The Esther Glow-Up

There is preparation before every divine… shall we say, ‘glow up’—a silent anointing before the public unveiling of a woman’s transformation. The Book of Esther is one of the primordial firsts for biblical glow ups. Esther, the once orphaned Jewish exile turned queen of an empire, is one of the most radiant examples of what divine preparation, obedience, and six months of styling products can birth behind palace doors—metaphorically speaking, that is.

For Esther, the preparation was literal: “six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics” (Esther 2:12). Before the crown ever touched her head, Esther bathed in healing, patience, and expensive oils (every girl’s dream.)  This wasn’t just any oil either—it was myrrh, the salve of the Bible.

Esther’s first six months weren’t about looking good for a king, they were about becoming a vessel God could trust. A woman’s season of myrrh is more than beauty treatments. It’s a metaphor for transformation that prepares a woman to walk in grace, power, and purpose.

Your Season of Sacred Oil

In Exodus 30:23–25, we see that myrrh is one of the holy ingredients used to anoint priests. To be bathed in myrrh was to be set apart—anointed to enter holy places. Esther’s six-month immersion in myrrh wasn’t indulgent, it was a rite of passage. This kind of preparation comes in oil, yes, but also in silence and surrender. God primes you to heal you, not because you aren't good enough as you are but because He is preparing you for a glow up of divine proportion.

The Fragrance of Self-Sacrifice

In John 19:39, myrrh was used to prepare Jesus’ body after His death on the cross. Generations before, Esther was primed in the same oil that centuries later would be drenched in holy sacrifice. Only in hindsight can we see that myrrh is the aroma of dying to self so that our true purpose can rise.

A woman in her season of myrrh is in her inner burial place before the divine resurrection or, in layman terms, her biblical glow up. And, trust me, it's not always glamorous. Sometimes it feels like dying while others are crowned in front of you. But in heaven’s eyes, you’re not behind… you’re being softened and prepared to emerge as the woman whose radiance isn’t skin deep, it’s Holy-Spirit-led.

The Perfume of Intimacy

“My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts.” — Song of Songs 1:13

Though Esther was prepared for an earthly king, she prophetically became the first echo of the Bride of Christ. Her story is not just about marriage to Xerxes, it’s a prelude of life’s greatest romance: a woman chosen, softened, and set apart for the Bridegroom—God, Himself.

In your own modern-day becoming, the metaphor of myrrh teaches you how to receive Kingdom Love—to let God romance you, wash over your wounds, and soak you in His gentleness forever. Esther teaches us to let Him be the One who woos our soul and prepares us to receive both His love and the love of another. Because no perfume can mask what the heart still resists. And no crown fits a woman who hasn’t let God’s love seep deeply into her pores.

So let His anointing oil drip, ladies. Let the healing run deep. And, above all, let God come closer than skin.

Let the Glow-Up Begin

Before the perfumes and cosmetics, before the gowns and the favor, there is a sacred beginning: oil, God, and a sacred transformation.

Welcome to your Season of Myrrh.

Let it soften you. Strip you. And let it soak in. Because what’s coming next... will require the kind of woman who has been through the mud—and the oil of myrrh.

Xx,

Sarah Elle