Less than a week after arriving to Germany I attended a public affairs symposium for my higher command. At this event I met a fellow PA named Sam. I immediately recognized her kindness in welcoming me to the area, the event, and making me feel noticed. I jotted down her name in my notebook that this is someone I would want to reach out to later because I just liked how approachable she was and I was in serious need of a friend at the time.
Fast forward two weeks later, I’m at the church I’ve attended once before, and none other than Sam walks in. Turns out, she goes to this church too and wasn’t there the first time I was. Turns out she’s the first person to stand up and welcome us, pass information about things going on in the church, etc. I was shocked. It’s not often at all in my life that the Marine Corps and my faith cross paths.
After church I was waiting with the people who had given me a ride and something just kept tugging at me to go say hello again and introduce myself as Brytani and establish a new connection. So, I finally did. And it changed everything for the better.
She remembered my name, remembered where I work and was again, wonderfully kind.
She invited me to a bible study at her house later that week, gave me her number, and went on her way. A few days later she reached out to me and introduced me to a friend who lives on my base who was willing to give me a ride to bible study, how awesome.
I’ll be honest, I had a terrible headache, a day I just could not be happy about, and a level of tired I just wanted to put to bed and sleep forever. But, I knew that I needed this bible study to fill my cup and it could only be for the better, especially since I’d be kicking myself later if I allowed myself to talk my way out of it. So, I went.
And. it. was. great.
We studied Esther 2, read together then went through on our own to note things we had questions about, people and their characteristics, etc., then had a discussion about our questions and studied to find the answers, finally, asking how do we apply this to our lives today?
In Esther 2, the decree is given for all young virgins to come to the King to go through the process to possibly become queen, and through that Queen Esther is chosen. Things we noticed, when the girls who went before her had their one night with the king then were sent to a second harem, they stayed there unless asked by name to be with the king another night. They lived there for the rest of their life like a widow, but lived luxuriously and were taken care of, although they were separated from their families and their previous lives forever. Its noted that the girls who were in waiting for after Esther was chosen also went to the second harem, even though they never had their one night with the king, and they remained there for their lives. (Some 400-ish young girls -Esther was only 14- were brought to be presented to the king, and we didn’t find where Esther fell in that line to be picked for how many went before and after her)
Esther waited one year through the beautification process and 10 months later had her night with the king and was then found favorable and became queen. Thats a long time to wait, without even knowing she would be found favorable and be selected. All the while, hiding her heritage of being a Jew.
*I got off on a tangent a little there about what we studied and things we learned, not the purpose of this blog post.*
Things of note I want to share that really just made me stop and think and see how I needed to maybe do something in my own life..
Life application: Esther didn’t hide her faith but she didn’t exploit it either. She acted gracefully and appropriately. To paraphrase John 13:35- They will know we are christians by our love. I think this is applicable because you don’t have to flaunt your faith, and in a place like Stuttgart, Germany, where Christianity is not the highest practiced faith, its recognizing that just being kind, generous, forgiving, obedient, and the likes will find you favor with the people around you.
My bible notes at the beginning of Esther that the author of Esther is not known but clearly wanted the readers to see the mystery of God’s hands in history. He chose to show how human decision and action are the instrumentation of divine purpose. In other words, listen to that still, small voice you hear telling you to take action of some sorts. I can attest to this very literally which lead me to this bible study (again, how cool is God).
Recap: Met Sam at PA symposium, saw her two weeks later at church, took action at the tug on my heart to reintroduce myself in a non-work capacity, was invited to bible study, came and studied something like divine intervention and purpose. Neat.
Lastly, recognizing that things happen for a specific reason, but God might not be revealing all that to you for now. Another girl said it like this, “What is happening down stream?” She referenced the story from Joshua 3 about a town being flooded because the water was not flowing down stream because the Israelites were crossing the Jordan river on dry ground. While the people being flooded were going through tough times, they didn’t realize it was due to something greater happening down stream.
Although Romans 8:28 says “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” We must pause and be humble that not everything is for our good all the time, sometimes our struggles are because good needs to happen for someone else for a greater purpose.
To use a recent terrible situation back home, the tragic loss of Parker. It’s devastating to the community and her family. But I saw one of her friends posting on social media that they recognized Parker’s love for Jesus and the family’s joy of knowing Parker is in heaven and they will see her again for eternity. This person felt the tug at their heart to get back into church and build their relationship with Jesus. If Parker needed to go be with the Lord at such a time in her young 21 year life, in order for her friends and the community to be closer to God and be saved through Jesus’s salvation, then we know she would have done that; and such is a story about tragedy happening for the greater good and glory of the kingdom.
God is good, all the time; all the time, God is good.
So, Whats happening in your life that isn’t comfortable but may be because something greater is happening downstream? Maybe so something greater can happen for you later?
So, Live; Through Travel 