Defining Moments

What is a defining moment? Who decides? Who gets to choose? They happen in every one's life. Some lives have multiple moments, but every life has at least one. When do you know it's a defining moment? Usually, you don't look at it as defining until you are looking back on it.

Throughout the Bible, we see many people who walked through their defining moments. Some of those moments left the people hurting, after they "chose poorly," to borrow the phrase from Indiana Jones. Adam and Eve chose poorly and they were kicked out of Eden and the life they knew was over. Others, however, were carried into much love and success, as was Joseph and Daniel and many others, who held faithful to God even in the midst of events that could have ended their lives.

My favorite of all the defining moment stories is the one told of Esther. Esther, a.k.a. Hadassah, was kidnapped in the night, from her home and taken to the palace, along with all the other virgins in the village. The girls were pampered and given queen lessons, but it was Esther who won the heart of the king. Her uncle, who had raised her from the time she was a child, sent a message to her, that the king and his men were plotting to wipe out all the Jews in the land--being Jewish, herself, that struck fear in her heart. However, in those days, to approach her husband the king, without being summoned, would have cost her her life.

After a short time, her uncle send her a second message: "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. and who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14). Esther's future and the lives of the Jews stood at a precipice. Do nothing and all was lost. Speak up, and who knows...?

What about you? Have you ever faced a decision that could change your future forever? Perhaps the decision you had to face was not "life or death," like Esther's, but maybe yours would bring about the death of your dreams.

I had a decision like that to make. I had stopped at a friend's house on the way home one night and when I was about to leave, I was upset because I didn't know what I wanted for my future. My friend asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I said I didn't know. She looked at me and said, "Yes, you do." So I began to cry and said that I wanted to write. I've always wanted to write. Being able to write was my saving grace as a child, it gave me a stress release as a young adult and teenager. Writing has always been my companion. When I stood in my friend's entryway, crying, I was fearful. I had this passion deep inside of me and I wanted God to bless it, but I didn't know if He would. My friend looked at me and said that I needed to give it over to God to do what He wanted to do with it. I said I was afraid, because what if He didn't want me to write anymore? She said that if He didn't want me to write anymore, He'd take away the desire from my heart. I cried and we prayed and I gave my gift to God that night. Since that night, I've been writing things for God's glory. Thank you, Lord, for this gift you've given me.

The reason that such stories, like the story of Esther, who did go against tradition and approach the king without being summoned, are in the Bible, is so that they can teach us. We will all have at least one defining moment in our lives. Your most important one might still be before you. I pray that as you approach decisions that make you hold your breath, that you would think back to Esther and remember, "And who knows but that you have come...for such a time as this."