17...

Just checked my calendar and realized there are only 17 days left until Brooke leaves for Mozambique!  Goodness!  I thought about waiting a week until there were only 10, so the countdown would be more "proper", but no one's ever accused me of being proper, so there ya go!
It did strike me that Brooke was born on the 17th day of February and she is 17 years old, so 17 it is!
She has been busily preparing for months now, so thankfully there aren't a lot of details left to do...just preparing her heart and body for all that God will do in and through her.


Something I like to do as far as numbers go is to look up scriptures related to dates or in this case a countdown...so I went to the 17th book of the Old Testament - Esther.  Since Brooke's birthday is 2/17, I went to chapter 2, verse 17.  Here is what it says:
 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Brooke has found favor with The King.  He has set a crown of authority on her head to go to Mozambique and minister in His Name.
But wait, there's more!
The 17th book of the New Testament is Titus.  There is no chapter 2 verse 17, so I used the digits that make up the number 17, 1 and 7 and looked up chapter 1 verse 7.  Here's what it says:
Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless... Titus 1:7
Both of these scriptures are about authority.  Esther found favor with the king and he placed a crown on her head.  The overseer is entrusted with God's work. I believe God is entrusting Brooke with something far greater than she can imagine, just like Esther never dreamed in a million years that she would become queen and ultimately save her people. 


Please pray for Brooke to walk in the authority God has crowned her with as His daughter.  Because He first loved her, she can love The One and love the one.