I’m a sound sleeper and seldom wake up during the night. However, like a rookie adult I had coffee a little late in the evening last night and woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Fine, I had a whole pot of coffee throughout the day. Just let me live my life. It was at this time that God decided to remind me that I am who He says I am. Let me explain.
Twice in the last couple weeks I’ve had to give a personal bio for something. I mean actually write down the details and submit it to someone else. I find this to be nerve wracking. Technically, you can’t mess that up except that you can. Some parts are obvious but knowing which pieces to highlight can be tricky.
I’ve also had to describe what I’m “doing now” to a couple of people who directly asked. What I am doing now is so tied up in who I am that to me they’re inseparable. For the record, I’m writing faith-filled words in this space and some that may or may not go in a book. I had to introduce myself to some fellow writers in an online group. They’ve never met me. How do I begin? I can’t tell them everything about me. I must pick out some key points and boil it down to what I believe to be most noteworthy or relevant. Will I look like a real amateur or even a fraud?
Do you struggle to identify yourself, too? What do we want the world to know about us? What kind of image do we have of ourselves? This affects the image we present to others.
I spent a substantial amount of time working on those bios. Granted they had some very distinct questions because of what they were for, but it got me thinking about who I am and who I want to be. I’m reminded of the popular Lauren Daigle song, “You Say.” If you’re not familiar with it, it’s worth looking up. Ultimately, its point is to help us believe what God says of us. So, what is that, exactly?
We are loved beyond measure by a God who is fundamentally good and cares enough to have a personal relationship with each of us. We are designed in the image of the Creator of all things. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are sons and daughters of the light. We are not mistakes. We are not accidents. We are not our past. We are not our current circumstances. We are more.
In fact, the more I thought about this the more I thought about the story of Queen Esther. It is a fascinating story – like a Biblical reality show. The short version is that Esther was one of many women forced to basically audition to be queen. She gradually earns everyone’s favor and the king chooses her. Esther was secretly a Jew. Mordecai, a family member who had looked after Ester following the death of her parents, learned of a plot by some of the king’s men to kill the Jews. He tells Ester she must convince the king to stop it. She would have to risk her life to save her people. Tough call.
Mordecai pleads with Esther and delivers this much-loved goodie in Esther 4:14. “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Esther was made for such a time as that. It was her moment. Spoiler alert, she saved her people. I laid in bed wide awake and thought about that story and especially that verse. Then I had to give up, get up and write this. Friends, maybe we are made for such a time as this.
What if that is who we are? People who were made for such a time as this. Can we identify ourselves as people who are living our purpose?
What if my bio or my “about me” sections said, “made for today?” What if yours said, “made for a time such as this?” Would it change how we approach each day? I think so.
No matter how you feel or what is happening in the world today, you are here for a divine purpose. Believe it. Know that God created you on purpose for this very moment in time. No one else is in your exact position with your exact design, your exact opportunities, or your exact qualifications. It doesn’t matter if you’re an orphan, a woman, an outcast or living a life you didn’t set out to live. You, friend, are God’s creation and you were made for such a time as this.
