Saturday’s discussion about Eve’s Sisters went well.  As mentioned in a previous post, I had the good fortune to meet with a group of women who are beginning a study of the book of Esther in the Old Testament. The course is based on materials developed by Beth Moore, and I took the same course four years ago.

On Saturday, we met in someone’s lovely lakeside home to discuss a woman who lived in a harem. Except for one person, we were all well into midlife or beyond; the woman who brought us together (in a manner of speaking) was young and beautiful, a queen. We wore jeans, slacks, sweaters, t-shirts, and other attire appropriate for the 21st century; the beautiful, young queen who brought us together wore queenly robes.

As I told the “Bible study girls” (they even had great purple t-shirts to commemorate their membership in the group) on Saturday, Beth Moore’s Esther course was the primary impetus behind writing Eve’s Sisters. As a friend of mine said, “Esther’s the bomb!” And she really is! Even though she lived centuries ago, her lessons in courage and faith are still affecting women today. Without her example, Eve’s Sisters wouldn’t have even become a blog, much less a book. Too, I could have used the sorry excuse of not having a publisher to avoid putting my work out there. But then, I remembered Esther and chose a different path.

Of the many things we discussed on Saturday, common themes between Esther’s life and those of women today came up. Some people  in the group had suffered abuse. All had experienced ups and downs with the men in the lives. Some had self-esteem issues. One confessed to being like the “bad girls of the Bible” when she was younger and told us about a book of the same title. As the morning progressed, it became more and more apparent that human nature hasn’t changed. Women now and then are essentially the same.

The truth is that although no one at the launch of the Esther study has ever lived in a harem or gone before a king to plea for the lives of her people, every single one of us has had times when we were worried sick over something that we could do little about except pray and have faith that things would work out. However, more often than not, there were situations in our lives (still are!) that we could have taken action on and perhaps changed the history of not only our own lives but those of generations to come.

Esther saved her people from death. What can you do? You could be one little step away from fulfilling your destiny. Will you say yes? Will you speak up, make a call, take a class, or volunteer? Will you fight harder for your marriage?  Are you brave enough to say, “If I perish, I perish?” and then go for it?

I’m hoping that this group of women will learn some valuable lessons from Esther. I know  I did. As mentioned, she’s the one who gave me the final nudge to write Eve’s Sisters. Judging from Saturday’s collective energy, I have a feeling that there’s going to be a lot of pondering and changing taking place among these 20 women and their families within the next couple of months.