MOXIE: Living with a Fearless Heart to Follow by Noelle Rhodes

MOXIE: FORCE OF CHARACTER, DETERMINATION, OR NERVE. I had surrendered the planning of our honeymoon to  Troy to organize. He said he wanted to sort all the details for it and I thought that was just plain romantic. Little did I know what was coming...

As we cued in line at the airport, Troy shared the big surprise of where our honeymoon adventure would lead us... Mexico! It was just what I wanted... a beach vacation together!

During the flight, I began to ask questions. 

"Where in Cancun will we be staying?"

My young husband gave me a blank stare. He scratched his head and then grabbed a fistful of pretzels to shove into his mouth,

                           "Um..I can't remember." he said as he crunched his pretzels between his teeth.

"Well, what's the name of the resort we are staying at?"

                          "I don't remember that either." He grabbed my hand and smiled, trying to divert my questions with his charm.

Unimpressed, I pushed his hand away and said, "Surely, you have some kind of paper with our booking info on it. All the info will be on there. Give it me and I will have a look."

Troy's forehead began to bead with sweat. He leaned into my ear and whispered with small embarrassment, "I didn't bring that paper with me. Should I have?"

      Panic took over. We were on a plane to Mexico for our honeymoon and we had no idea what town or what resort hotel we were staying at! Thirty-five thousand feet in the air, and there was nothing we could do  but wait until our plane landed to try to sort the details.

   By nature, I am a planner. If I am heading somewhere that is unfamiliar to me, I become 'pyscho planner'. The "unknown" is uncomfortable for me.  This is why I compensate with over organization and preparedness.

   The story of Ruth is one that rings of true "moxie" for me. Here a young widow, stood in the middle of tragedy and  faced the most uncomfortable thing in the universe: the unknown.

Her mother in law was depressed. Her sister in law was beyond consoling. The story goes that the three of the, wept together as they stood in shared grief. Left without husbands...left without sons... left with no homes to make.. these women wept for deep, deep loss.


“Return home my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I am going to have more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters...— Ruth 1:11-12a
Return to what you know. Return to what is familiar. Go back to your people.  Naomi was giving loving advice. She knew that what the road of grief was long one and they would need of community of support to help them rebuild their lives.


“At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good bye but Ruth clung to her.— Ruth 1:14
Oprah did what most women in her day would have done. She took her mother-in-law's advice and went back home. Ruth took a different path.


“But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or 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...’— Ruth 1:16
Ruth chose to fearlessly follow Naomi to a place that would be completely unknown to her. Now, that takes moxie.

There  have been  many times in my life where I have been required to be a fearless follower into the unknown. I cannot say that I have always mastered the "fearless" part. Much like our honeymoon adventure, I begin to ask questions and panic when I don't have all the answers and details  right at the moment. I start to peddle backwards to what I already know and is familiar instead of clinging onto Jesus and following Him onto my next big adventure.

  Ruth's story is worth a read and sadly, I don't have the time to retell here. But hey, you should grab some coffee and read it anyways. It's only four chapters. Here's a spoiler alert for you : her story has a very happy ending.

  Our honeymoon adventure has a happy ending too. When we got off the plane,  there was a man standing next to a few bus coaches. He held a notebook in his hand.

Troy walked up to the man and before he could ask for help, the man said, "Señor, what is your name?

Troy gave him our name and it turns out that we were on his list for the coach that drove us  straight to our resort. In the end, Troy didn't need his paper with all the details on it!  Although, don't tell him that I finally have admitted that after all these years!

Living with a fearless heart to follow Jesus takes moxie. It's not always easy but when we do, we find that adventure is so worth it.

What unknown are you facing today? Where is Jesus asking you to fearlessly follow Him?


To read more by Noelle Rhodes, visit her website:
noellerhodes.com

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