Welcome to the Determined to Dance podcast with your host, Jennifer Hallmark. Today’s episode, Encouragement: Leaving Room for the Unexpected, focuses on having a plan and also being spontaneous when it comes to the art of encouraging.

Are you ready? The world would have us march to its chaotic beat but God invites us to dance in His will and His way. Let’s take a moment to be energized, refreshed, and motivated to face the day, one spin and twirl at a time.

Show notes: Encouragement: Leaving Room for the Unexpected

I love being an encourager almost as much as I enjoy being built up, stirred up, and lifted up by others. It’s an important part of our dance with God. And in the midst of these chaotic times, it’s more important than ever to support our family, friends, people in general. God has placed us in the world for such a time as this.

The most quoted passage from the book of Esther in the Old Testament is spoken by her Uncle Mordecai when he learned that the king’s advisor, Haman, planned to wipe out the Jewish people. He said in Esther 4:13-14, “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther probably didn’t want to be where she was, ripped away from her home to a strange, exotic place in the king’s palace. But after learning that her people, the Jews, would soon be destroyed, and speaking with her uncle, she went uninvited to the king, boldly ready to die for her people.

How does this fit into encouraging in 2021? Queen Esther proved to be both spontaneous and a young woman with a plan. The balance she showed is the way we need to step out in the world today as children of the King.

Esther looked at all the facts and moved by faith when first taken to the palace. She respected her Uncle and the King’s eunuch and found favor everywhere. We also move by faith as we seek to encourage others, planning to be a light in the darkness while still reacting to the nudges of our heavenly Father, pointing out the path for us to follow.
Queen Esther spontaneously went before the king uncalled for, which could be penalized by death, but found favor in his sight by her unselfish action. When we know God has sent us to reach out to others, we can move with a right heart attitude and let His light shine through us, as we focus on other people’s needs.
Queen Esther had a plan to save her people and herself. She arranged two lavish banquets and first met the needs of the king before presenting her request to save God’s people, including herself. As we focus on encouraging others, we move into a place of being able to then petition our king for what is on our hearts, for ourselves and our family.

As we navigate our way through the days ahead, there are ways to achieve the balance that Queen Esther had. First, we need to allow time in our daily schedule for spontaneity. If we have already overplanned every minute of every day, we have no room to move when God stirs our hearts. I totally get that some days are going to be super busy but we can try to leave openings during our week for God to speak to us on behalf of others. Sometimes, it’s a card, a phone call, an email, or a briefly spoken prayer lifted to the One who has all the answers.

Second, we plan to encourage. We can schedule in ways to cheer, inspire, and reassure others, especially in times of loss or tragedy. God will show us the way when we take time to ask and then listen.

Small acts of kindness can be likened to a light summer breeze on a muggy, Alabama afternoon. When I’m outside on a day like that, a breeze can bring hope. Hope that it won’t always be hot and that fall is not that far away.