Pray, Fast, Wait, Repeat...

SHINE Reading Plan: Go here. 

Questions? Email me at shinegirlsshine@gmail.com

If you haven't figured out already, for some reason the video I attached did not send in your SHINE email. However, it is posted on the website. Weird. Technology. Oops.


So, as I was cutting up an onion this afternoon, I kept going back to our reading in Nehemiah.

I have a tendency to jump the gun on things. When an idea strikes, I am ready to implement. This can be good sometimes, and NOT so good other times.

Nehemiah is teaching me a lot about waiting. And praying. And fasting. And waiting.

When Nehemiah heard about the state of Jerusalem, he literally wept. He grieved.

The Bible says, "When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of Heaven." Nehemiah 1:4


Nehemiah heard the tragic news  of Jerusalem and its decaying walls in the Fall. However, he did not implement a plan to help until that next Spring. It was all about timing. God's timing.

A couple of things to learn here.

His heart of compassion for the Jewish people.

He wept when he received the news.

How many times have we heard devastating news, and we just move on or turn the channel?

I am definitely guilty of this.

When did we become so calloused to suffering?

It seems all too normal to hear of horrible things, right?

But, Nehemiah, did not move on. He sat with it. He grieved over it. He prayed about it. He fasted.

This lasted for several months, Not days, not weeks, but months. 

When the time was right, he did not tell a soul. He waited and then left in the middle of the night on the journey to help Jerusalem rebuild its wall.

Nehemiah and the workers ended up finishing the wall in 52 days. 52!!

This was nothing short of a miracle.

They never stopped working. In fact, many were not happy about the rebuilding of the wall and tried to distract Nehemiah from his work.

His exact words, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” Nehemiah 6:3

Wow, read that one more time.

I have an entirely new post for that one scripture.

I will save that for later.

What has God laid on your heart to do?

Have you prayed? Fasted? Waited?

Let us learn from Nehemiah.

Goodness, I love God's Word! Don't you?!!



waiting, fasting, praying,


jill