Have you ever felt as if your destiny has been taken? This is the way Esther must have felt when she was first removed from her cousin Mordecai’s home and taken to the king’s palace to become a part of the king’s harem (Esth. 2:8). Whatever Mordecai’s plans were for her, they were certainly upended by the king’s command for his men to gather up all the young women in the kingdom and bring them to him (see Esth. 2:2-4).
Maybe when the opposition seems unbeatable, you wonder if God cares. You may feel alone in the world with its suffering, injustice and pain. But you are not alone. God promises never to leave you or forsake you, and He does not send harm to come upon His daughters. But there is a very real enemy that seeks to steal, kill and destroy all your hope. He doesn’t want you to know or fulfill your destiny. He will try to prevent you from discovering and living it by causing you to blame God for the evil that the devil sends into your life.
But we have the power to choose: Do we continue to live as victims, or do we take on the righteousness and salvation of Christ and live as victors?
What do you do when life becomes too tough? You may think: What can I do with all my troubles and baggage to help anyone else? How could my life, reputation, comfort and future be used to rescue others?
Great faith often emerges out of desperation and anguish, and people who perform brave deeds always battle fear and inadequacy. The hand of God is at work in the lives of His people. Just as He used the circumstances in Esther’s life to raise her to become queen (Esth. 2:17), He can also use the decisions and actions in your life to providentially work out His divine plans and purposes for you.
We can trust in the Lord’s sovereign care over every aspect of our lives. God is invisibly at work, making even life’s greatest disappointments and tragedies links in a chain of good things yet to come.
We cannot see the end of things from the middle, and we must walk by faith, not by sight. The Lord will bring a greater good, His perfect plan, out of all the frustration we feel and out of all the evil we experience. When all is said and done, God uses even injustice to fulfill His promises to us. God is present in every scene and in the movement of every event until He ultimately and finally brings everything to a marvelous climax as He proves Himself Lord of His people.
As you start to see yourself through God’s eyes, you’ll begin to sense the depth of His love for you—and the limitless beauty He’s placed within you—although you have seen ashes before you’ve seen beauty. Let Him replace your emptiness and pain with His rich and deeply rooted love.
This is your moment to be healed and set free. The Lord will give you beauty for your ashes. Ashes refer to the adversities in life, and beauty refers to how the Lord can turn around those adversities so that He is glorified.
I want to declare to you, woman of God, that everything can be taken from you, including your dignity, but the power to choose what attitude you have toward the traumatic events that have happened to you will never be taken away. Choose to praise God for what you have endured and the victory He has for you. Beyond the pain in life, there is God’s promise that He will work all things together for your good because you love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). {eoa}
This article was excerpted from Chapter 1 of The Esther Anointing by Michelle McClain-Walters.
Curt Landry 
Michael L. Brown 
Rabbi Eric Tokajer 
