Reconciliation

The Lord has been whispering to me about reconciliation this week.

I didn't see it at first. When the Good Morning Girls announced that their fall study would be Esther I'll admit I was a little bummed. I foolishly thought this: "I've already studied that'

You have those moments afterwards where you realize that the Lord is about the light you up. Let you know that His Word is so awesome and amazing and that you have barely scratched the surface of what you've read, let alone what you haven't read. So in the Good Morning Girls advertising they reminded me, "For such a time as this."

I'm in a season of struggling right now. Things are happening that involve the legal system and it's scary and I feel like my family is the crosshairs and I keep feeling so torn between what the world thinks I did wrong, the impressions of people in the world that I care about, and the deep seated feeling in the Lord that I didn't do anything wrong. But I live in the world. And the world has its rules and its rules are not always in line with what I believe or what my intensions were. What I'm learning right now is what it feels like to walk by faith and to pick up the bread crumbs that the Lord is leaving for me. Not that I think I'm on some Hansel and Gretel mission. I know the Lord is walking with me. But sometimes I let myself get wrapped up in my head and He reminds me that He's there and He's walking with me and that what He really wants is me to stop be so stubborn and hand this over to Him. Because guess what. I can't do a thing about it.

That's where I find myself in my prayer time now. I have prayed Phillipians 4:4-8 over myself and the day continuously.

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Just so I could concentrate on what was pure and lovely and true. Because the thoughts in my head were scary and not the truth, but not lies either.

And in the midst of all of this I have mourned a loss. And that's when Esther came along with her "For such a time as this"

Esther was taken and put into princess training camp. She was removed from her family. But she had to be there and she was able to get the king not to kill the Jews

I was reminded of Joseph. In Genesis 37 Joseph is removed from his family (yes I know his brothers are the ones that did this), but God never left Joseph and the story comes back around and in Genesis 45 he is reunited with his brothers and is able to save his family.

And our long heard story of being reunited. The prodigal. The father waits anxiously for his son and when his son makes the decision to return, he runs to him.

In all these stories the Lord reminded me that there are life circumstances and they are crazy and winding, but the Lord is always still for families. He's for reunification. And that sometimes there is a time apart and that things work out "For such a time as this."