Ruth and Naomi: Best Friends Forever

"But Ruth replied, 'Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me'. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her".
- Ruth 1:16-18

Fair-weather friends come and go. She may be the kind of friend who wants to be close when everything is going great in your life, but at the first sign of trouble, or when you ask her to help you move, she splits. Then when you are doing better, or after you have moved, she returns and acts like nothing ever happened. We have all met these kind of people, they are called fair whether friends.

If you look in the book of Ruth you will find a terrific story of the love two women had for one another. Ruth was married to Elimelech and they had two wonderful sons, and lived a great life. Her sons were both married, and her daughter-in-laws were Orpah and Ruth. Tragically, Naomi husband and sons died, and in her misery decided to move back to her homeland of Bethlehem.
Look at Ruth 1: 8-18, and see the powerful relationship they had between each other.

“Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.’ Then she kissed them and they wept aloud and said to her, ‘we will go back with you to your people.’ But Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husband’s? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons- would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!’ At this they wept again.”

“Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. ‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’ But Ruth replied, ‘Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.’ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.”

Namomi wanted to do right by Ruth and send her home because Naomi wouldn’t have much money after the men in her family had died. Ruth could go home where she would be taken care of by her father, brothers, and other extended family. However, Ruth was committed to their friendship and wasn’t going to take no for an answer, even if that meant that she would live a harder life that she had planned for herself.

Think about the friends that surround you. Are your friends supporting you through your eating disorder, or did they take the first bus out of town? If the ones that stayed around even though you are in a difficult point in your life, encouraging you through your recovery, cling on them. God puts these kinds of people in your life for a reason. Today, thank that friend and tell her that you appreciate her commitment to the friendship.