Follow Me Forward

ESTHER Reflection

Follow Me Forward

By Holly Gernatt, BSN, RN

Flight Nurse | Educator

Opening Reflection

There are seasons when you stop long enough to look around and realize that God has been doing far more than you understood while you were living through it.

The difficult seasons.

The closed doors.

The unexpected opportunities.

The places you never intended to be.

The experiences that stretched you.

The moments when you thought you were wandering.

And then suddenly, pieces begin to connect.

You look at your career, your family, your faith, and the person you are becoming, and you begin to wonder whether some of what felt random was actually preparation.

I have found myself in one of those seasons.

I can look at where I am professionally and see how one experience prepared me for another. I can look at my life and recognize growth that I could not see while it was happening. Most importantly, I can look at my relationship with Jesus and recognize that He has been patiently drawing me closer to Him.

But sometimes, right when we begin moving forward, the past starts making noise.

Old memories resurface.

Old mistakes.

Old beliefs.

Old versions of ourselves.

Fear begins asking whether we are really capable of stepping into whatever comes next.

And sometimes another question follows:

Who am I to do this?

That is where the enemy loves to work.

Yet Scripture continually reminds us that God does not require a spotless history before He can use a surrendered life.

Sometimes He redeems where we have been.

Sometimes He uses what we have endured.

And sometimes we discover that the place we are standing today may have been years in the making.

The Enemy's Tactict

Keep You Looking Backward So You Are Afraid to Move Forward

One of the enemy's most effective tactics is convincing us that our history disqualifies us from our future.

He brings back old failures when God presents new opportunities.

He reminds us of who we were when God begins revealing who we are becoming.

He magnifies fear when obedience requires courage.

And sometimes he does not need to convince us to abandon God completely.

He simply needs to make us hesitate long enough to remain where we are.

Fear can sound practical.

You are already tired.

You have enough responsibility.

What if you fail?

What if you misunderstood God?

What if you're not ready?

What if your past catches up with you?

But fear and calling can exist in the same moment.

The presence of fear does not necessarily mean the absence of God.

The Lie

“Your past has disqualified you, and you are not enough for what comes next.”

The enemy would love for us to believe that God only calls people who already feel qualified, confident, rested, certain, and prepared.

Scripture tells a very different story.

Peter denied Jesus before becoming one of the boldest proclaimers of the Gospel.

Moses questioned his ability to speak.

Gideon questioned why God would choose him.

And Esther was an orphaned Jewish woman living in exile who eventually found herself standing in the palace of the most powerful empire of her time.

God has never been limited by the weakness of the person He chooses.

The question is not always:

“Am I enough?”

Sometimes the better question is:

“Will I trust God enough to take the next step?”

Biblical Truth to Stand On

Romans 8:1

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Your past may teach you, shape you, and humble you, but in Christ it does not have the authority to condemn you.

Hebrews 13:5

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

God's presence does not disappear when the next step becomes uncomfortable.

John 14:16–17

Jesus promised His followers that the Holy Spirit would remain with them.

We are not expected to navigate calling, uncertainty, or transition alone.

Philippians 3:13–14

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal.”

Paul understood that following Christ requires refusing to remain imprisoned by what is behind us.

2 Corinthians 5:17

“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.”

Your identity is not permanently attached to who you once were.

Isaiah 43:18–19

“Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”

Sometimes we are so busy studying the road behind us that we miss the new road God is placing in front of us.

John 21:19

“Follow me.”

After Peter's failure and restoration, Jesus did not give him a complicated explanation of his future.

He gave him an invitation.

Follow Me.

Biblical Reflection: Esther — For Such a Time as This

Read: Esther 2:5–17; Esther 3:8–15; Esther 4:1–17; Esther 7:1–6

Esther's story takes place during the Persian Empire, generations after the people of Judah had been carried into Babylonian exile.

Some Jewish people had returned to Jerusalem, but many remained scattered throughout the Persian Empire.

Esther was one of them.

Her Hebrew name was Hadassah.

She had lost both of her parents and was raised by her cousin Mordecai.

Nothing about her childhood would have suggested that one day she would become queen.

She was an orphan.

A Jewish woman living in a foreign empire.

A member of a vulnerable minority.

And yet, through a series of circumstances Esther could never have orchestrated herself, she eventually became queen.

At first, she did not even reveal her Jewish identity.

She could not possibly have understood everything that would eventually depend upon where she had been positioned.

Then everything changed.

A powerful official named Haman developed a hatred for Mordecai and devised a plan that threatened the lives of Jewish people throughout the Persian Empire.

Suddenly Esther's position in the palace meant something entirely different.

Mordecai sent her a message.

He warned her not to assume that living inside the palace would protect her from what was coming.

And then he said the words that have echoed through generations:

Esther 4:14

> “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Notice what Mordecai does not say.

He does not say:

Esther, I know exactly what God is doing.

Instead he says:

Who knows?

Perhaps now they were beginning to understand why Esther had been positioned where she was.

The orphan.

The exile.

The young woman who never planned to become queen.

Suddenly she was one of the few people capable of approaching the king on behalf of her people.

But Esther was afraid.

And she had good reason to be.

Going before the king without being summoned could result in death.

Her calling did not suddenly make the danger disappear.

Her faith did not make her fearless.

Instead, Esther did something incredibly important.

Before she acted, she sought God.

She told Mordecai:

Esther 4:16

“Fast for me.”

She asked the Jewish people in Susa to fast for three days. Esther and her attendants would do the same.

Then she made her decision.

“I will go to the king… And if I perish, I perish.”

Esther's courage did not come from believing she was powerful enough.

It came after surrender.

She recognized the risk.

She acknowledged her fear.

She sought God.

And then she moved.

That may be one of the most important lessons in Esther's story.

Calling does not always feel comfortable.

Sometimes it arrives wrapped in responsibility.

Sometimes it stretches us beyond what we would voluntarily choose.

Sometimes we look at what is in front of us and think:

Lord, I believe You may be calling me into this—but I am tired.

I'm afraid.

I don't know whether I'm ready.

Esther reminds us that obedience does not require pretending those feelings are not there.

It means taking them to God before allowing them to make the decision for us.

And perhaps one of the most remarkable parts of Esther is that God's name is never explicitly mentioned in the book.

There is no burning bush.

No audible voice from heaven.

No prophet announcing Esther's destiny.

Instead, God's providence is recognized through the unfolding of her life.

Only later can the pieces be seen together.

An orphan becomes queen.

Her identity remains hidden.

A threat emerges against her people.

And suddenly she realizes that where she has been placed may carry responsibility she never anticipated.

Sometimes we do not recognize God's leading while He is leading us.

We recognize it when we look backward.

Now I understand why I went through that.

Now I understand why that door closed.

Now I understand why I learned that.

Now I understand why God placed those people around me.

Now I understand why I am here.

Esther's story does not tell us that every opportunity automatically comes from God.

It teaches us to prayerfully consider whether the experiences, relationships, abilities, and positions entrusted to us might be preparing us to serve in ways we could not previously see.

And sometimes the question before us becomes:

Lord, have You been preparing me for this?

Not because we feel fearless.

Not because we feel perfectly qualified.

But because somewhere beneath the fear, there is a quiet conviction:

Follow Me forward.

Reflection Questions

1. Where can I now see God's preparation in seasons that once seemed disconnected?

Look back at your experiences, relationships, hardships, opportunities, and even disappointments. Are there things you learned years ago that suddenly make sense in the season you are entering now?

2. Is fear revealing that something is wrong—or simply revealing that the next step will require deeper dependence on God?

Ask yourself what specifically you are afraid of. Failure? Responsibility? Fatigue? Change? Losing something comfortable? Bring those fears honestly before God rather than allowing fear alone to make the decision.

3. What might “for such a time as this” look like in my life right now?

You may not have complete certainty about where God is leading. Esther did not either. But consider what God has already entrusted to you and ask:

Lord, what would faithfulness look like in this season?

Closing Prayer

Father,

Thank You for every place You have carried me, including the seasons I did not understand while I was walking through them.

Thank You for the doors You opened, the doors You closed, the lessons You taught me, and even the difficult places You have redeemed.

When my past tries to tell me that I am disqualified, remind me that my identity is found in Christ.

When fear tells me to remain comfortable, give me wisdom to know the difference between caution and disobedience.

When I am tired, teach me to depend upon Your strength rather than pretending I have enough of my own.

And when opportunities appear before me, help me not to chase titles, recognition, or position. Instead, help me ask how I can faithfully serve You and the people You have placed in my care.

Give me the discernment of Esther to seek You before I move.

Give me the courage to obey even when obedience carries a cost.

And if I ever find myself wondering why You have brought me to a particular place, remind me that You see the entire story even when I can only see the chapter in front of me.

Help me release what is behind me.

Help me recognize what You are doing around me.

And when I hear You say, “Follow Me,” give me the faith to follow You forward.

In Jesus' name, Amen.