Elizabeth and her daddy and mommy, Mr. and Mrs. Mawakasunga, are sitting in church listening to Pastor Ed reading the lessons.  Elizabeth is pretty good at listening when the Bible lessons are read. 

This morning she heard two stories about women of great faith in the Bible.  The first story was about Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth who were about to make a long and difficult journey back to Naomi’s homeland.  Naomi told Ruth that she did not need to go with her, but Ruth objected.  Ruth loved her mother-in-law so much that she was willing to follow Naomi clear back to the homeland.  Ruth said “Where you go, I will go, where you lodge, I will lodge, and your God is my God.”

Right away Elizabeth thought of her Aunt Naomi and her little cousin Ruth.  They live in Tanzania in Africa.    Well, here is Aunt Naomi and here is Ruth.  As you can see, where ever Naomi goes, so goes Ruth.  That is partly because Naomi and Ruth love each other so much, but it is also because they are carved out of the same piece of wood!  It is like Baby Ruth saying to her mommy; “where you go, I will go.”

Shortly after Pastor Ed’s sermon started, Elizabeth started to imagine Naomi and Ruth were walking in a garden.  Only it wasn’t quite like a real garden, it was sort of like a church with an altar and a cross.  And this is where the second story about a woman in the Bible came in.  You see, the Gospel lesson was about Mary Magdalene and how she was the first one to see Jesus after he came alive on that very first Easter morning 2000 years ago.  Mary Magdalene was the one to tell the others that Jesus Christ was alive!

It wasn’t just Naomi and Ruth in the garden.  Elizabeth was in this imaginary garden also.  Only she wasn’t Elizabeth.  She was Mary Magdalene!  And when they came to the cross in the garden, a man they did not recognize came out of nowhere.  And suddenly, Elizabeth, who was Mary Magdalene, I know, this sounds complicated, suddenly realized that this man is . . . . Jesus!

Jesus!  And just that quickly, the imaginary garden was gone.

She tapped her mommy on the neck.  “I saw Jesus in a dream!” Elizabeth whispered to her mommy.   “Shhhhh” her mommy said as she smiled at her daughter.

Elizabeth closed her eyes to see if she could see Jesus again.  But she didn’t.  It was just that one moment.

Pastor Ed was just finishing his sermon by saying that Naomi and Ruth and Mary Magdalene were all women of great faith.

I think that Elizabeth is a GIRL OF GREAT FAITH!    THE END

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