For such a time as this. my new favorite bible verse by far. over the past weekend, i went to the deeper life “thrive” retreat that i go to every year with my church. you know- cold weather, bonfires, jesus. everything that screams taylor morgan. every year, we have a different theme that we go off of, and this year’s- “for such a time”. the book of esther to be exact. not being very familiar with the story of esther, i was immediately intrigued by her story, (especially being that we rarely hear about women’s stories in the bible; it’s typically men. GIRL POWER, am i right ladies??) and it’s easy for me to say that it’s now one of my favorite books in the bible.
In case you aren’t familiar with the story of Esther, i’ll give you a rundown. esther is the beautiful jewish wife of persian King Xerxes, and the king’s chief minister, Haman, convinces xerxes to approve the annihilation of jews throughout the empire (keep in mind, esther is also a jew). upon hearing this, esther’s cousin, Mordecai, convinces Esther to plead the king to reverse this. esther says that if she approaches the king without being summoned he might possibly kill her, and mordecai responds with, “and who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” or in another translation- “perhaps this is the moment you were created for”. esther boldly goes in attempt to save her people. sure enough, the jews were saved. (there’s a lot more to the story, but i’ll keep it short for the sake of this post)
Esther, knowing full and well she could possibly be killed, courageously approached the king, and ultimately saved her people- all because of her faith in God. chapter 4, verse 16, esther says, “If i perish, i perish.” her complete trust in god lead to her saving the entire jewish population. yall. how freaking amazing is that. i want to have the faith, boldness and trust in god that esther had. god worked through a jewish girl, one who had no intent of even being queen in the first place. the verse- for such a time as this. god puts us EXACTLY where we are for a reason!!! the same way he put esther in the position as queen. he. is. sovereign. and because of that we are to live every single day doing everything we can to glorify his name!!!! romans 8:28- “god works for the good of those who love him.”
I absolutely can not describe to you how much this story has spoke to me. more often than not, i find my self wanting to skip ahead to the good part. leaving for the world race next year has me in a season of waiting. “come on, you just have to get through this one last year of high school” or just simply wishing the days away. when in fact, god wants to use me right now. right where i’m at. not just overseas but in my small town in georgia. at my school. in my community. in my house. he has put me in the exact place i am at for a reason. he has given me the friends i have, the place i live, everything that i know, all for one reason. to glorify him. and there’s no reason for me to waste that.
After getting back from the retreat, i decided i wanted to watercolor the verse “for such a time as this” into my journaling bible. typically when i read my bible and spend time with the lord i listen to worship music- but i really wanted to listen a podcast ive been listening to the last few days, (called Up and Vanished, about a girl who went missing in georgia in 2004, HIGHLY recommend) which is weird because when painting, i never listen to anything other than worship music. i’m currently on episode 6, which is the first episode where we hear a recording of the voice of the girl who went missing. she was at a beauty pageant and on the day she went missing, a judge asks her, “What is your greatest fear in life?”. as i have just finished watercoloring some flowers on my bible pages, i am about to write the phrase “such a time as this” when the girl answers, “I really don’t have a great fear in life. Whenever I have a hard time, whenever I feel like I’m down, I just pray, and know that the Lord is gonna see me through.” I immediately started to tear up. God said, “this is the mentality I want you to have.” pretty good timing if you ask me. I see you, god. reminds me a lot of esther saying, “if i perish, i perish.”
To everyone who has taken the time out of their day to read my blog posts, THANK U!!!
All the love,
Taylor Morgan
