This is a guest post by Mercy Ndirangu.
I will be doing an article every Wednesday or a story on inspiration. I have been praying for God’s guidance on what to write. I don’t know what God is trying to teach you and me but will find out together in the course of this series. This year’s theme in my Church (AIC Milimani) is about going back to basics and our Senior Pastor Rev Dr. Matthews Mwalwa’ has been executing this topic with a lot of intelligence and passion which has made me choose the topic, “Back to Basics” as part of where my inspirational stories will be based on for a period of one month.
I will start by going back to basics in Salvation. I have been reading the book of Esther and will be using it as part of my reference. Now you may be wondering where to find the book right? When you open the good book (The Bible) in the Old Testament, the book of Esther is between Nehemiah and Job. The book of Esther has only 10 chapters and it contains a remarkable story of God deliverance of his people from a severe crisis that threatened to destroy them completely. The story talks about how God took two people (Mordecai and Esther) at a very low point in their spiritual lives and through spiritual growth enabled them to function as saviors of his people.
This story sheds light on some basic principles on which God operates in our lives. This week will talk about the first principle. Do you ever ask yourself questions like, why I’m I going through this? Why are these things happening to me? Am I really God’s child? Does God really have plans for me as he states in Jeremiah 29:11? The list is endless. Well I stopped asking myself these questions one year ago after I came to understand how God operates and why I go through the difficulties and challenges.
One principle that comes out clear from the book of Esther is that God is always behind the scenes in our lives, controlling the things that happen. For Esther to have been the queen, series of Events took place in Chapter one, King Xerxes decides to hold a feast for all the noble and officials for a period of 180 days showing the vast wealth of his Kingdom. The king calls on queen Vashti to entertain his guest; she refuses and says she can’t dance for drunken men. The King consults the experts of the law as it was customary in those days on what must be done to Queen Vashti and it was decided that Queen Vashti be killed for not obeying the King . It is after her death that a process of looking for a new queen start and in Chapter 2 we are told of how Esther was made Queen.
When you look at the two chapters God is not mentioned anywhere but you can see the grace that he had accorded Esther. You are the Esther of today; Are there situations in your life that are falling in place but you don’t understand how they are adding up? J I know that smile it has happened to me too. You were created for a purpose. It was not a mistake that you were born in Kenya, Zambia, Eritrea or South Sudan. It wasn’t a mistake that you are a Kalenjin, Kikuyu or a Maasai. It is not a mistake that you were born the first born or the second born or you are from that rich or poor background. God choose that place so you can grow with values that align with your destiny and purpose. But first things first……..
In the book of Esther anyone would have been the Queen but God had chosen Esther and nothing would have stopped her to be queen. God has chosen you and nothing will stop you from being what he intends you to be. You might be going through a lot of difficulties but there is something that God wants to teach you in that situation. Ask him to give you tolerance and believe in him.
I remember the first time I came to Nairobi for My internship at Royal Media services; Citizen TV. I had to stay with my aunt, it is not easy to stay with a relative that you haven’t been close with, every time I would complain on everything and I forgot God was preparing me for a bigger thing. I remember the last day of my internship in December 2011 I would peep at the gate to see if my dad had arrived from Nakuru to pick me up because I seriously wanted to leave my aunt’s house. To cut the long story short God was training me on how to handle different people and to exercise patience. They are many good things that I learned from my Aunt that came to shape my character for better and I have come to adore her day by day.
Your story maybe different but what I’m trying to say is that God is always behind the scenes of our lives, let go and let God , you may be the next Paul of today or Samuel, David, and Abraham the list is endless. You need to allow Jesus Christ to work in you to use you for his ministry after all only the potter can tell the purpose of the clay object he has made (Romans 9:16, Isaiah 28:16) Next week I will write about coincidence in our lives are not accidents, but are God’s way of demonstrating to us that he is present and he is having his way in our lives.