“This man had a very beautiful and lovely young cousin, Hadassah, who was also called Esther. When her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her into his family and raised her as his own daughter.”—Esther 2:7 (NLT)
Experts say that in a crisis situation, instinct kicks in. Your body releases adrenaline into your circulatory system causing both your heart rate and breathing to increase sharply. The body and brain prepare for fight or flight; stand fast or flee. Either way, change is coming.
The Bible doesn’t tell us how it happened, but when Esther’s parents died, her cousin, Mordecai, had his life interrupted. He was forced into a position to make a choice. This was not his idea. He did not plan on making this choice. Nevertheless, here he was in the middle of a crisis and he was faced with the decision to make or break young Esther’s future.
Mordecai stood fast and stepped in to intervene into the life of newly orphaned Esther. He changed her destiny.
Stories about orphans always stir emotions. A storyline that features an orphan surviving delivers a satisfying emotional payload if you see it on the screen or read it in a book, but you've always thought, Not me. I could never adopt. I’m simply not good enough. There’s a soundtrack of accusatory voices stuck on repeat in your head telling you that you don’t have that kind of goodness in you.
Standing and fighting through a crisis—especially someone else’s crisis—brings goodness out of you that you didn't even know existed. You think you have a plan for your life, but you really have no idea what God will bring your way because you are His representative in His world.
You know you want to do something good with the little bit of goodness you have in you. You bear the image of God. And, if you’ve opened your heart to Jesus, He’s given you a new heart. Offer your goodness to God and see what He wants to do with it. You don’t really need to be special or talented to be used by God. You just have to be somebody that says yes.
This Daily Devotional was originally published at www.CalvaryFTL.org/DailyDevo
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