Feel Stuck in Completing Your Project?
I have a confession to make. I’ve been struggling for several weeks. I wouldn’t call it being depressed, rather feeling kind of gray and defeated. It’s not my “normal” state of mind and I hate the feeling. The grayness clouds my perspective of how I see everything.
Have you ever been excited about an idea you had, yet overwhelmed by the enormity of what needs to be completed before you might ever see your idea come to be? It might be you’re thinking of developing a new business or starting a ministry. You find that much of your thinking is taken over by thoughts about this dream. You can envision what your dream looks like “finished” and this vision puts a big smile on your face. If you’re lucky, you might have already completed a lot of the necessary steps to get you to your finish line.
But now you are stuck. You’re excitement is being replaced by discouragement. You’re questioning how you ever thought you could do this in the first place. That’s where I am. I’ve heard the expression of my stuckness as “Analysis Paralysis” - when the fear for a potential screw up is greater than the potential for success. So I do nothing. And that’s what has gotten me feeling discouraged and gray.
Until I read from the the book of Nehemiah last Sunday morning. Now I feel fist- pumping fired up and I have to share! The message from the first four chapters of Nehemiah was as if the Holy Spirit was speaking directly to me and my situation. I love it when God does that.
Nehemiah was a Jew who was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, ruler of Persia. Nehemiah could have joined his fellow Jews who had returned back to their home land, Jerusalem, years before, but he chose to remain with the king.
After a meeting with his brother, Hanani, Nehemiah learned that the remnant of Jews living in Jerusalem were struggling to survive. The walls and gates that had once protected their city had long ago been destroyed by the Babylonians. Without walls, the Jews lived in fear of ongoing attacks. God chose Nehemiah to have pity on Jerusalem and bring them help by rebuilding their city walls. An overwhelming calling? Yes. But it’s the way Nehemiah accomplished such a difficult task that gives me so much hope. It’s a plan I can follow. And one I believe that you can follow, too. His method is simple yet so profound.
Nehemiah cared enough to try in the first place.
He prayed often. (See 1:4-9, 2:4, 4:4…) He prayed for success and to receive favor from those he would be working with. (1:11)
He took the time needed to create a well thought out plan.
His confidence wasn’t in his own ability but in the power of God. (1:10-11)
He boldly asked the people in position to help him with what he wanted them to do. (2:4-5) He wasn’t vague in his requests (hoping they might get the hint he needed their help), but his requests were clear and specific. (2:7-8)
Care, pray, plan, put your confidence in God, ask boldly. If we go about completing our big tasks the way Nehemiah shows us to, we can answer others with the confidence he had as well, saying, “The God of heaven will give us success! (Nehemiah 2:20).”