In this week’s episode, join Alicia Watson as she talks about learning to say no. Alicia talks about why it is important to speak up. She describes why it is important to speak up and how it is our duty to do so, no matter how much we would rather just mind our own business. Alicia encourages listeners to listen to God with urgency, with faith and love and help those in need.
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In this week’s episode, join Alicia Watson as she talks about learning to say no. Alicia talks about why it is important to speak up. She describes why it is important to speak up and how it is our duty to do so, no matter how much we would rather just mind our own business. Alicia encourages listeners to listen to God with urgency, with faith and love and help those in need.
Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!
Maybe you're like me and you need something tangible to navigate life's tough seasons. It's important to have the strategy and resources to come out on top. Take this short quiz to be matched with a tool you can use to flourish no matter what life has thrown your way: https://bit.ly/overcomersquiz
1 (4s):
You're listening to, Maybe You're Like Me, the transparent musings of a God Girl chasing After Her Purpose. Maybe you're like me as a podcast for dreamers and doers who take life's lessons and level up to look more like Christ. We'll connect through super relatable stories, growing pains and aha moments that most of us share, just not always out loud. I'm your host, Alicia, Watson, creative entrepreneur, playwright, author, wife, mother, daughter of the king, and so much more. And I can't help that Maybe You like me.
2 (45s):
Hey, hey beautiful people. Thank you for joining me for another episode of Maybe You're Like Me with Alicia Watson. I hope you're having a great day so far. I'm really enjoying connecting with you and with others. So my year note was also kind of a season of isolation in a way. So this year I've been really intentional about meetups and lunching and brunching and dinners and just catching up with lots of amazing people in my life. I've miss them. It's been amazing. We've sat around for hours and hours and hours and just talked pouring to one another and I just really have been enjoying it. One other way that I have been connecting is with a small group of women and we have a call every morning, every single morning, weekends included, and we go through a devotional and share what we're learning.
2 (1m 31s):
It's been so great because we really, really wanted to grow deeper spiritually, and it's been good to do it in a circle and do it together. Another thing we wanted to do was get more into the word and get the word into our hearts. So for one of the months we went very slowly through the Book of Esther, which is a short book as it is, I think it's only 10 chapters, but we spread that out over 30 days. And with that, we broke down the text in detail. Like every few verses we just kind of stopped and really like consumed that text. And during one of the days that I was leading, the verse I read really got me to thinking about how it applies to my life and my own walk. So I wanted to chat about that here too.
2 (2m 12s):
So maybe you're like me and you know it's time to speak up. So let's read the passage for context. I'm reading from the LT version again, it's Esther four one through a. When Morai learned about all that happened, done, he tore his clothes, put on burlap and ashes and went out into the city crying with the loud and bitter. Well, he went as far as the gate of the palace for no one was allowed to enter the palace gate while wearing clothes of mourn. And as news of the king's decree reached all the provinces, there was a great morning among the Jews. They fasted, wept and welled in many people lay in burlap and ashes. When Queen Esther's maids and Unix came and told her about Mordecai, she was deeply distressed. She sent clothing to him to replace the burlap, but he refused it.
2 (2m 56s):
Then Esther sin for had that one of the king's Unix who had been appointed to her as her attendant. She ordered him to go to Mordecai and find out what was troubling him and why he was in mourning. So had that went out to Mordecai in the square in front of the Palace Gate, Mordecai told him the whole story, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the Royal Treasury for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai gave had that a copy of the decree issued in Su that called for the death of All Jews. He asked Hatach to show Esther and explained the situation to her and also Hatach to direct her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for her people. So we have a tendency to gloss over scriptures when we read the Bible, we skip to the good part, but I really enjoy reading slowly a few verses at a time because it made me really stop and comprehend the story.
2 (3m 44s):
So for context, the beginning of the story, there's a queen before Esther. She gets cast out of the kingdom cuz she doesn't listen to her husband. Esther rises and becomes queen because she's highly favored by everybody she encounters and the Lord. And so the king loves her so much, he makes her queen, but they don't tell anybody. Her Mordecai is her cousin. They don't tell anybody that she's a Jew. And so the side story, the B story is that Mordecai is coming in contact with this official named Painted and Haman is really high and mighty and he wants people to bow down to him. And it's actually a lot that people bow to him, but Mordecai won't do it because he serves God. And so that makes him mad. Haman goes to King, gets decree put in place that because Mordecai won't bow down to him, all the Jews gotta die.
2 (4m 31s):
And so this is why Mordecai is outside of the palace, mourning and weeping. And not only him, but all the Jews and all the provinces know about this decree. They're all weeping in morning. Yet Esther is in the palace all by her lonesome as a Jew, but not aware of what's going on with them. And it just makes me think like how crazy that is. Esther's one of my favorite books in the Bible. I've probably read it more than 50 times. I have the movie one Night with the King on dvd. It's so good. It's really cute. She's one of my favorite biblical characters. But this part stuck out to me when we were going through it still slowly, but this part stuck out to me when we were going through it slowly, how far Esther had to be from her people, that she was so unaware of all that they were going through, that she was not touched by the bitterness and turmoil that they were feeling in their hearts, that they were mourning about.
2 (5m 20s):
I think of us as Christians like that. Sometimes we get into our bubbles of like-minded people seeking after God like us and loving God like us, and we become blind to the troubles that others are going through. We're praising and praying and serving and growing and being blessed within the four walls of the church. So much so that we sometimes view people, the very people we're supposed to be connecting to, being in the hands and feet of God, to reconciling them to our king. When we realize there's something that we can do about all the things that they're going through, do we actually do or say something because we have proximity to the king, We have influence through our prayers and through our fasting and through our weep and through our morning.
2 (6m 2s):
But are we even connected enough to speak up and say something? I was talking to my family the other day about how I have seen at least five different celebrities in my lifetime just out about in the world, and I've completely ignored them. Listen, I am the epitome of minding my own business. I really just live and let live. I'm not big on giving advice or trying to teach people anything because you know, I feel like people would rather live and learn most times. But I know I pray for people and I show up for people when they ask me to. And for the most part, if I see something I pray and keep it moving. But there are times when I feel the nudge, the urge to get involved, the urge to warn or to offer help or to give hope, to be an ear.
2 (6m 45s):
I try to heat that voice and it's easy to do when it's someone who is in imminent danger or obvious danger. Like one time we were at the pool and we were watching this argument room between some of these kids for a few minutes, and of course it escalated and all of a sudden one kid was biting the other kid and that second kid was trying to drown him. He pushed his head under the water and just hailed it there. Every parent sitting there was at the edge of the pool. Within seconds it was a no brainer. But sometimes stepping in and speaking up feels really risky. You start to have thoughts like, what if I waste my time? What if I ruin the friendship by telling this truth? What if they don't listen? And in the case of Esther going in to see the king without being some admit that she could die.
2 (7m 25s):
Now it may not be that drastic for us, but we still have to do our part. When God is telling us to speak up, your job is to warn. The response to the warning is not your business. Like in Ezekiel 33, we are the watchman. We see danger before anyone else because of our discernment, our connection to God lifts our gays higher than that of the world. Our job is to tell people about the danger that we see on the horizon. What they do with that information is not our responsibility, but telling them is, and we will be held accountable. So speak up. I'd love for others. You're commanded to love your God with all your heart, solely your mind. That should move you past the discomfort. And sometimes danger of being vocal speaking up for me is sharing.
2 (8m 6s):
And that might be the case for you too. I know so many people with books, blogs, podcasts, whatever, just shut up right inside them. And I've talked about how it sometimes feels really uncomfortable to share things about myself and to draw attention to myself because I mean I'm really low key, but I know that I'm on assignment here on this podcast and my business and writing books or whatever else God uses me and my words to do. I don't know how what I say will speak to someone else's life and experience. I just know that I have to keep showing up and speaking up and making myself available to be used as a vessel. I hope that when you feel the urge to reach out to a friend to start a podcast or write that book, to start a conversation or ministry or YouTube channel or whatever way God is instructing you to use your voice, that you do it with urgency in faith and with love, I pray that he protects you, you, and blesses you richly for your obedience.
2 (8m 57s):
The world needs your voice in what you have to say. It's time to speak up. Well, that's all I have for you today. If you're like me, I would love to hear from you. Reach out to me on Instagram at the Alicia Watson sy dm and let's chat If, you know someone who's like us. Please share this episode with them and don't forget to write, subscribe, and review wherever you listen to fine podcast. I hope you have an amazing week.