Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

Every good story has a protagonist (the hero) and an antagonist (the bad guy).  Sometimes, there are several "bad guys," many different groups of people that come against the hero or heroine.   As we read on in Nehemiah, we don't have to read too far into it to come upon Nehemiah's opposition.   Chapter three lists all of the workers and their various jobs in simply repairing the wall.  They haven't even started the rebuilding process yet. Then, in chapter four, the fun begins!  We read about all the ways the Jews' enemies try to thwart their work.   4:2 The opposition belittled the Jews' work. 4:3 They were sarcastic toward them. 4:5 They demoralized them. But then, after Nehemiah cried out to the Lord to save them from their enemies, for the Lord to bring them down instead of letting their enemies bring them down, we see... 4:6 The Jews continued their work and started rebuilding the wall, after repairing it. 4:6  This angered their enemies because their

Some Christians are concerned that when they're not sure of God's will, if they do something anyway - even if it is a good thing - that they will be out of His will. God knows our hearts.  He is fully aware when we behave out of willfulness and when it is our desire to do His will and not our own. But discerning God's will can be tricky. There is His overall will for each of us, and that never changes:  that we know Him. Problem is, we've confused doing  with being  We want to know what to do  for God, when all along He is after our being  first and foremost. So what about when we are being who He calls us to be to our utmost and we're still vague, or even clueless, as to the doing part? We wait. We wait on God. Remember, He has all eternity and if we only surrender to it, so do we! That means that perhaps we will not get to do it all here and now.  In that sense, none of us ever finishes our work here.  Yes, we finish what He gives us to do on earth.  But wait!  Th