There have been hundreds of things that have happened in my life, that while in the moment, I just assumed were coincidences, however when I took a step back and looked at how everything unfolded - the where and the why’s and the timing of it all - I was blow away. Everything worked out the exact way they are supposed to… almost as if someone else was in control… someone else had a plan and their plan was far better than my own.
After getting married in November of 2018, I spent the majority of the winter (January - April) cold, sad, angry and confused as to WHY God called me to leave my life in Austin, Texas to start over again in middle-of-nowhere Canada. Please don’t confuse my emotions with regret. I knew without a doubt in my mind that starting our marriage in Crystal City, Canada was 110% the right decision, but as I spent day after day inside our house watching the world around me get colder and whiter with snow, I couldn’t understand what He was doing? What possibly could His plan be?
I left behind an amazing job, friends, family, a nice paycheck, an incredible city, warm, sunny weather, an apartment with a pool and the life I thought I wanted, all to come up here and what…
be alone, with no job, no purpose, frozen inside my house. I even questioned how a “girl like me” would ever fit in or be fully excepted. I absolutely loved being married but other then that, I was sure there was NOTHING for me here in this “village” of 300 people.
I spent many days overthinking these questions: What could His plan be? Did He even really know me? Was this punishment for all the years I spent running away from Him? Is He even listening? Why did He call me up here just to be alone, angry and confused? What was I supposed to do?
I can’t lie, for a few months, I felt ALL the feelings and my stubbornness oftentimes got the best of me! Unit one night, after a much-needed breakdown, a really good, ugly cry and a vulnerable conversation with my husband, I started to see a tiny bit of hope. My husband encouraged me to start writing, to share my struggles and finally give this organization some attention.
After a few weeks of just writing, working on SWW and taking time to reflect on what my purpose was, I slowly felt myself coming back to life. One morning, I was reading through the old testament and came across the Book of Ester.
Fun fact, there are 66 books in the Bible, but guess how many are named after women? Only two, the Book of Ruth and the Book of Ester. The Book, Ester’s character, how the events of her life unfolded and what she was being called to do, all if it JUMPED off the pages to me.
Not only did her story help me slowly put into perspective that the events in our lives happen for a reason, but I begin to understand and have faith that The Big Guy had a plan for me, far grander then I could ever imagine. Also, like most women, I love a good, romantic drama. You know the kind of story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, with a powerful leading lady up against the odds, plot twists, drama, romance, an evil villain and of course a happy ending. And this story had it all!
Let’s rewind about 2,400 years, to 470 B.C (meaning 470 years before Christ was born and came to earth) to the Persian Empire under the reign of King Xerxes I or King Ahasuerus. (I struggle to pronounce his name so we’re going to call him King A.)
Now King A had just been humiliated by his wife so he ditched her and obviously needed a new, leading lady. He did what any normal, newly single man would do and threw a huge, lavish party and hosted a royal beauty pageant to find his new queen. (please sense my sarcasm here.)
Well, it was a success, he found Ester and “the king loved Ester more than all the women and she won grace and favor in is his sight, so he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen…” (Ester 2:17)
Ester was beautiful and we read how she caught the eye of everyone who saw her, but she was not some super-natural, perfect, statuesque person. She was a very normal, Jewish girl who lost her parents at a young age and was then raised by her cousin, Mordecai. Now it is important to know that Ester did not let anyone know that she was Jewish, as they were a group of people that were still looked down upon.
Soon after Ester was chosen as queen, Mordecai overheard of a plot to kill King A. He warned the king of the plot and he found favor in the eyes of the king. The king rewarded Mordecai by recorded his name in this book of chronicles that is kept and referenced from time to time by the king.
While all of this is going on, the King appointed a new high official, Haman. Haman was not a nice guy man and he’s in the role of the evil, villain in this story. Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to him. His hatred for Mordecai was so extreme, Haman got King A to agree to let him kill Mordecai and all the other Jews in the land.
Again, conveniently being at the right place at the right time, Mordecai overheard the plot to kill the Jews and immediately knew he must tell his cousin, Queen Ester. (Remember, she is also a Jew). As their conversation unfolded, Mordecai challenged Ester with some pretty incredible words…
“Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” (Ester 4:13-14 NLT)
Ok, let’s take a second and circle back here because this is so GOOD. There are so many “coincidences” to review.
Out of all the beautiful women of the land, the King chose Ester, an orphaned, Jewish girl to be his new queen.
Her cousin Mordecai, happened to be at the right place at the right time, overheard a plot to kill the king, and because he warned the king he also found favor in the king's eyes.
The king appointed a mean man, Haman and due to his hatred for Mordecai, Haman got the king to agree to kill all the Jews of the land.
Again, Mordecai happened to overhear of this plan and told Ester.
Queen Ester, also a Jew, was now in a position to save her Jewish people.
The most important verse from the entire book is Mordecai’s question to Ester, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen FOR JUST SUCH A TIME AS THIS?”
“…FOR JUST SUCH A TIME AS THIS…”
That question, that challenging thought, that maybe everything that had happened, all those coincidences - there needing to be a new queen, Ester becoming queen, Mordecai conveniently being in the right place at the right time, not ONCE but twice - were SUPPOSED to happen. Maybe the coincidences were not coincidences at all but The Big Guy Upstairs (or if you’re not there yet, something bigger than us) was in control. Maybe that at any given time you are EXACTLY where you are supposed to be for a purpose bigger than you could ever fathom?
For me, reading and really thinking about what Mordecai said, lead to another “AHH-HAA”, "mind-blown" moment. Maybe, I too was in the exact place, position and season in life that I am supposed to be.
Maybe, all those things that I saw as negative, annoying, challenging and upsetting were actually there because they served a purpose far greater than I could grasp at first glance?
I challenged myself to replace any feelings of anger, frustration, hurt, shame, guilt, and inadequacy with the question…
What if I was made “for just such a time as this?”
What if, all the things I’d accomplished in my life were preparing me “for such a time as this?"
What if, I was here, in the middle of nowhere, with all this free time, “for such a time as this?”
What if I was finally having to deal with and work through my pride, my past, my guilt, and my purpose, “for such a time as this?”
As I kept challenging myself and asking myself these questions, thinking through my past, my present and what my possible future could be it all came together… I realized…
Holy Smokes…everything I had done - jobs, cities I’d lived, relationships I’d made, the love I’d lost, the shame I was working through, the best days and the worst days - was all for a purpose! And that purpose was SHE WEAR WORTH!
Now, I am sure you’ve been on the edge of your seat wondering what Ester does next and how the story ends.
Ester took the information and jumped into action. That night, King A is unable to sleep and in order to help him sleep, the king requests to have the book of chronicles read to him. (Basically, he needed a bedtime story.) And again, “coincidentally” He is read the story of how Mordecai was loyal and previously saved him from death.
Now the plot twist…and it is SO good!
Upon hearing the story of how Mordecai saved him, the king called in Haman (the villain) and asked him “What should be done to a man that the king wants to honor?”
Haman, being proud, assumed the king was referring to him and that the king was to honor him. Well, was Haman wrong!
The joke was on you Haman because all the things Haman said should be done - dressing in royal robes, riding upon a horse through the town square, wearing a royal crown, etc. - is to be done to none other than the man Haman hated most, Mordecai!
So not only was Haman ordered by the king to honor the very man he despised, but his plot to kill the Jews was revealed by Ester and Haman was then killed on the very thing he planned to kill Mordecai with.
The story ended with Ester saving the Jews and Mordecai becoming second in rank to the king. Not a bad ending for an everyday orphan, Jewish girl and her cousin who had some pretty nasty enemies.
The Book of Ester, alone, is an incredible, dramatic, entertaining story, but what challenged and changed me, and I hope has some effect on you is the ideas that:
FIRST: Similar to the previous stories of Moses and Rahab, these incredible stories are about everyday, normal, imperfect people like you and I! God uses, time and time again, the average joe’s, the misfits, the unqualified who have fears and doubts like you and I to accomplish his incredible things! If they can accomplish remarkable things, well then maybe, so can you and I
SECOND: As challenging as it may be, think about this. Maybe all the things that have happened to you, the current situation you are in, the little, everyday details of your life — all of life’s coincidences are NOT coincidences at all.
Rather, you are exactly where you are supposed to be. And even though you might not be able to see it or believe it, there is a purpose for you.
There is a plan for your life.
And someone far greater than you and I is in control.
You were made a masterpiece and I pray one day, you realize that all you’ve been through, endured, overcame, lost, accomplished, experienced was for a purpose… HIS purpose.
You are able to look around and realize that you, you beautiful, perfect masterpiece, was made “FOR JUST SUCH A TIME AS THIS.”
My life drastically changed when I realized this! All the things I saw as negative and annoying now had a purpose and meaning. The things I’d accomplished in life and all the things I’d learned finally made perfect sense, they were done to get me here, starting this organization. If I hadn’t moved to this small town, if I hadn’t had months of free time, if I hadn’t given up my job, if I hadn’t personally struggled with my worth, value and purpose, if I hadn’t left my comfortable little life, SHE WEARS WORTH would not exist. I know, without in my mind, that I WAS MADE FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!!!
So this weeks challenge:
STOP discrediting yourself and STOP believing the lies that you're not good enough for whatever it may be. Regardless of how you feel about your current situation, take a hard look into your life, your day-to-day routine, the people you interact with — maybe there is a reason for it? Look and the great days and the really bad ones, the missed opportunities, the things that make you happy, and even the things that make you mad, maybe there are some incredible lessons there that will grow you and shape you into the person you are supposed to be.
It is hard and challenging, frustrating and sad at times, but realizing that the “coincidences” of your life were not coincidences at all, but MEANT TO BE’s your life can drastically change. You have a purpose. God has a plan for you. You are called “for such a time as this.” BELIEVE IT!!
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