How God helped rebuilding my “broken” family
Nehemiah and his people faced a great dilemma. Their main priority was to resurrect the broken walls of Jerusalem from its ruins. But they faced a big enemy who was bent on destroying what was left from the ruins and to stop the rebuilding efforts.
But look at what Nehemiah and his people did:
“Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other.”
And that’s what God wants us to do. Keep building on what’s left and keep fighting for what’s left.
Building and fighting should go hand in hand.
I will tell you a secret on how you can build your broken lives from what’s left. I have come across many Christians who have said to me, “I am dealing with this specific problem and so I will try to get involved in church once it’s resolved.” They want to resolve their own issues and build their own family and so they don’t have time for God! But the secret is getting involved in building God’s Kingdom first. God will take care of building your broken family. God will give you strength to fight. You cannot build and fight on your own.
In the book of Haggai God said to the Israelites:
“Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’”
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured,” says the Lord.
God wants you to build his house first so that he can bless your house. Put God first even in the midst of your ruins. God knows your life is in ruins and he cares more about rebuilding your life than anyone. He knows that you cannot do this on your own and you need God to help you with this rebuilding process. The enemy you are facing is stronger than you and you cannot handle him on your own. As soon as you solve one problem, he will give you another problem so that your life will be busy solving life’s problems. But with God, you are much stronger than the enemy. You and God are always a majority! The enemy is no match for you if God is on your side. If you want God to be on your side you need to trust God and surrender your ruins so that he can start the rebuilding work.
In the eight years of battle to have a child, Jessline and I never ever once stopped from building God’s kingdom. We kept fighting for a child and we kept building God’s kingdom. Even after the news of miscarriage, we had a home group in our house immediately that following week. But it was not easy. You can’t stop building God’s kingdom but you also have the enemy accusing you from behind saying “God is unfair and has taken your child”. What will you say to this accusing voice? Will you say “I am not going to build God’s kingdom?” No! But I am also a human with strong feelings. I said to the Lord, “I cannot say to the people who attend the home group you are good unless you reveal to me why you allowed this tragedy in my life. I am not going to put on a show before people saying you are great and mighty unless you reveal to me why you allowed this to me.” God never gave me the answers at that time. But God gave me strength week by week even though I didn’t get the full picture. We kept building God’s kingdom amidst setbacks and we kept fighting discouragements.
One Sunday after we launched the Sunday service for the first time and before my first son was conceived, I was angry with God and I said, “Your church is flourishing and your church is growing. Your church is getting stronger. But look at my family it is still in ruins.”
It was at that time God spoke to me through Haggai Chapter 2.
“Now give careful thought to this from this day on— consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: Is there yet any seed left in the barn? until now, the vine and the g tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. From this day on I will bless you.”
In short, God was saying “because you helped in laying my house’s foundation, I will bless you from this day onwards!” And he did remain true to his word!
Your family cannot be in ruins if you are building God’s kingdom. It is impossible in God’s Kingdom for you to suffer if you are looking after God’s house.
Now I look back and I can clearly see the plan of God. God was not selfish when he asked me to get involved in building his house and then allowed all these trials in my life. He was actually teaching me how to fight. He was actually building my family through these tragedies.
Therefore surrender your priorities to God and say “Lord You are my priority; Your kingdom is my passion” and start building His Kingdom stone by stone and keep fighting for your family. Remember he is God of what’s left and so fight for what’s left and build on what’s left.
