One of the glaring omissions in the book of Esther is God. Yes, you are reading this correctly! We do not know who wrote the book of Esther. If you read it, you are not going to read about God. Fact-check me on this one. Do not be fooled, however. We might not find the word “God” anywhere in the book. But have no doubt, God’s awesome power is the main theme running through Esther’s pages. God’s fingerprints are everywhere!

An orphan girl becomes queen, a Jewish girl of all things! Impossible! If a person lacks belief in God, the word, “coincidence” is often used. If you follow him, you know God is working behind the scenes and sees the big picture. I believe by omitting God the author is intentionally highlighting God’s work behind the scenes. When a crisis hits, and the darkness settles in, God becomes less obvious to even the most staunch believer. Esther shows us, even in the darkness, God is at work and he keeps his promises.

The...

Welcome to Be an Esther and Win Back Your Husband online experience! It is an honor to be part of your journey in winning back the heart of your husband. I want to share something important straight away, which may come as a shock to you……... I am not a woman.

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Learn three simple things to pray about in order to break free from generational sin! 

The rest of my notes are in the VIP Inner Circle membership. 24/7 digital access to coaching from Dr. Michael Smalley (me), a growing library of videos, a path towards healing your pain, tools to shape your communication and intimacy, assessments to guide you, and a community of support from people who will cheer you on as you journey to the relationship you want. START NOW

“The Church in the West today presents too easy a target for Satan. We do not believe we are at war. We do not know where the battleground is located, and, in spite of our weapons, they are neither loaded nor aimed at the right target. We are unaware of how vulnerable we are.” Ed Silvoso

We are fighting a literal spiritual battle for the wellbeing of our family!

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe and feel an unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” C.S. Lewis

From J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings:

Theoden: I will not risk open war! 
Aragorn: Open war is upon you whether you risk it or not.

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Thirteen people dead. A massacre by any standard. More would die over the following decades. Hate, violence, bitterness, death passed on to generation after generation—the family line devastated by a rare disease, Von Hippel-Lindau. The family tree’s consequences were tumors of the eyes, ears, pancreas, and adrenal glands leading to death and brokenness between lovers, friends, and family. The plague haunting this family came known as ‘Madness Disease.’

What could cause generations of suffering? What hideous act leads to generations of early death and madness? What kind of sinister action could define a family line and produce books, movies, and television series watched worldwide? Hate? Violence? Suffering?

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The view was astounding! Blackcomb Peak (in British Columbia, Canada), and extreme skiers dream. I stood at the precipice of four vertical shutes. I'd never seen anything like it.  All I had to do was stand in place and circle around to take one of the shutes. Spending the better part of a day hiking to the top, turning back was not an option. Fear swept through my body.  My heartbeat increased speed and pounded in my chest. Altitude was not the cause of my shortened breaths, it was knowing if I fell at any point careening down the mountain, I was dead. But fear had never stopped me before, I lifted my skis and plummeted down, not touching the ground for nearly 15 feet. And yet, many of you listening right now feel more scared of mentoring other couples than I did on Blackcomb Peak. And that's a problem.

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Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1

A Quick Deep-Dive

This command is so important to our daily life and fellowship with God, that Jesus gave it twice during His last supper with His Disciples. In addition to His command, this statement gives three revelations about the “heart.” It’s important to realize that when Jesus talks about the heart, he’s not talking about the beating organ beneath our chest. He’s talking about the very core of our nature, the very essence of who we are. Jesus taught us that all of our natural behavior flows out of the heart. Solomon taught the same, and was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:35 NIV).

Three Revelations About Our Heart

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How on earth can your selfishness ever contribute to the happiness of other people?

It was an ugly fight. I allowed myself to become flooded and I reacted meanly. But then the Holy Spirit stepped in and reminded me what I needed to do next. The next thing I remember is the wind in my hair, the sun warming my body, a sense of thrilling adventure building in my soul. This activity is one of the best things I do to protect my relationships and to love others when I am feeling flooded, enormously unloved by the actions of others.

If you want the rest of my notes for this podcast, any downloads mentioned, and more importantly, weekly support and encouragement for your deepest relationship dreams. Join the VIP Inner Circle today! Change is a process and takes time, a VIP Inner Circle membership is the process and allows you the time to build the relationship you want. START NOW

A Quick Deep-Dive

This one time at band camp...wait, the wrong story! It was 1991 and I was on a most excellent adventure...good grief, not that story either! It was 1994 and I was minding my own business on the campus of Baylor University when in the middle of the night my phone rang. One of those classic phones with the extra-long cord attached to the handle somehow impossibly tangled, even though the guy in the commercial clearly told me it was untangle-able. 

The voice on the other end of the line was a girl's. This particular girl had won my attention in bible class, and it wasn't her personality! She invited me over to a party at her place, and before she hung up the phone I was knocking on her front door. What happened next will forever haunt me.

This moment is still one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, and I am not easily embarrassed. Her apartment was empty. I gently inquired about the..whereabouts of the party people. She said, "I lied about the...

The most dangerous place to find ourselves is believing, because of our actions, we are on the inside track to an eternity with Jesus.  The unfortunate, terrifying truth is we are not if our actions are actually from a sanctimonious, self-satisfying, smug, pious, moralizing, superior, priggish, hypocritical, pharisaic heart. At 18-years-old, God broke me in one night after a profound and miraculous phone call I received in the middle of the night.

As Clark would say from Christmas Vacation, "Amen, hallelujah, holy %$$^&#@!" If this upsets you, or you are thinking, "Well thank the Lord this isn't me!" Or, "How dare Michael to hint at foul language!" Watch out. Jesus cares about you so overwhelmingly, he punched you straight in the face over and over again in the New Testament trying to wake you up to the reality of your heart.

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