At one point or another in our lives, each of us faces something difficult. Something that shakes us to the core. Something that makes it hard to get out of bed each morning. Something that will drastically change your life.
And when those times come, we are given a choice. We can run and hide, not facing what's coming at us. Or we can stand up and take it, knowing that if our God is for us, nothing can be against us.
This week at girls club we learned about a young woman who was put in this exact situation. She could either sit back and not say anything, letting things get out of hand but being herself untouched, or she could stand up for what was right, even if that meant risking her life to save those she loved.
That girl was named Hadassah.
Well, at least at the beginning. She soon changed from her Jewish name to a Babylonian name you are probably more familiar with...
Esther.
This story had a lot of connection points for my girls.
Esther was an orphan; most of the girls who come to girls club are orphans. She didn't choose to be sent away from her cousin Mordecai; most of my girls didn't want to leave their families behind. She was a Jew in a time when Jews in Persia were despised; my girls are Christians in a Hindu nation that doesn't look kindly on them. She was given a challenge that required her to make a hard choice; someday my girls will face those hard decisions outside the walls of our campus.
I shared the story with my girls, pausing every now and then to remind them that Esther was a real girl. She was scared at times, angry, sad, and overwhelmed. Just like them.
At the end of the story I pointed out something that seemed a bit odd...God was never once mentioned in the book of Esther. You don't see Esther speaking to anyone, not even Mordecai about God. And the only mention of prayer is when she asked the Jews to fast and pray with her.
But God is never named. You don't read of her begging and pleading with God, asking for strength and courage to face the King.
As I did research about this, thinking that it was an interesting, maybe important, part of the story, I found a lot of different speculations on why God wasn't mentioned in this story. But I didn't agree with many of the articles I read. And the more I read through the story, the more I began to form my own speculation...
Esther didn't ask God to give her strength because she knew that He already WAS her strength.
She knew that God had raised her up and brought her to the palace to be Queen of Persia for a very, very specific reason. So when that reason came to light, she didn't question God. She didn't tell Him that she couldn't do it. She didn't petition for a different person to do the deed.
She knew it was her. All along. God had planned for HER to save her people.
And she knew that God was her strength. That the only way she would be able to face this seemingly insurmountable challenge on her own was if God was her strength.
I asked my girls what things came to mind when I said the word "strong." I got answers like a lion, a mountain, a man with muscles.
My answer was a little different.
A rock.
The Bible tells us that God is our ROCK and our salvation. That He is our mighty fortress. So I gave each girl a rock that had been washed and bleached. And I told them that, just like these rocks, each of our relationships with God is different.
Some of the rocks are big, some are small. Some are tan, some are black. Round, or dented. Striped, or speckled.
And, just like these rocks, each of our testimonies will be different. God will bring us through different trials. We will have to face different hardships.
BUT.
No matter what our rocks look like...they are still rocks. No matter what your testimony looks like...we still have the same strong God.
I encouraged the girls to paint their rocks. To put something on there that would remind them that God is our strength whenever they looked at it. Here are some of my favorites...
Premshila wrote "My God is rock" on the front, and Psalms 18:31 on the back. "So that I won't forget this verse. So that I won't forget how strong God is."
Saroja put "God is love", and colored it green with hearts and stars. She wanted to remember that God is strong, and He is love. Because "we need to love people strong."
Pampha decorated hers with a cross and different colored polka-dots to "remind me that God is the strength for all people."
At the end of the lesson, I wanted to make sure that my girls had understood the point. So I asked them "What do we need to remember? What will these rocks remind us of?" And collectively they all shouted "God is our strength!"
Music to my ears.
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