The Courage of Esther

As my senior year is winding down, I've begun to realize just how soon I'll be finished with highschool and headed off to college. It's one of those things that you know will come someday, but you never really think about how quickly it will get here, you know what I mean? & I'll be honest, I'm pretty scared about it.

I'm one of those people who absolutely hate getting out of my comfort zone. It's called a comfort zone for a reason & I want to stay there! I'm comfortable right here in little Camden, SC with all the people I've grown up with and gone to school with for 12 years. I'm comfortable in a place where I know where everything is and I know what to do and where to go. That's probably why I'm so nervous about college. I'm nervous about going to a place where I hardly know anybody or anywhere. I'm nervous about playing a college sport. I'm nervous about making friends, signing up for the right classes and getting kind teachers. & really, I'm only going 30 minutes away and I'll have my sister there with me! How pathetic is that?

But just the other day I was reading the book of Esther, and realized how much I could learn from her response to her situation. Esther faced death (!) yet she pushed through her fear and did what was required of her to save her people. If she can face death and not let her fears hinder her, I'm pretty sure I can face college :) One of my favorite verses is the dialogue between Esther and Mordecai:

"...you may have been chosen for such a time as this."

It gives me peace knowing that God cares even about my petty fears and that he has a purpose for me at Coker College. He won't just desert me and make me face it all alone; there is a reason I'm supposed to be there and I can't let my fear of being uncomfortable keep me from doing what God wants me to do. Another verse in that same chapter gives me the courage to look past what frightens me and to push through. Esther says:

"Then I will go to the king, even though it is against the law, and if I die, I die."

If Esther had the courage and strength to face death for the purpose God called her to, then I can face my fears of being uncomfortable as well.