Wednesday, September 22

Nehemiah Builds the Wall: Where Our Hearts Are

In our post here posted back in March, we discussed the reality that trouble often hits right after you step out to risk for God. In that post we said, "We know that when you step out to follow God, you are going to be met with wind and waves." Well, we have stepped out again, and the wind and waves have come again.

For starters, Su has taken the risk of agreeing to speak at a woman's conference this week; see details of that here. The topic of the talk is taking risks for God. She will be talking about Nehemiah and how he took on the impossible task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He did not have enough time or resources, there were obstacles galore, but he felt the call of God and knew that his provider had all that he needed. Su will talk about God's call for each of us to be a Nehemiah and do the impossible for God.

Su had cleared her calendar (as best she could) and set aside the week to mentally and practically prepare for the talk. Day one was a disaster. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. This kids were misbehaving, everything took longer than needed, little disasters happened left and right. It was like something out of a Chevy Chase movie. As the table was being set for dinner and a glass got knocked to the floor, sending glass and water all over the place, we had to laugh (after we yelled); satan was hard at work.
Then, after dinner, we emailed YWAM to let them know we were ready to move forward with G-boy. See yesterday's post here if you missed that. Thru our emails with our adoption agecny, we learned we could move forward with an official referral. As part of our communication, we wanted to make sure we understood correctly that $7500 was needed to accept the referral. We wanted to know how much we needed God to provide in the next few weeks. They confirmed, yes that was the correct amount and also suggested that we may want to wait until we obtained the money before moving forward.

What were we to do? Should we move forward and expect that the money would come, or sit tight and wait until we had it all in the bank?

The wind and waves had come again. This time it was not a broken glass of water, but a direct attack on our faith. Were we going to step out and trust that God would provide, or play it safe and wait?

How ironic that God would allow us to be tested in the area of risking during this week, the week where Su is to speak on risking.

As soon as Nehemiah started his project, he was met with opposition. Several officials ridiculed Nehemiah and challenged what he was doing. But Nehemiah responded, "The God of heaven will give us success." (Nehemiah 2:20). And God did! Nehemiah and his helpers finished in record time; they built that wall in 52 days!!! They had limited time and resources, tons of opposition, and every reason to quit, but God gave them success.
We trust that God will give us success, that he will teach through Su on Saturday morning, that he will take care of our family despite the "broken glasses of water", and that he will provide every penny of the funds needed to bring G-boy home. We are moving forward trusting that "the God of heaven will give us success."

4 comments:

  1. Hi Su
    I too have been praying through the requests listed on Linny's blog and am lifting up you, your family and your little G-man, praying that God would perform mighty miracles of provision that would be precious reminders of His faitfulness.

    "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)

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  2. Su,

    I appreciate the timing of your post, as we are dealing with the same issues in this house! I am starting an orphan-widow ministry at our church and it has been one thing after another in our home. But, we know our Lord is faithful and He will provide for our needs. Thanks for encouraging me! I will pray for you, too.

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  3. I will be be praying for God to faithfully provide. I look forward to witnessing Him be glorified through your steps of faith.
    Blessing,
    Kameron
    www.theshadrickslove.com

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  4. Can't wait to see how God provides and give him ALL of the glory in the end!

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