are we so BLIND to see the ruins in our marriages, families or communities?

   Reading in Nehemiah this morning has encouraged me. God will direct our paths, he will protect us and he will fight for us but that doesn't mean that we will not have to work hard and to stay alert. This morning, I read chapters one-four, Nehemiah's leadership skills really stuck out to me. He saw an area that was in ruins, an area that should be sacred, his heart mourned for it, he prayed about it, then lined up everything that he needed to be in order before speaking to the king & receiving permission to start his work.
   What is sacred these days? Our marriages, family, homes and what about our communities? Are we checking our hearts to see if it is closed off to feeling sorrow for areas such as these? If so, are we praying about it? See, Nehemiah didn't just feel sorry for these people. It wasn't an "awe what a shame that they have to live like that", it was a sorrow, it was turning it over to God but one main key that has to go with a heart check & praying is action. Chapter 2:⁵ and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”... SEND & REBUILD are the action words here!! My Pastor, Freddie Brown has taught me to look for the action words in the Bible, don't miss those words... they are powerful!! Send & Rebuild!!!!
   In my reading I came to another verse that made a huge wow factor for me & I am going to post the Message version ¹⁹ When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they laughed at us, mocking, "Ha! What do you think you're doing? Do you think you can cross the king?" ²⁰ I shot back, "The God-of-Heaven will make sure we succeed. We're his servants and we're going to work, rebuilding. You can keep your nose out of it. You get no say in this—Jerusalem's none of your business!"   This got me to thinking about so many marriages that fail, most of them because they don't believe that God can restore because they have so many people saying, "are you crazy? you would want to stay with him/her after they did that to you? you can't trust them again!" What if the couples would tell these people to get their nose out of their marriage because GOD says, WE will succeed? Then I thought about places like WE WILL GO Ministries, an inner city ministry that gets ridiculed by so many because the majority of the area that this ministry lies in, is in ruins. What if they had said, "that's crazy, we aren't going to move to the ghetto, we will be killed, our children will be stolen & sold for drugs". Ha, this ministry has flourished, it has reached so many people & it is steadily growing & restoring the city that is in ruins! I also thought about a family that our church helped last week. A family of 6 kids that came to school hungry, filthy clothed and lacking the care from their parents. A bus driver named Robin, a lady from our Church saw the ruin, her heart mourned, prayers went up & her husband Doug stood up in church, lining out the plans to help this family & action took place! Other than knowing that the children were fed, I don't know the full impact of this out reach but one day, I hope to say, "what if this bus driver hadn't checked her heart to see the need, to see the ruins, where would these kids & family be". I await that day!
   Okay so our hearts have to be checked, we must pray, listen & DO the work but like in Nehemiah, the work might not be easy, actually we have to stay alert. 4:16-18 ⁶ From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah ¹⁷ who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, ¹⁸ and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. They had to work with one hand, while staying alert & carrying protection in the other hand!! Do we just work hard on our marriages, yet we let our guards down & let the enemy in? Do the people at WWG ministries just work hard & ignore drug dealers that come into their ministry to destroy it? Builders carried materials with one hand & a sword in the other, that is hard work! 
   I look at what this means with parenting. Parenting is hard work but are we staying alert to the enemy that can enter into our teens lives? In this day and times, the enemy has so many areas that he can enter. Are we checking our heart? Have we given up on the fight to raise our children up in the Lord because the work is SO hard these days, have we lost hope? I have to admit at times it seems like it could be so much easier to give up because the work is hard, the fight is tough. We have to pray and ask God to keep us alert to these footholds, gosh there are so many!!!
   I am inspired to check my heart to see the ruins, to pray & listen & to do the action and let the LORD fight for me.