And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who know whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.’ Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Esther 4:12-17

After Mordecai’s prompting, Esther decided what she was going to do. Well, Mordecai’s prompting is, you’ll potentially either die with us now or definitely die with others later, your choice. Death and destruction were inevitable; what mattered was which side Esther was going to die fighting on. Between her decision and her action, she called in her community and closest confidantes to fast. She didn’t fast to decide what to do; she fasted to ready her heart for what she is about to do. She knew the consequences of her actions. She needed the strength for the possible worst.

Esther was specifically selected for this time and place, but she was not alone in the process. You are specifically selected for this time and place for the specific actions you are called to enact. Can you have both certainty and flexibility with your plans? You may want to do such, but can you allow for how it will pan out to shift? Who benefits, besides you, for the decisions you are about to make? Who can keep you accountable in that gap between decision and action? Who can you tell that you’re scared, you feel ill-equipped, you feel like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place?

I hope that you have such a person or peoples. I pray that beyond that you know you already have a posse in the Trinity. The Trinity always roots for deliverance, hope and renewal. I’m rooting for you to cross to that action, too!