I’ll admit that I’m a little anxious about something. A month or so ago I was asked to speak to a Bible study group about Eve’s Sisters, and at the time it seemed like a good idea. One of the members invited me to attend Saturday’s session as they begin the study of the book of Esther in the Old Testament. Based on a Beth Moore book, this series is phenomenal.

Thanks to my sister-in-law Karen, I found out about the Esther series four years ago and met with a group of women at FBC in Camden. We met once a week to explore the life of this brave woman, and this experience changed my life. It also led to the creation of Eve’s Sisters, my book demonstrating the application of psychological and spiritual principles to the women of the Bible and comparing their lives to the lives of women who live today.

I came home that first night and tried to tell my husband all about what I had learned. I say tried because although I told him, I fell short in conveying the excitement I felt. I was onto something big time! By the fourth meeting, I was intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally hooked. How could I have missed such layers of lessons in this relatively short book? How could someone like Esther, a beautiful young orphan who became a queen, teach me so much?

For starters, until four years ago I didn’t know that the most frequent instruction in the Bible is to “be not afraid.” “Fear not,” we’re told. Or “be of a good courage,” one of my favorites from Joshua. Even after I learned it at the Bible study on Esther one evening, I had to go home and check it out for myself. Ever the skeptic, I couldn’t’ take the teacher’s word for it. Turns out she was right. Even more than to love one another, we’re told to have courage, to go for it.

I loved the Esther series. The things I learned emboldened me and gave me just the nudge I needed to be a bit braver in a few areas instead of worrying so much about other people’s opinions or approval. Within a couple of weeks I had started a blog entitled Eve’s Sisters, and the following year, I began developing it into a book. 

So on the eve of the eve when I’m going to be speaking to a group about Eve, Esther, Ruth, Mary, and all of the other “sisters” who demonstrated courage, I’m trying to muster up a little of it myself. Why am I feeling so apprehensive? There’s surely someone there who needs a little nudge to go for it, someone who needs reminding to “be not afraid.”