The Courage of a Queen

For many years my heart has been endeared to the Jewish girl made queen, Esther.  I reluctantly admit that it first started to blossom because of the angelic voice of my Katie and a song she would sing from the VeggieTales video about "Queen Essie".  It melted my heart, into a puddle.  I decided to pay better attention to the account of Esther one Sunday as I was teaching a lesson in church, Wow! I loved Esther, I loved her courage, I longed to exhibit half the amount of strength she exhibited.  That was several years before our lives changed from colon cancer the first time around.

After Duane passed I believed I was endeared to this woman because I needed to follow her example of strength as I carried on, raising our 7 children without their father.  I can't recall the amount of times that the courage of a Queen has been given to me, a broad range from the trivial things like mice in the house to serious matters like a child being hospitalized for a brain infection.  Esther's courage gave me a path to follow.  Now her example leads me through this second round of colon cancer for my family.

I am a believer; a believer of the power of prayer, healing, the laying on of hands, faith, purpose in this life, a believer in Christ.  The day after my diagnosis I asked my father, my old Bishop and our sweet kind neighbor to come give me a prayer of blessing.  Afterwards I felt so strongly that I had something to share, what I need to share I did not know, that's what I'm trying to fumble through right now.  But as I watched this video I posted above, I felt so strongly to share my love of Esther, her courage, her strength that can be ours in any circumstance in our lives.  I liked this quote, "You don't really realize how strong you are until being strong is all you have left."  I have no choice BUT be strong and courageous.