Rebuilding is an action we can all relate to. Whether you\u2019re rebuilding your beliefs about God after a dark night of the soul, rebuilding your health after an illness, or rebuilding trust after a conflict, there\u2019s always an opportunity to put things back together. Hopefully, even better than before\u2014or at least truer or deeper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a place in my life right now where rebuilding feels really slow and uncomfortable. Yet just like Nehemiah, I\u2019m trying to trust the gracious hand of God. And so this passage today is a comfort. For me, the place is finances. For anyone in 2025, you know how hard it is to find work, pay the bills, and grow your savings. If anything, my husband and I feel like we\u2019re drowning right now. We got married last spring and have struggled to find sustainable work ever since I left my full-time job and he graduated with a ministry degree. The market is hard, and our rebuilding process is slow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nehemiah had a vision of what could be in remembering the glory of what used to be. And with the support of King Artaxerxes I, he formed a creative partnership with the Lord, preparing to rebuild Jerusalem and reestablish Israel\u2019s presence inside the city gates. Some people grow resentful after a season of exile or opposition. They turn away from God. But when Nehemiah responded to the officials, it\u2019s clear from his word choice that he had not: \u201cI told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me\u201d (Nehemiah 2:18). He still saw God as gracious and protective. The people weren\u2019t on their own in the rebuilding. Instead, \u201ctheir hands were strengthened to do this good work\u201d (v.18). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love this imagery of our hands being strengthened. It lets me breathe a little more deeply. And the beautiful thing is, as we rebuild the beliefs, relationships, and resources in our lives, God partners with us. We aren\u2019t alone. Our strength flows from Him. If our lives are rooted in the foundation of His love, we can trust everything to find its place from there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this season of rebuilding our finances, God is showing me the small, quiet ways He\u2019s providing along the way. My husband works two days a week now at an organic farm (he also brings home fresh basil, onions, and broccolini\u2014a gift!). As I too continue to pursue my career opportunities, I find hope in Nehemiah\u2019s story. We still have The Big Need, but as we work on short-term solutions, we pray and wait…and wait and pray. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In whatever \u201cin-between\u201d space you find yourself right now, trust that Christ is our cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). All that we do and all that we are begins and ends in Him. As Scripture so beautifully puts it, in Christ, we are always being put back together, \u201cbuilt together for God\u2019s dwelling in the Spirit\u201d (v.22). \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rebuilding is an action we can all relate to. Whether you\u2019re rebuilding your beliefs about God after a dark night of the soul, rebuilding your health after an illness, or rebuilding trust after a conflict, there\u2019s always an opportunity to put things back together. Hopefully, even better than before\u2014or at least truer or deeper. There\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":72540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nehemiah25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72617],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"b>PREPARING TO REBUILD<\/b>
\r\nby Bailey Gillespie<\/i>
\r\n
Rebuilding is an action we can all relate to. Whether you\u2019re rebuilding your beliefs about God after a dark night of the soul, rebuilding your health after an illness, or rebuilding trust after a conflict, there\u2019s always an opportunity to put things back together. Hopefully, even better than before\u2014or at least truer or deeper.<\/p>
\r\n
There\u2019s a place in my life right now where rebuilding feels really slow and uncomfortable. Yet just like Nehemiah, I\u2019m trying to trust the gracious hand of God. And so this passage today is a comfort. For me, the place is finances. For anyone in 2025, you know how hard it is to find work, pay the bills, and grow your savings. If anything, my husband and I feel like we\u2019re drowning right now. We got married last spring and have struggled to find sustainable work ever since I left my full-time job and he graduated with a ministry degree. The market is hard, and our rebuilding process is slow.<\/p>
\r\n
Nehemiah had a vision of what could be in remembering the glory of what used to be. And with the support of King Artaxerxes I, he formed a creative partnership with the Lord, preparing to rebuild Jerusalem and reestablish Israel\u2019s presence inside the city gates. Some people grow resentful after a season of exile or opposition. They turn away from God. But when Nehemiah responded to the officials, it\u2019s clear from his word choice that he had not: \u201cI told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me\u201d (Nehemiah 2:18). He still saw God as gracious and protective. The people weren\u2019t on their own in the rebuilding. Instead, \u201ctheir hands were strengthened to do this good work\u201d (v.18).<\/p>
\r\n
I love this imagery of our hands being strengthened. It lets me breathe a little more deeply. And the beautiful thing is, as we rebuild the beliefs, relationships, and resources in our lives, God partners with us. We aren\u2019t alone. Our strength flows from Him. If our lives are rooted in the foundation of His love, we can trust everything to find its place from there.<\/p>
\r\n
In this season of rebuilding our finances, God is showing me the small, quiet ways He\u2019s providing along the way. My husband works two days a week now at an organic farm (he also brings home fresh basil, onions, and broccolini\u2014a gift!). As I too continue to pursue my career opportunities, I find hope in Nehemiah\u2019s story. We still have The Big Need, but as we work on short-term solutions, we pray and wait...and wait and pray.<\/p>
\r\n
In whatever \u201cin-between\u201d space you find yourself right now, trust that Christ is our cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). All that we do and all that we are begins and ends in Him. As Scripture so beautifully puts it, in Christ, we are always being put back together, \u201cbuilt together for God\u2019s dwelling in the Spirit\u201d (v.22).<\/p> ","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"3","scripture":"Nehemiah 2:11-20, Isaiah 62:10-12, Ephesians 2:19-22","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}