BY DAWN REED

My beloved gifted me with The Women of the Bible Speak by Shannon Bream. I’ve been digging into the lives and stories of 16 Bible girls, applying their wisdom to life today.

When I began the chapter on Esther, I wondered what new things God would show me. (I will never, ever have learned it all this side of heaven.) I am thrilled to say that He stirred my heart anew with love for this well-known Jewish woman.

Esther did not have to be Ruth, Naomi or Mary, the mother of Jesus. She just needed to be “Esther,” the woman God called her to be, where she was, when she was. He had a plan for her just as He does for us.

She had never heard Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him…” Yet, she was a living, breathing example of that very verse.

Esther experienced hard times: both of her parents died. There were good times: her cousin, Mordecai, adopted her and raised her as his own daughter. God used both of those events to place Esther exactly where she needed to be in order to be chosen as a queen candidate for King Xerxes.