I have filled my evening with laughter. I am so glad. God has filled my week with blessings. I am so thankful. Encouragement and love in the midst of all this crazy growth happening in my life. I know I am growing when I can laugh and have fun without guilt. Instead I have begun to revel in its amazingness.
I had a surprise sabbath today because of a cancelled job. Such a blessing. I needed one. Light housework, an hour or two of work, resting, visiting with friends and reading Nehemiah and Ezra were its highlights. There are a lot of names in Nehemiah and Ezra. From a historical standpoint it is weird that the numbers do not exactly match in both books when Ezra is traditionally credited with writing both books and they were one book before becoming two.
Anyway, I had two takeaways. One is Nehemiah’s prayers asking God to remember his own sacrifice for God or asking God to remember the sins of his enemies. It was interesting that they both seemed like humble prayers to me. He does seem to have been a humble man. It is because of his humility that there is a prayer of my own hanging on above my sink, “God, help me to be a Nehemiah!” The other takeaway was how hard headed the people of Israel continued to be.
I am loved.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. – 1 John 4:9-10
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