(April 1, 2022) Hope Flinchbaugh continues her Nehemiah series challenging us to know that God has a plan for us…

The television screen showed tiny Chinese infants, lying on the bare floor like so many scattered rugs. The BBC reporter said, ‘These are the dying rooms of China…’

Deeply moved, my eyes couldn’t leave the scenes before me and I whispered, ‘Lord, somebody needs to do something about this.’

God’s challenge to me
‘Why don’t you do something about this?’ I heard the Lord reply.

Me?  How can I possibly help babies in China when I live in America and I’m pregnant with my third child? 

I knew in my heart my husband Scott and I couldn’t go to China with a toddler, a preschooler, and a baby on the way.  The orphans’ deep-seated needs seemed to be too far away, out of reach, and impossible to facilitate.

Yet… moment by moment, day by day, the light dawned – I was to write a book that would raise awareness of the plight of the orphans in the state-run orphanages in China!

It was 1996 and I’d never written an article much less a book – how could I dare to believe I was qualified to do this?  I signed up for a writing course and told my writing coach about my heart’s desire to write a book about the dying rooms in China.  She strongly advised me not to write a book until I had more writing experience under my belt. 

Facing a similar quandary? 
Is there some burden that continues to haunt you and the odds of doing anything about it are stacked against you? 

Then take heart!  Our Father in heaven glories in those kinds of odds.  In fact, He sometimes designates these odds so that we can leap toward the impossible by faith, not by sight! (Remember Hebrews 11:1ESB).

It is my earnest prayer that this study on the lessons that Nehemiah journaled in the Old Testament will blow fresh wind under your wings, inspire you to finish whhat God has called you to do, and encourage you to engage in the work when you’re tempted to quit.

Preparation
Called to build a ‘wall’ as Nehemiah was, is a voyage of discovery! God can have us in a certain position gaining life experiences for what He has planned up ahead… whatever ‘our wall’ challenge may be.

Nehemiah did not begin his life as the leader of a company of people.  He was the cupbearer to the king.  That wasn’t exactly a position of government, was it?  But it was a position within government and, within the palace of Shushan, where he was privy to seeing what we would call ‘the ins and outs’ of ruling a kingdom. 

But Nehemiah’s mind was not centred on the problems of King Artaxerxes, ruler of the great kingdom of Persia.  He was brokenhearted over the distress of the Jews who had survived the terrible war and capture by the Babylonians. 

Although Nehemiah himself was in a position of honour and quiet duty as the cupbearer to the king of Persia, the eyes of his heart were not on the cup in front of him – the eyes of his heart looked with longing for the day when his nation would be fully restored. 

There are seasons in life
In chapter one of his journaling, Nehemiah shares with his readers that he was in a season of ease, reputation, and comfort; yet the day came when he heard a report that shook his world as he knew it.  When news came to him of the distress of the people of Judah, Nehemiah did not forget that he himself was a Jew.

Do you remember the day when a similar report came to your doorstep?  Something that shook your world as you knew it and, deep inside, you knew you were part of something bigger, something only God could – something that required faith more than brains and guts of steel more than brawn? 

God gave you your heritage, too!  Perhaps you are not a Jew like Nehemiah, but God designed you and brought you to be born on a particular day in keeping with his purposes. 

King David wrote that God had a book written about him and his life! ‘Your eyes have seen my formless substance; And in Your book were written all the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them’(Psalm 139:16 NASB).

Rest assured that God has a book about you!

So then… what about you?
God created you and ‘wired you’ to do a particular job, descend from a specific family, and impact this modern world. 

Has He directed you to look into the needs of a broken person or a hurting people group? Or what…?

Be bold and obey God with courage! God always has a plan for each person on earth and His plan always succeeds! As I wrote above, be inspired to finish what God called you to do.

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Hope Flinchbaugh was recently hired by American Christian Schools International to write early elementary, decodable phonics readers for the ACSI language arts department. She is also editor-in-chief of Hope Editors, a team of content editors, copyeditors, proofreaders, interior designers, book cover designers, and ghostwriters who help publishers and authors polish their books and meet their deadlines.  Hope has also written three historical fiction novels and two nonfiction books.

Her love for children is evident in her delightful Baby Babbles series… available from Amazon Author Page or International Orders Here and her I Come to the Garden Alone is an inspiring daily devotions booklet. Link: OnlinerConnect@gmail.com
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