Memo 416: A Slick Chick

As promised, this week (and maybe next) we will look at Esther and glean some helpful purpose lessons from her life.  We know that Esther was a queen and was instrumental in saving her fellow Jews from destruction by being in the right place at the right time.  How did she get to this place where she fulfilled her purpose, being used by God in a special way?  Let's look at three points that will answer that question:

1. Your past doesn’t prevent you from fulfilling your purpose, unless you allow it to do so.  “Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother” (Esther 2:7a).  Esther was an orphan. What’s more, she wasn’t even raised by an aunt or grandparent.  She was raised by her male cousin, Mordecai, in a foreign country where they were both minorities.  So Esther didn’t have much going for her in the natural.  She had God with her, however, and someone once said, “You plus God are a majority no matter how many others there are.”  Do you believe that?  If you do, then when will start acting like it?
2. You may be taking your obvious purpose for granted.  “This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and features, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died” (Esther 2:7b).  I love the way the Bible describes Esther.  One version states that she was beautiful “in face and form.”  In other words, Esther was a slick chick!  That may not seem very significant or even a bit "worldly," but her beauty was an important part of her purpose.  You can get so accustomed to who you are that you miss the obvious, which is why you may not be able to describe your purpose.  Your purpose may be so natural or “unspectacular” to you that is hard to recognize.  You may even take your beauty or some other feature for granted, when it may hold a key to fulfilling your purpose. 
3. God wants to build on your strengths and not your weaknesses.  “When the king's order and edict had been proclaimed, many girls were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king's palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. The girl pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven maids selected from the king's palace and moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem” (Esther 2:8-9).  Esther was beautiful, so what did God do?  He gave her people who would make her more beautiful!  Too often we spend too much time fretting about our weaknesses and consequently spend even more time trying to be who we’re not. If you’re doing that, please stop.  Focus on your strengths and be the best expression of who God made you to be.  God isn’t interested in well-rounded individuals. He wants to use specialists who have focused on being the best they can be. That’s the power of purpose.

So who are you?  Are you beautiful?  Can you play the piano?  Speak before people?  Play or coach basketball?  Can you write poetry?  Then this week ask yourself how you can be even better in those areas where you are already strong?  This week take time to focus on your strengths and please don’t allow your painful past, even your failures, to determine the extent to which God can use you today. God used Esther’s beauty to open doors for her and He will use your strengths to do the same for you, if you don’t try to diminish or ignore your strength.  This week determine to follow in Esther’s footsteps and be the best you can be.  Have a great week!

    Feel free to add your comments or insights to this post on PurposeParents on the site where it is posted.

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1. GOOD NEWS FOR THE REVELATION PROJECT!  Hallelujah!  We reached our goal!  Enough money came in to get the matching grant with a little extra left over.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for your help, giving and prayers that enabled us to see this campaign come to a successful conclusion.  Now I will work on cleaning up the manuscript and will try to have it published by year's end.  I will keep you posted.

2. BORN TO FLY INTERNATIONAL: This Wednesday is September 9 and Diana Scimone and her organization Born to Fly are having a special campaign to put a hurt on human trafficking and slavery.  The campaign is called 09-09-09 and the goal is to see 9,000 people give $9 toward a wordless book and companion curriculum that can be used anywhere in the world to educate children about the dangers they face from unscrupulous traffickers and smugglers. You can read my latest post about this project here or you can directly to the Born to Fly site or Diana's blog to read more about it.  I urge you to do your part to help stamp out this heinous crime this coming Wednesday or any time thereafter.  Thanks!

2. THE SOPHIA FUND UPDATE:  I will be in Kenya from September 28 to October 4 and have set a time to visit the orphans and those overseeing The Sophia Fund when i am there.  I am excited that the fund continues to grow.  Last week about $200 came in again and I am truly grateful.  You can read my latest report on The Sophia Fund here (written about three weeks ago).  You can also read about my rationale for The Fund here (named after my late mother).

Now that the Revelation Project is complete, please consider a contribution of at least $5 toward the fund and hopefully more. You can use the "Chipin" widget on the Monday Memo site to contribute, or go directly to my website to contribute there through PayPal, or send a tax-deductible check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. Make sure you let me know it is for The Sophia Fund. Don't delay; give today and make a difference in the world.

3. DAILY PROVERB: I am now posting a short daily devotional focusing on one verse every day on my blog site. If you would like to read it or subscribe to receive it, just go to my site and register there. I promise to have it updated every day.

4. FACEBOOK: My goal is to have 1,000 Facebook friends on FB by 12/31. Right now I have 615. I update my status on Facebook (you can find me by searching my email, [email protected]) every morning to include a daily verse from Proverbs and an inspirational quote. I do the same on Twitter @johnstanko. Go there to sign up and follow along.