these scores were not unusual to begin with, therefore any reductions do not reflect a real life improvement, they are likely just reflecting the fact that the teens were eating less overall. Of 7 measured areas of quality of life, only 2 showed improvement by the end of the 6 months. Interestingly, the results showed that improvements in quality of life were more likely to happen for those kids who did manage to maintain their weight loss at 6 months, the ones who didn’t maintain their weight loss were worse off. Given that we know that all of these kids will continue to regain weight, it seems likely that their quality of life measures will worsen. However, the researchers will not follow them up long enough to find out. So they’ve just reinforced the idea that their self confidence is based on their weight. These outcomes are not great, yet their conclusions are effusive! I am sorry (not sorry) but the conclusions do not match the data. This Pilot study is being used to justify the Fast Track trial, and there is no plain English version out there. My guest Ruth Leach is an eating disorder survivor, her whole family suffered with eating disorder thanks to her dad’s obsession with fasting and his subsequent eating disorder. Ruth is tenacious, she organised a group complaint co-signed by 35 health professionals and people who have experienced eating disorder (many of whom attributed the cause of their disorder to teenage dieting). In the 1960’s Ruth was a ‘fussy eater’ - this would now be labelled as ARFID but back then there was no definition. When Ruth was 9, her dad went on a ‘wacky diet’ to prevent cancer - a fasting diet. The whole family began fasting. Ruth’s sister was 12 when they started fasting, and her growth was impacted - she didn’t grow very tall - Ruth is 8 inches taller than her - and she did not get her period until she was 17. Ruth developed childhood Anorexia, and then developed Bulimia as a teenager. She attributes the fact that she was able to grow taller to the binges she engaged in - they allowed her body the nutrition it craved in order to allow growth. Ruth follows the work of Gwyneth Olwyn, who talks about the concept of ‘extreme hunger’. A lot of people see bingeing as negative, but Ruth’s ‘extreme hunger’ was just her body trying to recalibrate after years of starvation. In Ruth’s early 50’s Ruth’s dad died, from complications of cancer. Even throughout his illness, he kept on fasting - he had an eating disorder. He was hospitalised repeatedly for re-feeding syndrome, and eventually this killed him. At this point Ruth’s eating disorder flared up, and she has been battling Anorexia again. Ruth’s dad did everything ‘right’, but still died of the cancer that fasting was meant to prevent. This is part of the reason the Fast Track study affected Ruth so much. It was only when Ruth’s dad was dying and her symptoms were returning did Ruth realise that it wasn’t just her, but her dad who was eating disordered. Ruth went through years of hell, but is out of her eating disorder now. Ruth became involved in peer support and online eating disorder support networks. Through the process of her recovery, Ruth learned about weight science and the ‘BMI lie” and how the ‘war on obesity’ is a complete beat-up. So much weight bias rampant in the field of ‘obesity’, and also the multi-billion dollar diet and weight loss industry that keeps the beat-up going. One of the reasons the industry is so huge is because our bodies have a built in mechanism to regain weight if we fall below our set point. This theory of set point is well established in science. This ‘war’ against obesity is really a war against biological reality. Ruth is concerned that the Fast Track trial will launch kids into either an eating disorder or a lifetime of disordered eating. The kids will also be introduced to a lifetime of weight cycling, and all of the health issues that come from that. The metabolic impact of repeated dieting causes a lot of the health damage that is attributed to higher weight itself. Ruth’s own life experience, and the experience of everyone in her peer to peer support networks, is that adolescent dieting ‘cost us dearly’.  For some, it has cost their lives: Ruth knows of at least 18 people in the last 2 years who have died from their eating disorder. And as teenagers, many of these people did the same thing that the kids in the Fast Track are being told to do. The Fast Track model is utterly a model of anorexia nervosa being sold to larger kids. Ruth’s complaint to the Fast Track ethics committee went into great detail about weight cycling and the risks to metabolic health, and also the risk of eating disorders. It was a very detailed complaint. We already have so many studies which demonstrate this risk. One study mapped out the pathway to developing an eating disorder. This starts with a child feeling dissatisfied with their body and experiencing bad body image, stigmatisation based on weight, and then dieting. So many of these kids have already crossed 3 out of the 4 stages of development of an eating disorder. So when the head researcher says there is no risk, Ruth asks how can you say that when there is good, consistent science based on thousands of people to say otherwise? The study the Fast Track is based on relies on just 21 kids’ results. And there was no follow up so we have no idea what happens to them a few years down the track. The study talks about the kids being placed on a healthy diet, but also says they were drinking Optifast shakes. On what planet is a shake an example of a healthy diet, especially for growing kids! This is an extreme intervention, but to realise in plain English that this means in all likelihood, your child will lose @3.5kg and then put it back on again, and not see any major health improvements - why on earth would you do this to your impressionable teen? This weight cycling aspect is not something the Fast Track parents or kids are being told about. The Fast Track has also been designed to stop following kids up at one year. At year 2 they have the option of reporting in again, but not a lot of effort is going into seeing what happens longer term. We really need to stop doing these short term studies and to design weight loss trials (if we do them at all) to have a 5 year follow up period - this is the only way we’ll be able to see the patterns of eating disorder development. What will the kids do when they overshoot in weight? Why isn’t anyone following people up? This research is already established - The Minnesotta Semi Starvation experiment showed clearly what happens to a starving body when it re-feeds. We really don’t need to keep ‘proving’ the risks, we need instead to stop exposing people to them. Out of the complaints that were lodged and following meetings with eating disorder organisations like the Butterfly, the Fast Track researchers said they would update the parent consent forms to better inform parents of the risks. That was back in February, and still we’ve heard nothing. In 2019, if you’re going to go into a weight loss experiment, you need to know what the science says about what you can reasonably expect in terms of weight loss and regain, and what to expect in regards to risk. This isn’t rocket science, it’s a basic human right! If they wrote down exactly what to expect, I wonder if anyone would sign their kid up! The increases in restraint are concerning, this is a marker of eating disorder development. Regardless of weight, this is a worry. In Ruth’s networks she advises parents to look at sudden weight losses in their kids, regardless of BMI - look at the disordered relationship with food, not the size of the child’s body. The fast Track researchers are saying that their adjustments to the study protocol - as in, checking more frequently for eating disorder markers - will increase safety, but how on earth can you detect an eating disorder behaviour if the study itself encourages disordered eating and rewarding restriction? If we put together the diary of someone with an eating disorder and a journal of the Fast Track kids, they would look almost identical. If someone was getting really sick, they won’t see it ! They will look like weight loss ‘success’ stories. People with eating disorders feel really good, and positive, when they are restricting. They can feel calm, clear headed, and energetic when they are starving. This is not a normal response to starvation, and it’s a deadly response. The Fast Track researchers will not be able to view this as troubling, and the kid will fall through the cracks. How do you get $1.2 million to fund a study with such unimpressive results? The data do not match the conclusions. Even the title of the pilot study is seriously overblowing their actual findings. We need to listen to the American Academy of Paediatrics - where it specifically says discourage dieting, and skipping meals, and encourage healthy eating. It’s not hard. This experiment is unacceptable. It only makes sense through the lens of weight bias. If we’re worried about people’s health, there’s better ways than risking the metabolic damage that comes from weight cycling from crash diets. At this point the Fast Track trial is still continuing, in spite of the enormous global protest. Please sign the petition! Emerging news this week - the Fast Track researchers have published another paper, a meta-analysis which claims or concludes that hospital based weight loss programs for kids and teens definitely doesn’t cause eating disorders. The team have now told the Butterfly Foundation that they are planning to post this study and the pilot study up on the Fast Track website as a way of communicating risk to the parents and teens who might be enrolling. I will dive into this paper & let you know - is there a difference between the data and the conclusions? Spoiler alert: they’re doing it again….. Informed consent is everything, and this is a serious problem with the researchers slapping up their own research as a way of getting around presenting potential participants with straightforward risk information. This brings up the very issues we’ve talked about today - how on earth are parents supposed to be able to read and understand this dense data? That’s why we need the plain English website where we clearly tell people about the risks and likely outcomes. Visit the Fast Track parents information website! ** Via a letter from a legal firm, the Fast Trackers informed me that this statement is incorrect, and that in fact the kids all had an 'age and sex adjusted' adult equivalent of a BMI over 30. No other aspects of my interpretation of the paper (including the interesting tweakery between the presentation figures and the addition of the outlier which changed the results) were challenged by the team. Resources Mentioned: Ruth’s complaint My complaint The Fast Track parent information website Gwyneth Olwyn Sign the Petition Join our fb group Connect with Ruth on Twitter Ruth’s tumbler post The ‘experts in the room’ blog What’s wrong with ‘obesity prevention’ ?

The Fast Track researchers have just published the results of their pilot study, and they are VERY excited about it! But does this optimism match the actual data? Don’t miss an explosive episode of All Fired Up, as I walk you through this paper step by step, breaking down into plain English what actually happened when 21 teenagers were starved three times a week for 6 months, all in the pursuit of short term weight loss. My guest is the incredible Ruth Leach, whose eating disorder began at the age of 9, when her whole family started fasting for ‘health’. Ruth not only survived her eating disorder, she is now a fierce advocate for everyone at the coal face of this deadly illness. We are LIVID about the lack of information being given to parents and kids who are being introduced to a lifetime of metabolic damage, weight cycling and disordered eating. The Fast Track trial is STILL GOING AHEAD, and we need to keep pushing back against this antiquated, weight biased, dangerous approach to teen ‘health’. Share this one far and wide!!   ShowNotes This week we bring you Part 2 of The Fast Track Trial, where we dig into the results of the newly published Fast Track Pilot Study. A pilot study is a mini-version of a larger trial, a practice run for ‘the real thing’, and the results can give you a pretty good idea of what kinds of results we can expect from a larger trial. I really wanted to get a ‘plain English’ summary of what happened in this trial out there. An article in The Age newspaper about the Fast Track controversy stated that: "While the trial is the first of its kind, Professor Baur said it had come off the back of a successful pilot program in which 25 teenagers followed a similar model and saw benefits in their cholesterol, blood pressure, liver and heart function." Which is interesting, because Louise was reading the results of the pilot study at the time, and was noticing that in fact the trial results showed no changes in blood pressure, overall cholesterol, or liver function, and only 1 small change out of 9 measures of heart function. This is quite different to what the media was saying! It is so important to go back to the source and have a look at the scientific studies behind the media soundbytes, so you can fact check and see what actually happened. This should be easy, but in reality it’s not. Reading a study is actually quite complicated, and even when you have degrees and training in science, it can still be quite difficult to make sense of what happened. This is why I am here to unpack it for you! It is important for parents and teenagers who may be being targeted to participate in this trial to clearly understand what is likely to happen as a result of taking part. This is why I am doing this podcast. The article has just been published in the Journal of Nutrition, and the title is “Intermittent Energy Restriction is a Feasible, Effective and Acceptable Intervention to Treat Adolescents With Obesity”. What an impressive and optimistic title! But does the optimism match the data? The pilot trial took place at Sydney Children’s Hospital at Westmead, kids were recruited from the adolescent  “O” treatment clinic. 45 kids aged between 12 and 17 were approached, and 30 said yes. There were 25 girls and 5 boys, and the average age of the kids was 15. All of the teens were supposed to have a BMI of 30 or more. In fact, they ranged from a BMI of 27.7 to 52.4, so at least one was well below the weight threshold.** 3 of the kids were from Aboriginal or Torres Strait islander background. 6 of them were born overseas. We don’t know more about the cultural background of the rest of the kids. The experiment ran for 6 months under a dietitian. There were no psychologists or eating disorder specialists involved. For the first 12 weeks all of the kids were placed on Optifast (shakes) and allowed just 600-700 calories a day for 3 days of the week. The rest of the week the kids were told to follow ‘healthy eating guidelines’. After 12 weeks teens were ‘invited’ to either keep starving for 3 days a week, or they could change to starving for 2 or 1 day a week, or they could swap to a ‘continuous prescribed healthy eating plan’ for the next 3 months. 7 of the kids didn’t make it past the 8 week mark. These tended to be ‘heavier’ kids. We don’t know what happened to them after that. 2 more dropped out before the experiment ended, so overall just 21 teens finished the whole 6 months.​ The kids were given a Fitbit, but were not given any instructions about physical activity. Mysteriously, the pilot paper never discusses the fitbit results. The primary measure they were looking at was weight loss at 12 weeks, with secondary interest in weight loss at 26 weeks, and they also did a range of health marker measures and one 20 item questionnaire which asked about eating disorder symptoms. 28 of the kids were categorised as ‘insulin resistant’ at the beginning of the study. At 12 weeks, and 26 weeks, the study reports weight change, but it’s actually quite difficult to figure out what that means. This is quite common: weight change in scientific papers can be reported in a huge variety of ways, eg BMI change, z score change, % excess weight loss change. Weight change was primarily reported as ‘percentage point change in BMI 95th%ile’, a very confusing statistic which stops everyday people from figuring out what the actual average change in weight was. A researcher can tell you something is statistically ‘significant’ even if it’s not that meaningful in real life. In the paper, it was reported that at 12 and 26 weeks the kids demonstrated a reduction in the percentage point change in BMI 95th%ile. But what does this actually mean in terms of real life weight change? It is impossible to tell. Luckily, the lead author presented her data at a conference where she did talk about the average kg weight loss for 19 of the 21 study completers. At this conference, she reported that after 12 weeks of intermittent starvation, the kids had lost on average 3.5kg. But by 26 weeks, these changes were not maintained; the teens had regained 1.4kg, so in total after 6 months of regular starvation, they were @2kg less than when they started, and they are likely to keep regaining. That’s not a big change, especially given the huge effort, and we know weight will keep coming back. We know this is the norm for most people who diet: dieting triggers a metabolic defence response, and our bodies fight to regain any weight loss. This is not a failure or a problem, it is the body’s built in response to dieting. What a difference between the raw data at a conference and adding the statistical wizadry in the published paper! There’s more to this story: in the paper,” Figure 3” is a graph which represents each of the kids percentage point BMI95th%ile change at 12 and 26 weeks. There’s a cute little diamond which represents each kid. And when you look at Figure 3, you can clearly see that one kid really stuck out from the rest of them: this kid lost WAY more weight at 12 and 26 weeks than the others, who really didn’t lose much at all. And it seems that this kid - this ‘statistical outlier’ - is responsible for changing the story of this data from concluding that weight loss between 12 and 26 weeks was ‘not maintained’ to saying that it was maintained, all because of one child who may in fact be developing an eating disorder right in front of us. Instead of removing this outlier (which is what a lot of researchers would do, because one person’s unusual results are skewing the data, and this isn’t what science is all about), it was left in. The fact that one person had an unusual response was not discussed in the paper. This is why it’s important to read the studies! To see what actually happened. We can also see in the Figure that at both time points, several of the kids had GAINED weight above the starting point - 3 at week 12 and 5 by 26 weeks. This is normal when we look at it from the perspective of the body’s response to starvation, but weight gain was not discussed in the paper. If you have almost a quarter of your sample over shooting with weight gain, it should be discussed!! Worryingly, the results show a significant reduction in height between 12 and 26 weeks. This was not discussed in the paper. This means that the teens' growth cycle is being interrupted. If a growing body is not getting adequate nutrition, the body will stop growing in order to compensate. Any impact of starvation on the teens’ menstrual cycle was not investigated. Given that 25 of the 30 were girls, this is staggering. Metabolic impact of starvation on the teenagers’ growing bodies was not measured or discussed in the paper. 28 of the 30 kids were reported to be ‘insulin resistant’ at the outset of the experiment. This was exactly the same after 6 months of semi starvation. Measures of cardiometabolic risk including cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin resistance did not change after 6 months of intermittent starvation. Small changes in plasma triglycerides were reported, but these were in the normal range to begin with. A small increase in fasting plasma glucose occurred at 6 months, but overall no changes in insulin resistance occurred. Expensive and complicated vascular structure and function (heart) measures were taken, of 9 vascular measures only one was significantly changed by 6 months - arterial wall thickness. Measures of these factors were not taken for all of the completers. The comments made to The Age newspaper regarding the effectiveness of the Fast Track pilot are not true. The teenagers in the pilot study did not see "benefits in their cholesterol, blood pressure, liver and heart function". At best, one aspect of a secondary marker of heart function improved at 6 months, but the majority of bio-markers were unchanged. Dietary restraint - a measure which can indicate disordered eating and presence of an eating disorder - was significantly increased by 26 weeks. These scores were elevated to start with and became even higher as the starvation diet progressed. The paper does not discuss this at all. Although the paper reported ‘improvements’ in emotional eating and eating for external reasons, these scores were not unusual to begin with, therefore any reductions do not reflect a real life improvement, they are likely just reflecting the fact that the teens were eating less overall. Of 7 measured areas of quality of life, only 2 showed improvement by the end of the 6 months. Interestingly, the results showed that improvements in quality of life were more likely to happen for those kids who did manage to maintain their weight loss at 6 months, the ones who didn’t maintain their weight loss were worse off. Given that we know that all of these kids will continue to regain weight, it seems likely that their quality of life measures will worsen. However, the researchers will not follow them up long enough to find out. So they’ve just reinforced the idea that their self confidence is based on their weight. These outcomes are not great, yet their conclusions are effusive! I am sorry (not sorry) but the conclusions do not match the data. This Pilot study is being used to justify the Fast Track trial, and there is no plain English version out there. My guest Ruth Leach is an eating disorder survivor, her whole family suffered with eating disorder thanks to her dad’s obsession with fasting and his subsequent eating disorder. Ruth is tenacious, she organised a group complaint co-signed by 35 health professionals and people who have experienced eating disorder (many of whom attributed the cause of their disorder to teenage dieting). In the 1960’s Ruth was a ‘fussy eater’ - this would now be labelled as ARFID but back then there was no definition. When Ruth was 9, her dad went on a ‘wacky diet’ to prevent cancer - a fasting diet. The whole family began fasting. Ruth’s sister was 12 when they started fasting, and her growth was impacted - she didn’t grow very tall - Ruth is 8 inches taller than her - and she did not get her period until she was 17. Ruth developed childhood Anorexia, and then developed Bulimia as a teenager. She attributes the fact that she was able to grow taller to the binges she engaged in - they allowed her body the nutrition it craved in order to allow growth. Ruth follows the work of Gwyneth Olwyn, who talks about the concept of ‘extreme hunger’. A lot of people see bingeing as negative, but Ruth’s ‘extreme hunger’ was just her body trying to recalibrate after years of starvation. In Ruth’s early 50’s Ruth’s dad died, from complications of cancer. Even throughout his illness, he kept on fasting - he had an eating disorder. He was hospitalised repeatedly for re-feeding syndrome, and eventually this killed him. At this point Ruth’s eating disorder flared up, and she has been battling Anorexia again. Ruth’s dad did everything ‘right’, but still died of the cancer that fasting was meant to prevent. This is part of the reason the Fast Track study affected Ruth so much. It was only when Ruth’s dad was dying and her symptoms were returning did Ruth realise that it wasn’t just her, but her dad who was eating disordered. Ruth went through years of hell, but is out of her eating disorder now. Ruth became involved in peer support and online eating disorder support networks. Through the process of her recovery, Ruth learned about weight science and the ‘BMI lie” and how the ‘war on obesity’ is a complete beat-up. So much weight bias rampant in the field of ‘obesity’, and also the multi-billion dollar diet and weight loss industry that keeps the beat-up going. One of the reasons the industry is so huge is because our bodies have a built in mechanism to regain weight if we fall below our set point. This theory of set point is well established in science. This ‘war’ against obesity is really a war against biological reality. Ruth is concerned that the Fast Track trial will launch kids into either an eating disorder or a lifetime of disordered eating. The kids will also be introduced to a lifetime of weight cycling, and all of the health issues that come from that. The metabolic impact of repeated dieting causes a lot of the health damage that is attributed to higher weight itself. Ruth’s own life experience, and the experience of everyone in her peer to peer support networks, is that adolescent dieting ‘cost us dearly’.  For some, it has cost their lives: Ruth knows of at least 18 people in the last 2 years who have died from their eating disorder. And as teenagers, many of these people did the same thing that the kids in the Fast Track are being told to do. The Fast Track model is utterly a model of anorexia nervosa being sold to larger kids. Ruth’s complaint to the Fast Track ethics committee went into great detail about weight cycling and the risks to metabolic health, and also the risk of eating disorders. It was a very detailed complaint. We already have so many studies which demonstrate this risk. One study mapped out the pathway to developing an eating disorder. This starts with a child feeling dissatisfied with their body and experiencing bad body image, stigmatisation based on weight, and then dieting. So many of these kids have already crossed 3 out of the 4 stages of development of an eating disorder. So when the head researcher says there is no risk, Ruth asks how can you say that when there is good, consistent science based on thousands of people to say otherwise? The study the Fast Track is based on relies on just 21 kids’ results. And there was no follow up so we have no idea what happens to them a few years down the track. The study talks about the kids being placed on a healthy diet, but also says they were drinking Optifast shakes. On what planet is a shake an example of a healthy diet, especially for growing kids! This is an extreme intervention, but to realise in plain English that this means in all likelihood, your child will lose @3.5kg and then put it back on again, and not see any major health improvements - why on earth would you do this to your impressionable teen? This weight cycling aspect is not something the Fast Track parents or kids are being told about. The Fast Track has also been designed to stop following kids up at one year. At year 2 they have the option of reporting in again, but not a lot of effort is going into seeing what happens longer term. We really need to stop doing these short term studies and to design weight loss trials (if we do them at all) to have a 5 year follow up period - this is the only way we’ll be able to see the patterns of eating disorder development. What will the kids do when they overshoot in weight? Why isn’t anyone following people up? This research is already established - The Minnesotta Semi Starvation experiment showed clearly what happens to a starving body when it re-feeds. We really don’t need to keep ‘proving’ the risks, we need instead to stop exposing people to them. Out of the complaints that were lodged and following meetings with eating disorder organisations like the Butterfly, the Fast Track researchers said they would update the parent consent forms to better inform parents of the risks. That was back in February, and still we’ve heard nothing. In 2019, if you’re going to go into a weight loss experiment, you need to know what the science says about what you can reasonably expect in terms of weight loss and regain, and what to expect in regards to risk. This isn’t rocket science, it’s a basic human right! If they wrote down exactly what to expect, I wonder if anyone would sign their kid up! The increases in restraint are concerning, this is a marker of eating disorder development. Regardless of weight, this is a worry. In Ruth’s networks she advises parents to look at sudden weight losses in their kids, regardless of BMI - look at the disordered relationship with food, not the size of the child’s body. The fast Track researchers are saying that their adjustments to the study protocol - as in, checking more frequently for eating disorder markers - will increase safety, but how on earth can you detect an eating disorder behaviour if the study itself encourages disordered eating and rewarding restriction? If we put together the diary of someone with an eating disorder and a journal of the Fast Track kids, they would look almost identical. If someone was getting really sick, they won’t see it ! They will look like weight loss ‘success’ stories. People with eating disorders feel really good, and positive, when they are restricting. They can feel calm, clear headed, and energetic when they are starving. This is not a normal response to starvation, and it’s a deadly response. The Fast Track researchers will not be able to view this as troubling, and the kid will fall through the cracks. How do you get $1.2 million to fund a study with such unimpressive results? The data do not match the conclusions. Even the title of the pilot study is seriously overblowing their actual findings. We need to listen to the American Academy of Paediatrics - where it specifically says discourage dieting, and skipping meals, and encourage healthy eating. It’s not hard. This experiment is unacceptable. It only makes sense through the lens of weight bias. If we’re worried about people’s health, there’s better ways than risking the metabolic damage that comes from weight cycling from crash diets. At this point the Fast Track trial is still continuing, in spite of the enormous global protest. Please sign the petition! Emerging news this week - the Fast Track researchers have published another paper, a meta-analysis which claims or concludes that hospital based weight loss programs for kids and teens definitely doesn’t cause eating disorders. The team have now told the Butterfly Foundation that they are planning to post this study and the pilot study up on the Fast Track website as a way of communicating risk to the parents and teens who might be enrolling. I will dive into this paper & let you know - is there a difference between the data and the conclusions? Spoiler alert: they’re doing it again….. Informed consent is everything, and this is a serious problem with the researchers slapping up their own research as a way of getting around presenting potential participants with straightforward risk information. This brings up the very issues we’ve talked about today - how on earth are parents supposed to be able to read and understand this dense data? That’s why we need the plain English website where we clearly tell people about the risks and likely outcomes. Visit the Fast Track parents information website! ** Via a letter from a legal firm, the Fast Trackers informed me that this statement is incorrect, and that in fact the kids all had an 'age and sex adjusted' adult equivalent of a BMI over 30. No other aspects of my interpretation of the paper (including the interesting tweakery between the presentation figures and the addition of the outlier which changed the results) were challenged by the team. Resources Mentioned: Ruth’s complaint My complaint The Fast Track parent information website Gwyneth Olwyn Sign the Petition Join our fb group Connect with Ruth on Twitter Ruth’s tumbler post The ‘experts in the room’ blog What’s wrong with ‘obesity prevention’ ?

Once upon a time, there was a girl with a mighty voice. Her name was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Though she seemed quiet and shy, Ruth was brilliant with a quick mind and a big heart. When Ruth learned about lawyers who worked to ensure people were treated fairly, she dreamed of becoming one. She was determined to make the world a more equal place for women, men, immigrants, and people of color. And she did just that, first as a lawyer, and then as a judge. Ruth made history as a voice for oppressed people in America and as “The Great Dissenter” on the U.S. Supreme Court.About the Narrator:Priscilla Chan is co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. As a pediatrician and teacher, Priscilla’s work with patients and students in communities across the Bay Area has informed her desire to make learning more personalized, find new paths to manage and cure disease, and expand opportunity for more people. She is also the founder of The Primary School, which integrates health and education and serves children and families in East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven neighborhood in Menlo Park, California. Priscilla earned her BA in Biology at Harvard University and her MD at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She completed her pediatrics training in the UCSF/PLUS Pediatrics Residency.Credits:This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes, and Meg Murnane, with writing by Alexis Stratton and narration by Priscilla Chan. Jestine Ware edited all scripts and Janice Weaver fact-checked all scripts. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure who coordinated all credit recordings and narrator donations.Sponsored by: www.rebelgirls.coUse promocode REBELPODCAST to get 15% off your first purchase!Resources: Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon and Shana KnizhnikRBG (2018 film)Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De HartMy Own Words by Ruth Bader GinsburgSisters in Law by Linda HirshmanNo Truth Without Ruth by Kathleen KrullRuth Bader Ginsburg by Jonah Winter

Once upon a time, there was a girl with a mighty voice. Her name was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Though she seemed quiet and shy, Ruth was brilliant with a quick mind and a big heart. When Ruth learned about lawyers who worked to ensure people were treated fairly, she dreamed of becoming one. She was determined to make the world a more equal place for women, men, immigrants, and people of color. And she did just that, first as a lawyer, and then as a judge. Ruth made history as a voice for oppressed people in America and as “The Great Dissenter” on the U.S. Supreme Court.About the Narrator:Priscilla Chan is co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. As a pediatrician and teacher, Priscilla’s work with patients and students in communities across the Bay Area has informed her desire to make learning more personalized, find new paths to manage and cure disease, and expand opportunity for more people. She is also the founder of The Primary School, which integrates health and education and serves children and families in East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven neighborhood in Menlo Park, California. Priscilla earned her BA in Biology at Harvard University and her MD at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She completed her pediatrics training in the UCSF/PLUS Pediatrics Residency.Credits:This episode of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is produced by Elena Favilli, Joy Fowlkes, and Meg Murnane, with writing by Alexis Stratton and narration by Priscilla Chan. Jestine Ware edited all scripts and Janice Weaver fact-checked all scripts. Sound design and original theme music by Elettra Bargiacchi. Mattia Marcelli was the sound mixer. Special thanks to Clio McClure who coordinated all credit recordings and narrator donations.Sponsored by: www.rebelgirls.coUse promocode REBELPODCAST to get 15% off your first purchase!Resources: Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon and Shana KnizhnikRBG (2018 film)Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De HartMy Own Words by Ruth Bader GinsburgSisters in Law by Linda HirshmanNo Truth Without Ruth by Kathleen KrullRuth Bader Ginsburg by Jonah Winter

RU 3:15 He (Boaz) also said (to Ruth), "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out." When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. Then he went back to town. RU 3:16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?" Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, `Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.' " RU 3:18 Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today." As we continue in the book and story of Ruth, we see that there is a problem that Boaz must be deal with first. There exists a kinsman of closer relationship to Naomi, and he had to be given first right of refusal to redeem his relative. Understanding how all of this works, Naomi assures Ruth that Boaz would not rest until the matter was settled. She knew that Boaz was an influential man and that he also was sure that things would go his way. How did she know this? because Boaz sent the extra provision to Naomi of six measures of barley via Ruth as a signal. Join us in this lesson to learn more about these concepts and most importantly, what they mean prophetically in God's overall plan of salvation for Jew and Gentile. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/biblestudyweekly/message

GUEST BIO: Ruth Yakubu is a Senior Cloud Developer Advocate at Microsoft and founder of PoshBeauty.com.  Ruth specializes in Java, Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Analytics, Data Platform and Cloud and has worked for companies such as Accenture, Warner Brothers and TicketMaster in software architectural design and programming.   Ruth has also been a speaker at several conferences including Devoxx, DeveloperWeek and TechSummit.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Ruth Yakubu. She is a Senior Cloud Developer at Microsoft and founded PoshBeauty.com. Ruth started her IT career in 2001 as a Software Engineer for UNISYS, moving on to become a Manager and Software Engineer with Accenture before setting up PoshBeauty.com. Over the years, she has become a specialist in Java, AI, Advanced Analytics, Data Platform and the Cloud. She is also a well-known speaker who has spoken at large conferences including Devoxx, DeveloperWeek and TechSummit. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.11) – So Ruth, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Ruth thanks Phil for his introduction and explains that he has summarized her career well. But, she goes on to speak a litter about her public speaking role. Her main aim with much of her public speaking is to get everyone energized about Azure technologies. To help people to see how to use it to solve their problems. Ruth also explains that she now works with a lot of startups. Helping them to solve their technology issues regardless of where they are on their journey to success. Microsoft has a lot to offer start-ups. For example, they can get up to 120,000 credits in the Agile cloud. Providing start-ups with somewhere to do their proof of concept work and build their businesses. There is a growing demand from startups for this type of help. They really benefit from and appreciate the fact that the Microsoft team circles back to check in and see how they are doing. A lot of entrepreneurs are not tech savvy, so having someone who can lead them through the options that are available is invaluable. They also need help in hiring developers and working out if they are actually using the best architecture. It is not uncommon for what is built originally not to be right for the business in the long-term, which means it has to be stripped down and re-built using the correct architecture. Ruth helps entrepreneurs to build things right the first time and avoid this costly mistake. Ruth and her team enable firms to identify the best tech option for them. This prevents them from wasting time and money trying to find their way while their competitors surge ahead. In many cases, they can also help B2B startups find new customers. Microsoft helping in this way results in more consumption, by the startups, of Microsoft’s products. So, it is very much in everyone’s interests for the startups to find clients and do well. (7.45) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? After 15 years in the industry, Ruth knows that it is vital to keep on learning. You have to keep up and stay relevant. Everyone has to do this, companies as well as individuals. For example, Amazon, with its AWS offering, is now moving from being a physical product seller to being a service provider. Microsoft is also constantly transforming itself. Today, they are one of the leading cloud providers. Very quickly Microsoft has gone from being mainly a software provider to offering a long list of IT services. To be able to stay relevant, you need to learn to track the market trends. If you don’t do that you will soon be left behind. (10.55) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Despite some warning signs during the interview, Ruth took a job mostly because it was well-paid. Inevitably, she quickly realized that she hated the job and had taken a wrong turn in her career. Up until that point she had followed her professor’s advice to only take job’s she loved and not to be tempted by the money. Fortunately, that happened early in her career, so she was soon able to get things back on track. (13.32) – What was your best career moment? Ruth has been lucky enough to experience several great moments in her career. But for her, founding PoshBeauty.com proved to be her pivotal moment. She was full of trepidation while she was building the business. But, she plowed forward and proved that the idea was sound. Building her own startup opened many doors for her and she uncovered talents and abilities she had no idea she possessed. She ran the company for 5 years, before stepping away and joining Microsoft. The whole experience taught her not to be afraid of stepping outside of her comfort zone. Facing your fears is the only way to move forward. When Ruth joined Microsoft, she had to push herself to conquer her fear of public speaking, so she could become a more effective Developer Advocate. The first time she spoke to a large crowd, she nearly passed out. But, today getting up in front of people, in large or small groups is much easier, something she has learned to enjoy doing. Plus, importantly it enables her to stand up and show others that look like her that working in IT is possible for them. Overcoming her fear has benefited her and others in many different ways. (18.04) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Not knowing what is going to happen next, keeps Ruth on the edge of her seat. Currently, she is particularly excited by what is happening in the field of AI. This tech is having an impact in so many interesting ways. For example, some firms are starting to use it to help them to make internal business decisions. There are more intelligent applications coming out in the form of bots and apps. We are getting to the stage where these apps can learn about you and what you need, then intuitively point out things that will help you in so many different ways. They are enhancing our lives and will do so far more in the future. (20.15) – What drew you to a career in IT? Ruth explained that she was supposed to work in the medical field. But, that was her parent's dream, not hers. Especially because she was good at computer science. When she saw her what her older brother was able to do using code she knew a career in IT was for her too. The problem was that, at the time, there were virtually no women working in the IT field. But, Ruth decided to just take a leap of faith and fight for what she wanted. (21.44) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Ruth’s favorite piece of advice was given to her by her mentor at Accenture who told her to go back and try new things. At first, she hated doing this. But, as the years progressed, she built up a huge pool of knowledge because she had pushed herself to try new things. (22.31) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Ruth says she would trust her instincts and step out more. When she first started out she let the feeling that she was not quite good enough get in her way. If she were to start again, she would step out and find things she loved doing on her own rather than waiting for others to tell her what to pursue. She would also learn more languages. It is important not to be closed minded. To always be broadening your horizons. (23.50) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, her main aim is to help women involved in the STEM industries. The graduation rate of women in computer science has gone down. In 2015, 30% of graduates were women, but in 2017 only 16% were. Something Ruth finds very troubling. When she graduated only 5 women were on the stage. There were no females out there to vote count her graduation class. These two facts are pushing her to play a part in changing things for the better. She learned a huge amount from her start-up journey. So, she is also very focused on sharing that knowledge and advocating for entrepreneurs, so they can succeed. (23.57) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Ruth’s secret weapon is humor and being easy going.  She has always cherished her teams and tried to get along with everyone, which she finds keeps things positive. She also treats everyone with respect regardless of how significant their role is perceived to be by others. (26.20) – Phil asks Ruth to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Ruth says it is important to remember that IT touches and impacts the lives of everyone. So, whatever you are working on always do it for the good. BEST MOMENTS: (5.46) RUTH – "Our goal is to help you build things right the first time and stay competitive" (8.15) RUTH – "You have to adapt and learn new things" (13.25) RUTH – "There are a lot of factors that you need to take into consideration, not just money when you're embarking on a new career." (16.17) RUTH – “The more you face your fears, and you conquer them, the better, once you’ve eliminated one handicap you can move on to conquer another one" (27.23) RUTH – “Enjoy the ride but always use IT for the good." CONTACT RUTH: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ruthieyakubu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthyakubu/ Website: http://www.poshbeauty.com/

Andrea Lennon shares practical truth from On the Road with Ruth. In this podcast, Andrea talks about the heart of God for the least likely. Jewish laws and customs are explained and all of them point to Jesus! When Ruth went to the threshing floor of Boaz in order to propose marriage, Ruth didn’t know the outcome. Would she be accepted or rejected? The outcome was beautiful and reminds us that only Jesus can be our Kinsmen Redeemer! If you would like to order a copy of On the Road with Ruth, visit Andrea's website at www.andrealennonministry.org. You can also visit the resource library and view live recordings of Andrea's On the Road with Ruth teaching sessions! This material is great for individual or group study!

Hosts Marisa Serafini (@SerafiniTV) & Mina Wahab (@MinaMakesMagic) discuss On the Basis of Sex (2019) Review! Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a struggling attorney and new mother who faces adversity and numerous obstacles in her fight for equal rights. When Ruth takes on a groundbreaking tax case with her husband, attorney Martin Ginsburg, she knows it could change the direction of her career and the way the courts view gender discrimination. To download the rundown used during the On the Basis of Sex (2019) anatomy, click here: http://audio.afterbuzztv.com/media/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/MTN/OTBOS.pdf HELPFUL LINKS: Website - http://popcorntalk.com Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/thepopcorntalk Merch - http://shop.spreadshirt.com/PopcornTalk/ ABOUT POPCORN TALK: Popcorn Talk Network is the online broadcast network with programming dedicated exclusively to movie discussion, news, interviews and commentary. Popcorn Talk Network is comprised of the leading members and personalities of the film press and community including E!’s Maria Menounos, Scott “Movie” Mantz, The Wrap’s Jeff Sneider, Screen Junkies and the Schmoes Know, Kristian Harloff and Mark Ellis who are the 1st and only YouTube reviewers to be certified by Rotten Tomatoes and accredited by the MPAA. Current Roster or Shows: -Disney Movie News -The Unproduced Table Read -I Could Never Be -On The Fly Filmmaking -Horror Movie News -Anatomy of a Movie -Box Office Breakdown -Meet the Movie Press -Guilty Movie Pleasures -Marvel Movie News -DC Movie News -Action Movie Anatomy -Watchalong Series! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Ask Win is a podcast where you are a VIP. Win wants to focus and teach people more and Cerebral Palsy. You’re welcome to ask questions about anything that you want. CP questions but mainly life questions on how to deal with CP or not. Win can ask you base questions if you want. Please let us know or there will be no base questions. If you have any questions for Win please email her at askingwkelly@gmail.com. Please donate to Ask Win by going to https://www.paypal.me/WCharles. Patron Checkout: https://www.patreon.com/join/Askwin?. Simplecast's Brand Ambassador Program: http://refer.smplc.st/rtTvG. Check out Win's books at https://www.amazon.com/Win-Kelly-Charles/e/B009VNJEKE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1538951782&sr=1-2-ent. To buy Win’s new book, Smile with Dictation, go to https://books2read.com/Win. I, Win: http://books2read.com/Iwin Check out Danielle's books at https://www.amazon.com/Danielle-Coulter/e/B00OFIOY3C/ref=as_li_ss_tl?qid=1483655853&sr=8-2&linkCode=sl2&tag=paradimarket-20&linkId=8490a064c62cededb762ed5b949ed144. On Ask Win today (Sunday, February 3, 2019), Best-Selling Author, Win C welcomes Ruth Anne Garcia. Ruth is a wife and mother of two living in Las Cruces, NM. Writing has become a passion of mine. When Ruth took ill in 2014, Ruth needed to find a way to occupy her mind and her time. Ruth have always been a reader. When Ruth was young, Ruth turned to books for entertainment, learning, and escape. Ruth decided that she did try to write something and see how it went. Four years later, Ruth is still writing and learning about the process. Ruth is currently unpublished, but she do post a wide variety of snippets on websites like Inkitt and Scribophile. Ruth have very rough manuscript drafts posted on Wattpad. Ruth try to gain critique partners and beta readers to get feedback on my writing. In Ruth’s personal life, she is a wife to her computer enthusiast husband and mother to two gorgeous children who are the lights of Ruth’s life. Ruth currently attend New Mexico State University as a BSW student of Social Work. Ruth will be graduating in May 2019. Go Aggies! To learn more about Ruth visit ruthannegarciabooks.wordpress.com.

Andrea shares practical truths from On the Road with Ruth. In this podcast, Andrea talks about the heart of God for the least likely. Jewish laws and customs are explained and all of them point to Jesus! When Ruth went to the threshing floor of Boaz in order to propose marriage, Ruth didn’t know the outcome. Would she be accepted or rejected? The outcome was beautiful and reminds us that only Jesus can be our Kinsmen Redeemer!

A Q&A about On the Basis of Sex, with actor Justin Theroux, Director Mimi Leder, and Screenwriter Daniel Stiepleman (RBG’s real-life nephew).  More info found at http://focusfeatures.com/on-the-basis-of-sex.  Moderated by Rachael Janowski. About the movie: On the Basis of Sex is inspired by the true story of a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg – then a struggling attorney and new mother – who faces adversity and numerous obstacles in her fight for equal rights throughout her career. When Ruth takes on a groundbreaking tax case with her husband, attorney Martin Ginsburg, she knows it could change the direction of her career and the way the courts view gender discrimination. The film also chronicles the storybook-like romance between Ruth and Marty, a partnership that succeeded both personally and professionally. Participant Media’s On the Basis of Sex is directed by Mimi Leder (The Leftovers, Deep Impact) from an original screenplay by Daniel Stiepleman. On the Basis of Sex stars Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Armie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name, The Social Network) as Marty Ginsburg, Ruth’s husband and legal partner. Rounding out the cast are Justin Theroux (The Girl on the Train, The Leftovers), Jack Reynor (Detroit), Cailee Spaeny (Bad Times at the El Royale, Pacific Rim: Uprising), Stephen Root (Get Out, All the Way), with Sam Waterston (Law & Order) and Oscar®-winner Kathy Bates (Misery). Visit http://g.co/TalksAtGoogle/OnTheBasisOfSex to watch the video.

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home[a] for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” 5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. 7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet! 9 “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer[b] of our family.” 10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.” 14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he[c] went back to town. 16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?” Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” 18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home[a] for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” 5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. 7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet! 9 “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer[b] of our family.” 10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.” 14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he[c] went back to town. 16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?” Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” 18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

When Ruth and Nathan felt God calling them to establish the vineyard in Falmouth, we felt that He gave us a vision – not just for Falmouth, but for Cornwall.

Ruth 3 Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor 3 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home[a] for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” 5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. 7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet! 9 “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer[b] of our family.” 10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.” 14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he[c] went back to town. 16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?” Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” 18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

Ruth Soukup is a blogger at Living Well Spending Less, the founder of the Living Well Planner, and the author of Living Well Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life. Ruth encourages more than a million monthly readers of her blog to follow their dreams and reach their goals through easy to implement tips and strategies for saving time and money while focusing on the things that matter the most. She lives in Florida with her husband Chuck and their two daughters Maggie and Annie. Ruth began thinking about writing a book when she was blogging full-time at Living Well Spending Less and her husband was staying at home with the kids. She wanted to encapsulate the knowledge from her blog into a book and she came out with her first book which was How To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul. She had no expectations when she put this out there as a Kindle book. The first version did better than she had anticipated, so she put out a second version that was longer and included a paperback version. The success of her first self-published book gave her the confidence to create her first traditionally published book. Although, the creation process for Living Well Spending Less was much more personal and difficult. We talk about the book creation process. The importance of having an accountability partner. How books can lead to other opportunities like products, courses, consulting and more. Enjoy the interview as we deep dive into Ruth’s writing and business success.   You can find Ruth here: Living Well Spending Less Living Well Planner Living Well Spending Less on Facebook @RuthSoukup on Twitter Living Well Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life How To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul Unstuffed 31 Days of Living Well and Spending Zero: Freeze Your Spending. Change Your Life 31 Days To A Clutter Free Life: One Month to Clear Your Home, Mind & Schedule Elite Blog Academy   Show Notes [01:39] Ruth's first idea for writing a book and was based on her blog and was called How to Blog For Profit Without Selling Your Soul. [04:00] This book taking off allowed Ruth to launch a whole new side to her business as she developed an online blogging course. [06:10] How Ruth went from publishing a book to launching a course and consulting. [07:04] The creation process of writing Ruth's first book just kind of flowed for her. [07:55] Living Well Spending Less her first traditionally published book was much more difficult because it was so personal for her. [08:42] Writing her second traditionally published book was much easier. [09:03] When Ruth's focuses on how she can serve it makes the writing much easier. [09:46] How Ruth got through the low points of writing Living Well Spending Less. [10:56] Ruth's accountability partner and the structure of their calls and their agreement, to be honest, and open. [12:52] Ruth sets aside a couple hours each morning for content creation. During book writing time, she gets up at 4:00 am and goes to her downtown office to get stuff done. [15:53] How Ruth realized that having products was more profitable than ad revenue. [17:01] How the books lead into other money makers, although they make money and build credibility. [20:23] Once someone reads your book, you are way more connected to that person, and it is a great way to grow an audience. [20:54] How Living Well Spending Less had perfect timing with publishing because that was a busy time for her blog which really led to promotion opportunities. [23:12] Downside of Amazon cross promotion is that the wider audience may not be as targeted, such as people not appreciating bible verses in the book. [24:20] They promoted the book with a 12 Secrets email challenge. They filmed the challenge with two versions one for Christmas and one that was evergreen. [25:58] They also emailed their list when there were book coupons available on Amazon. [27:32] A digital bonus of a home planning workbook was also a great idea. They also offered website access for a different book called Unstuffed. [29:22] Using Facebook Ads to market their books. [30:57] Promoting books using 31-day challenges. [31:57] Benefits of repurposing content. [33:51] Using the back end of the book to get email subscribers and then subsequently promoting other products or courses. [37:40] Different phases of working online. Finding your voice, throwing spaghetti against the wall, and refining phase where we know what works. [40:02] Working online actually requires putting in the time and work. [41:15] When someone asks you the same question 3 times create a product for it. [42:22] Focus on what you have to offer and answer your reader's questions and you can write a book.   Links and Resources: Living Well Spending Less Living Well Planner Living Well Spending Less on Facebook @RuthSoukup on Twitter Living Well Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life How To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul Unstuffed 31 Days of Living Well and Spending Zero: Freeze Your Spending. Change Your Life 31 Days To A Clutter Free Life: One Month to Clear Your Home, Mind & Schedule Elite Blog Academy self-publishingschool.com Spsfreetraining.com The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results  

Sermon By Community Care Pastor Janice Shepard This Sunday we'll be talking about the Uncommon Fellowship of Standing with One Another. To "stand with", means to "unite with someone, as in defense." It's an Uncommon Fellowship because in today's culture, it's more common for people to look out for themselves than for someone else. But when we become Christ followers, we are bound together in this community of faith. A community of diverse people who all unite together for a common purpose- to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ! We become a part of a family where we belong to each other, look out for each other and build each other up, despite our differences. It can be easy and rewarding to stand with someone when we seem to be making a difference in their life. But what happens when the situation doesn't seem to be improving? Or when our peace or security or comfort is being threatened by the situation? Sunday, we will take an intimate look at the story of one faithful woman who chose to stand with someone even when it came at a great cost to her. When Ruth chooses to cling to her mother-in-law Naomi instead of doing the easier thing, God brings about the most unexpected and beautiful redemption imaginable. Join us Sunday, as we are encouraged to stand strong and stand WITH one another!

On this week's episode, we talk about the absurd revenge comedy, I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore, starring Melanie Lynksey and Elijah Wood, and directed by Macon Blair. When Ruth is pushed to her breaking point after her home is burglarized, she teams up with her neighbor Tony for some good old fashioned payback, and get more than they bargained for.

Today we are taking a break from our month of food – and how to get your young child to eat it – and answering a listener Q&A. When Ruth asked her question, I knew that I wanted to bring it up on the show ASAP because, if you have more than one kid, you have sibling rivalry and that didn't seem like it could wait until April! Ruth asks: "Hi, I would love some advice as to how to reduce the amount of sibling fights in our home. It seems to be constant! My boys are nearly 3 in nearly 5. It seems that they both have a hard time expressing their feelings of frustration in a respectful/nonthreatening tone without physical contact. This makes everyone feel tense and is putting strain on parental-child relationships also. Many thanks, Ruth" Press play to hear my advice for Ruth about this all-to-common family problem! Click here or go to weturnedoutokay.com/061 for notes on the show, as well as the links to resources that I recommend for Ruth.

When Ruth and Boaz first meet it appears to be a coincidence. But we know from the end of the story that it cannot have been, that God was working in the background orchestrating events to bring about His purposes. The same is true for us. Nothing happens to us by chance. God is there working out his plans for our lives and his bigger story. We can choose to have faith that this is true allowing it to encourage us when life is difficult, and we can choose to co-operate with God through living lives that please Him. God does not call us to achieve greatness but to live obedient lives so that, as with Ruth and Boaz, He can achieve great things through us