Jill Miller was living in the basement with her husband Paul and Kim, their autistic daughter, when the pandemic began. The kitchen renovation that had moved them to the basement went on indefinite pause. And with everyone working from home, Kim’s dog-walking business suddenly dried up – leaving Kim with little to do. Their well-ordered lives, like their well-ordered kitchen, were now in complete disarray.
“I needed to remember that God was in charge of every detail,” shares Jill, “and that drew me to Esther.” The book of Esther famously does not mention the name of God, but God is clearly working in every chapter – his name invisible, like fingerprints.
Jill’s personal study of the book of Esther grew into a new Bethesda interactive Bible study, that makes those “fingerprints” a theme – tracing them in the story of Esther, and encouraging participants to trace them in their lives as well.
While some might think it hard to study an Old Testament book like Esther with students affected by disabilities, Jill found it was just the opposite: “The gang [as Jill calls their local Bethesda Bible study group] loved it! They identify with the sorrow that Esther carries. And they so ‘got’ the turnabout at the end, when Haman drags Mordecai around on a donkey!”
The study is organized into 10 lessons, each one an “act” in the unfolding story of how God works through an ordinary orphan girl and her ordinary cousin to save the Jewish people. View a sample lesson here, and learn more about our Bethesda Bible studies here.
Rest assured, the Millers’ kitchen renovation is finally done. But there are a number of fingerprints on the cookie jar…
