Esther... no ordinary decision

I just got done reading the book of Esther.  A book of the Bible that I absolutely love.  I love that God used an ordinary person to do an extraordinary thing. Esther was ordinary… well, almost.  She was ordinary except for that she trusted in the Lord with all of her heart.  That is not ordinary.  A person who is willing to go to the king, knowing that she could die.  Knowing that if he doesn't want her there she will surely die.  She was an ordinary person, she had an extraordinary faith, an extraordinary love for her people.  She knew that if she didn't do SOMETHING that there would be NOTHING!  She would be without her people… and could ultimately be put to death herself. 

She steps out.  I'm pretty sure she wasn't comfortable in doing so.  I know this because she had a meeting with the king and Haman and doesn't say anything.  She invites them to another dinner and finally spills her guts about what is troubling her.  She was nervous.  She was afraid.  She was hesitant.  But she did what she knew she had to do.  ONE DECISION, that's all it takes to make a HUGE difference.  ONE DECISION!  WOW.

I love that at the end of the book of Esther the Jews are not only saved but they overpower those who hate them (Esther 9:1b).  They know the power of the Lord.  Haman gets hung with the work of his own hands.  He had a gallows prepared for Mordecai and the king decides to hang Haman on it.  Haman was so jealous of Mordecai he couldn't see straight, and then when he finally finds a way to get rid of him, the king finds out who Haman really is.

That's just like God isn't it.  We try and take our vindication for ourselves.  Revenge.  But the Lord says that He will vindicate us.  He WILL have justice.  Now that usually does not look like what we think it should look like.  He is also a forgiving, loving, sacrificing Father so He does things out of LOVE that seem CRAZY.  When you are crazy about someone you sometimes do weird things.  In God's case He does CRAZY things but they are PERFECTLY CRAZY!  He is God.  So as you go about your day today and every day ask yourself what decision can you make, can I make, that just might change somebody's forever.

Long Way Home

We went back home in July for Micah's sister's wedding. She is now happily married and I'm so excited for her and proud of her.  Here are some pictures of things we did on our trip.  I noticed that I don't have any pictures of Micah and I on Erin's wedding day which I'm not super happy about. Hopefully Erin's photographer has some that I can get. Anyways.... enjoy!
 

While we were back home Grandpa Ozzie taught the girls how to ride a dirt bike.  Oh boy were they thrilled!

Syssa caught on really quick.

Samara's turn to try it out.

She caught on really quickly too.

Nattie even gave it a shot.  Grandpa kept a hold of the throttle so she couldn't take off... or else I think she would have!

During our visit we all got haircuts.  Here's Nattie.

Samara

Syssa

Me

Micah and his mom.

Erin and her mom.

Girl night doing pedicures and painting toenails.

This was the old schoolhouse that they had the reception in.  I got to ride on scaffolding and put up the tool on the ceiling.  It was fun!  They got married on the lawn of this same schoolhouse.

Mama Jay already is emotional.

My three princesses.  And we already had a talk about how they had to space their weddings apart by more than a year each so I don't go crazy.  Maybe it's too early to talk about that with my girls but just in case it's not too early we've had a discussion... and they agreed.

Natalie and Samara were her flower girls and Syssa was a junior bridesmaid.  This is the girl side of the wedding party.

Me and my three.

Me

Mama Jay, Papa Oz, and the three.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The drive back home was long but it was a lot of fun doing it with my husband.  And the girls were pretty good traveling buddies too.  They watched movies and read books most of the time.  I LOVE my in car DVD system.

Hills

When I used to run cross country there was a hill at one of our meets in Reno.  Everyone hated tis hill because it was HARD-crazy HARD!  It was a windy hill and it was pretty steep.  The downhill portion of this hill was what everyone liked.  You could really pick up speed on the decline.

I must've been foolish-crazy even because I actually liked going up the hill.  Maybe the reason I liked doing this was because I was just different than everyone else.  I've never been like everyone else.  Another reason I think I liked doing the uphill was because that's where my legs and character were built.  It wasn't just about getting to the top, it was about the strength gained from pushing through, from not giving up.

Maybe I didn't pick up as much speed as I thought on the downhill.  I mean, I'm sure I picked up some, maybe even a lot of speed, but because my legs were so tired and rubbery--maybe that's why I felt like I was soaring down the hill.

People go through so much in life. Some of it is just being dealt a bad hand.  Some of it is that we give away good cards and trade them or even steal bad ones.  We do this by making bad decisions or doing something that we thought felt good at the time but ended up being not so good for us.  No matter what the reason is for our hard times-it still sucks.  There is retribution for those things but the consequences, most of the time, remain.

In life's uphill climbs, whether we are climbing because of a consequence, a bad hand, or just life, it's the attitude, and a teachable spirit that makes the biggest difference.  In every situation we shouldn't question "why is this happening to me?" or "why isn't life fair?" it's more about "what can I learn from this situation?"  I need to remember that with every step I take.