my burning bush

Just yesterday my mom told me I should listen to a sermon she recently heard about Esther. She said she immediately thought of me and the decision I faced the last couple months. While my parents and brother were here visiting, I told them I've decided to stay in East Asia another year! Just in the last couple of months have I seen EA as "home." One of my best friends here told me she believes God brought her to our city to be sanctified. For whatever reason, he has used this place to help me change and grow. To grow in the process of being made holy.

 This decision didn't come without much prayer and deliberation...and stress. The Lord has given me peace to follow where he's leading me. But that doesn't mean I'm not scared!

I hadn't heard the story of Esther in a long time. After being exiled from her home and her parents passing away, Esther probably felt out of place.  Finding your place requires faith and trust- and not always clarity! I have been asking the Lord what is his plan for the next year of my life. I've been waiting for God to show me a burning bush...but unfortunately he doesn't usually work that way. He's asking me to be courageous.  Esther was courageous... "If I must die, I must die" (4:16)

"If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14

After a few weeks of deliberation, I couldn't sit around any longer without taking initiative. One of my best friends told me God allows us to make our own decisions and he gives us enough grace for every day and every decision. Whatever decision I made, God wouldn't leave me. Once I realized he's in control, it was easier to take the next step.