Esther...

Here's a few more chapters from Esther...love this study!

• Some crises are too important for saving face.  Saving lives is worth losing face every time.  When was the last time you had to risk losing face to try to save something more precious than pride?  
• In God's economy saving is always worth losing.
• Repentance is not your punishment.  It's your glorious right of daughter-ship.  Your invitation is to restoration.
• As painful as the process may be, that which shatters our superficiality also shatters the fetters of our fragility and frees us to walk with dignity and might to our destinies.  We are not the fragile flowers we've considered ourselves to be.  We, like Esther, are the warrior princesses of God.
• We tend to detach from sights and situations that make us feel badly about ourselves-especially when we feel powerless.  If we think we can't do anything about a bad situation, we'd just as soon not have to see it.  But, if we distance ourselves long enough from real needs, we replace them with those that aren't.  The more detached and self-absorbed we become, the more we mistake annoyances for agonies.
• Sometimes we fear that fighting for what is right will kill us.  Then again, it occurs to us that to stand by and do nothing out of self-preservation is to be dead already.
• You are royalty.  Not figurative royalty.  Not just spiritual royalty.  You are the most literal sense possible the daughter of the universe's King.  You have royal blood in a way that even Esther did not.  The crimson bloodline of Christ flows through your veins.
• Not only are you royalty but you also have been placed in your sphere of influence, regardless of the size you perceive it to be, "for such a time as this."
• We can refuse to walk in obedience to God or cower in fear from our calling and He will undoubtedly still accomplish His agenda.
• We are not called to an easy life, we are called to a purposeful life!
• Sometimes our most important moments come hand-in-hand with our willingness to reveal that we aren't really who we've seemed to be.
• We can protect ourselves right out of our callings.
• There is no denial in courage.  Don't confuse denial with courage.
• You may be one brave decision away from the most important turn in your entire path!
• We cannot have conditional faith - "I believe God will never let this happen to me" and if it does - you're done!
• Most frequent command in the Bible is "don't be afraid."
• God will always offer us the courage.
• It's tough being a woman in the tight fist of fear.
• Satan has no authority to destroy us, so he settles for the next best thing:threatening to destroy us.
• Our natural human defense is to grovel before God and plead with Him not to let things happen.  Our conditional trust not only makes us an open target for enemy torment; it also positions us as negotiators and beggars before God instead of secure children who trust their lives to their faithful Father.  
• Those times when our fears become reality we feel devastated.  We think God is unfaithful and Satan essentially gets what he wants - us to believe that life is over.  Unless our belief system changes, for all practical earthly purposes, it is.  After all, as a man thinks, so is he (Proverbs 23:7).
• The most critical breakthrough of faith you and I could ever experience is to let God bring us to a place where we trust him - period.  We don't just trust Him to let us avoid what we fear most.  We determine to trust Him no matter what, even if our worst nightmare befalls us.  We have no greater victory and can render Satan no harsher blow.
• Our only steadfast defenses against life's certain uncertainty is unconditional trust in a Savior who loves us more than His own life.
• Any time God calls us to die, His purpose is to reveal larger life.
• One reason we desperately need to know our standing in God's eyes is so we aren't consumed with high standing in our own eyes or the eyes of others.
• Embarrassment is our friend when we let it motivate us to change.
• Admitting we have an area of brokenness is a huge step toward wholeness.
• We will never fulfill our God ordained destinies as long as we're straddling the fence!
• Never in our wait is God inactive.
• Whenever God calls us to wait, something is up and we have to trust Him!
• The longer the Lord waits, the harder He's working.
• Our strength will be depleted when we wait on the thing, the person, the event - but when we wait on the Lord it will be renewed!
• It's tough being a woman who can balance passion with patience.