Emma Kunde relates well with Esther’s story in the Bible, but for different reasons than many people relate to Esther. She sees Esther’s story more as an example of God working behind the scenes, but impacting us directly. Kunde is a member of the Mountain View Central Church, and sees her story of fighting cancer as an example of God working behind the scenes in powerful ways. She was diagnosed with cancer and underwent intensive surgery to remove a large tumor. Despite being a traumatic experience, she saw God working throughout this ordeal in similar ways to how God guided Esther in her story.
God’s name is never mentioned in the book of Esther, but we see God at work from the beginning to the end of the story. Kunde pointed out that there are three very distinct examples of God working in Esther’s story. One is when Queen Vashti refused to have King Xerxes show her off during a feast, resulting in her being thrown out of the palace and demoted from being queen. This could be seen as a terrible event, but it was also the beginning of God’s plan to save the Jews from Haman.
The next intervention was when Haman planned to hang Mordecai for not bowing to him. Haman was offended that Mordecai would not give him the respect he felt he deserved, and he believed murder would be an acceptable retaliation. Instead, Haman was asked by Xerxes to honor Mordecai by parading him through the streets, recognizing what Mordecai had done for the king by saving the king’s life.
When Queen Esther intruded on King Xerxes’ banquet it is another example of God intervening. Esther revealed the scheme that Haman had created to slaughter the Jews—and revealed that she was a Jew as well. Haman made the mistake of throwing himself at Esther while Xerxes was out of the room, begging for her sympathy, but he was walked in on by Xerxes. This resulted in Haman being executed on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai.
These examples show God working behind the scenes throughout Esther’s story, and Emma Kunde has seen similar interventions in her own life. “I experienced God’s intervention three times when I had cancer. Two years ago I was diagnosed with grade three sickle cell sarcoma cancer and went through a three-hour surgery to remove the five-inch tumor,” she explained.
Sickle cell sarcoma is a very deadly cancer of the skin, and often creates large tumors that are difficult to remove. The first doctor she visited misdiagnosed the tumor as benign, telling her it could be removed with local anesthesia. If she had gone through with this process, this would have instead made her cancer much worse.
“I know God was there to intervene because he caused my mom to not be comfortable with this doctor’s recommendation,” she explained. They found another doctor, who immediately ordered an MRI. The MRI showed that the tumor was cancerous, and God intervened again by allowing a Stanford oncological surgeon to be available to perform the surgery only two weeks out from her diagnosis.
Again God intervened during the surgery when miraculously a skin graft was not required. Skin grafting is a common practice for closing wounds left from the damage this type of cancer has left behind. This would have likely quadrupled her recovery time, but instead she was able to recover to where she was even walking within two months. For many, it takes almost a year to recover to the point where they can walk.
Kunde sees her experiences as God intervening in His own perfect timing. We do not always know the reasons God is intervening, or the right time for God to intervene. She explained that we simply need to trust God’s timing the same way Esther trusted God. “Even though our problems may seem hopeless, God will intervene for us in His perfect timing,” Kunde added.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,” Rom. 8:28.
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