Transcript
Speaker: following podcast is a Jill dev Divine Media production. We're just normal kids learning about God's big story. Welcome to Normal Goes a Long Way.
Speaker: For kids! Hi, everybody. Welcome back as we get to know another part of God's big story. I'm Miss April, and today we are going to learn about a queen who had to do something very hard, but God was with her every step of the way.
Speaker: Last week, Ms. Hannah asked, why do you think God wants us to work together with other people? Here's what you told us. Because working together, we can do lots of things, and we're better together. So we can be a team.
Speaker: Because we can get stuff done faster. We can work together so then if something needs to be done, it can be done faster. I love it. Today we'll hear from an awesome kid with some super fun facts about Queen Elizabeth II. It's
Speaker: time for some fun facts! My name's Hadley and I'm 11 years old. Queen Elizabeth II was the Queen of England for 70 years. Queen Elizabeth loved corgi dogs. Queen Elizabeth owned an elephant, two giant turtles, a jaguar, and a pair of sloths.
Speaker: I want a sloth. Queen Elizabeth ruled England longer than any queen her country had ever had. She was well loved by her people. I am going to tell you about another wonderful queen who was around in Bible times.
Speaker: Esther was a beautiful woman who was one of God's people. She was Jewish. King Xerxes, who ruled Persia, was looking for a queen, so he ordered every pretty woman in the land to come to his palace.
Speaker: Esther did not want to go, but you were not allowed to disobey a king. She had to go. When the king saw Esther, he thought she was magnificently beautiful, and he quickly made her the queen.
Speaker: Esther's cousin Mordecai told her not to tell anyone that she was Jewish because he worried that someone might hurt her if they found out. There was a man who worked closely with the king, and his name was Haman.
Speaker: This guy loved to boss people around. He convinced the king to make a law that made all people have to bow down to him. Can you believe that? Everywhere he went, people would get down on their knees to show him honor.
Speaker: One day, Esther's cousin Mordecai did not bow down to Haman. He believed that people should only bow down and honor God. This made Haman extremely angry. He knew that Mordecai was Jewish, so he made a plan to have all of the Jews killed.
Speaker: When Mordecai learned about this plan, he ran to Esther and said, you must talk to the king and change this terrible plan. Esther was unsure.
Speaker: She did not know if she had the courage to stand up to bossy Haman. She wondered what might happen to her if the king found out that she was Jewish. Would he kill her? She was scared.
Speaker: Mordecai spoke from his heart. Esther, God may have planned your life just for this moment. You are the only hope for your people. Wow.
Speaker: Wow. Perhaps God had known that his people would need someone to help them. Perhaps God needed Esther to be queen so that she might save them. Esther decided that she needed to try to save her people.
Speaker: Because this would be very hard to do, she prayed and prayed. She asked other people to pray for her too. God helped her to come up with a plan. Esther prepared a special dinner and invited King Xerxes and Haman.
Speaker: The king was so happy that she did this and he told Esther that he would do anything that she asked. She said, want you to save my life. He said, of course I will save your life.
Speaker: Then Esther explained that Haman had a plan to kill all of the Jewish people and she was Jewish. The king was furious with Haman and punished him.
Speaker: He immediately created a new law to keep God's people safe. God helped Esther to be brave and courageous and now her people were saved. So let's get to the point.
Speaker: Esther prepared for a hard job. God helps me through hard things too. Esther's cousin reminded her that she had a special opportunity to help. She was just the right person in just the right place.
Speaker: We too have special opportunities. God places us in families. He places us in schools. He gives us friends and teammates. God wants us to help and love the people around us.
Speaker: Today with your family answered this question. How can you show God's love to the people around you? Make sure to tell us what your family talked about so we can feature you in an upcoming episode.
Speaker: Record a voice memo and send it in a text to 636-280-5433. We can't wait to hear from you don't forget god loves you with a great big
