Encouragement for YOU!
Esther is one of my favorite Biblical characters. She was so eloquent, faithful, and brave. Put in one of the hardest situations any woman could be put into yet she made it look so easy. How did she do it? And worse yet…. what if I were put between such a rock and a hard place? What would I do? If it were YOU, what would YOU do??
I attending a session at the Women’s Ministry for Small Churches virtual conference this past weekend entitled “For Such A Time As This: Encouragement For Women In Ministry” by Traci Mason. The event was hosted by Small Church Ministries. Using Esther as the example, Traci provided some great thoughts to motivate each of us, because when we get right down to the nitty-gritty, we are all in a ministry of some type, right? ***I see you nodding ;) ***
Firstly, Traci compared Ester’s situation in the Old Testament to our present-day situations. They are strikingly similar! Here you go….
Esther was hand-picked by God just as YOU and I were hand-picked by God.
Esther was the most unlikely of women for the job at hand. Don’t you often feel like that? I know I doubt my abilities all the time, that surely God could have found somebody, anybody better than me.
It turned out that Esther was sent during a specific time for a specific purpose. It wasn’t fate. It wasn’t luck (good or bad). It wasn’t written in the stars. It was God’s plan. Just like YOU and I are HERE NOW for a SPECIFIC PURPOSE to fulfill God’s plan.
Esther trusted God and was obedient. On the surface, that sounds easy. But when you read her story, it wasn’t so easy after all. She had to pray and fast for days. She asked others to pray and fast with her. Eventually, her cousin, Mordecai finally just came right out and told her she was to go and do the thing. Just like YOU and I are to go do our thing!
“And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
