I Choose Today...

I Choose Today to Drop the Labels Episode 6 – The I Choose Today Series

Have you ever carried a label that someone else gave you? One that stuck to your heart and became part of how you saw yourself? Maybe it was a word spoken in anger, or a judgment passed down that made its way into your identity. Sometimes, the labels aren’t even names people call us—they’re words we use to summarize our own pain. “Lazy.” “Too emotional.” “Not enough.” I’ve carried some of those labels, too. And for a long time, one of the most painful was the word “stupid.” That label was spoken over me when I was young, and it shaped how I walked into school, how I viewed challenges, and how I saw myself in the world. I was placed in a “remedial” group because I didn’t learn the way others did, and the system didn’t know what to do with that. Instead of getting the help I needed, I was just passed along—and the label followed me from grade to grade. By the time I reached high school, I wasn’t reading above a fifth-grade level. I didn’t understand grammar or composition. And even though something deep inside me whispered, “That’s not who you are,” I still wondered if

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I Choose Today to Believe God Can Use Me

The name of God is nowhere to be found in the book of Esther. It is as though He was absent. Instead, the narrative of Esther mimics our own experiences today—an era of dominance and oppression where power belongs to the elite. It was a time of opulence, where the who’s-who flaunted their wealth and influence, and where those in authority made reckless decrees without wisdom or justice. In our world today, we see something similar. Society elevates influencers who seem to have it all—wealth, status, and the admiration of millions. They hold positions of power, appearing wise and all-knowing while often using their influence to serve themselves rather than others. Many of us are left feeling insignificant in comparison, wondering if our lives truly matter. But then, there’s Esther. God used a lowly, orphaned girl to upend the most powerful empire of her day. She came from an oppressed people, living in exile, treated with contempt and abuse, considered unworthy and powerless. And yet, when the time came, she was the one God used to change history. She wasn’t royalty by birth, she wasn’t highly educated, and she certainly wasn’t the logical choice to stand before a king and

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