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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily

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Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day

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Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jennifer Sadary, and after this short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsors, we'll dive into today's Bible verse Neamiah

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Speaker 1: one four. Today's Bible verses Neamiah one four. When I

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Speaker 1: heard these things, I sat down and wept for some days.

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Speaker 1: I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven.

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Speaker 1: My friend came to me in tears, overwhelmed with shame

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Speaker 1: regarding a recent reaction that stemmed from her emotional dysregulation

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Speaker 1: in short after decades of shattered relationships, angry outbursts, and

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Speaker 1: self sabotaging fear based responses that often hurt her, and

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Speaker 1: though she loved she was trying to live differently. The

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Speaker 1: problem was she didn't know how to live out her

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Speaker 1: deepest values to love like Jesus, in part because she'd

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Speaker 1: never learned how to process intense emotions in a healthy

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Speaker 1: and God honoring way. Because of this, when potentially life

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Speaker 1: altering problems hit, she tended to become engulfed in her overwhelm,

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Speaker 1: which often caused her to react before rational thought kicked in.

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Speaker 1: If you can relate, you might If you can relate,

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Speaker 1: you might find A recent Faith over Fear podcast episode

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Speaker 1: Carol and I recorded encouraging its titled emotional Overwhelm Finding

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Speaker 1: Christ Peace when you've reached your limit. You can access

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Speaker 1: that on Life Audio or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Speaker 1: Many of us reach adulthood not knowing how to manage

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Speaker 1: our most intense emotions because many of us were taught

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Speaker 1: to suppress or deny how we feel, and often with

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Speaker 1: toxic results. This is one of the reasons biblical examples

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Speaker 1: like the one presented in Nehemiah Chapter one can be

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Speaker 1: so helpful. They provide something of a holy guide for

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Speaker 1: us to follow when we receive challenging news or find

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Speaker 1: ourselves facing hardship. This Old Testament book records one man's

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Speaker 1: response to a distressing situation that began with a glorious,

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Speaker 1: divinely blessed assignment to rebuild ancient Israel's homeland previously destroyed

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Speaker 1: by their enemies. This occurred less than one hundred years

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Speaker 1: after what scholars refer to as the Babylonian Captivity, when

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Speaker 1: God returned the people to Jerusalem as promised, while miraculously

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Speaker 1: providing them with everything they need to rebuild their sacred city,

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Speaker 1: its walls, and most importantly, the temple. The Bible Book

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Speaker 1: of Ezra details much of this process, how the people began,

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Speaker 1: the opposition they faced, and the project's decade and a

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Speaker 1: half delay. This leads us to Niemiyah, a Jewish man

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Speaker 1: who became cup thear to a Persian king. About fifteen

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Speaker 1: years after ancient Israel's rebuilding project began, some men from

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Speaker 1: Judah returned to Persia, and Niemiah asked about the state

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Speaker 1: of things back in Jerusalem. They replied, quote, those who

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Speaker 1: survived the exile and are back in the province are

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Speaker 1: in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is

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Speaker 1: broken down and its gates have been burned with fire.

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Speaker 1: End quote. The news greatly upset Nehemiah. But notice what

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Speaker 1: today's verse reveals regarding his response. First, he wept. He

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Speaker 1: didn't suppress or deny his emotions, nor did he rush

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Speaker 1: through them. He mourned four days. He also fasted. That's

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Speaker 1: not a discipline many of us here encouraged or preached

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Speaker 1: on much nowadays, but scripture shows that God's people have

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Speaker 1: used deliberate restrictions, usually from food, to gain in pre

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Speaker 1: self control, spiritual receptivity, deeper connection with the Lord, and

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Speaker 1: to experience spiritual breakthrough. Niamiah also prayed, presumably for days

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Speaker 1: all before quote the God of Heaven end quote, and

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Speaker 1: I wonder if scripture added that ending phrase to make

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Speaker 1: it clear to Jewish and potentially Babylonian readers who Namiah

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Speaker 1: prayed to, so that they'd also recognize who came through

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Speaker 1: for Namiah and the Jewish people, remember, he was living

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Speaker 1: in a pagan land where people worshiped numerous demons they

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Speaker 1: believed were gods, and the Lord may have wanted to

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Speaker 1: draw a clear distinction between the one true God and

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Speaker 1: the numerous very humanike deities worshiped in Susa. Or maybe

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Speaker 1: Neemiah was reminding himself of the power and authority of

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Speaker 1: his father. He might have used the title to breast, praise,

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Speaker 1: and respect. The Lord is the God of Heaven, of

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Speaker 1: earth and all that exists, who holds power over all

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Speaker 1: and gives his people everything they need to do all

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Speaker 1: that he asks, as he did for those who embraced

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Speaker 1: the long, difficult and frustrating task of rebuilding what their people, sins,

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Speaker 1: and their enemies had previously destroyed. So again, when facing

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Speaker 1: overwhelming emotion, Neemiah gave full expression to his feelings. He wept, mourned, fasted, prayed,

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Speaker 1: and proclaimed God's power and authority, thereby reminding himself of

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Speaker 1: the one who stood with him, would go before him

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Speaker 1: and wouldn't fail him. Our Savior still reigns from heaven,

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Speaker 1: outside of time and space, yet he also draws near

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Speaker 1: to help us in our time of need, just as

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Speaker 1: he did with Nehemiah so long ago. Many of us

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Speaker 1: know these truths intellectually, it can feel challenging to rest

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Speaker 1: in them. However, when under distress, by following Neamiah's exams,

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Speaker 1: we can begin to calm our anxiety and fear, received

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Speaker 1: comfort for our sorrow, increase our spiritual and emotional resilience,

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Speaker 1: and stand firm in our faith and our God. If

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Speaker 1: you're experiencing intense emotions or walking through a painful, stressful,

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Speaker 1: or difficult circumstance, can I gently encourage you to give

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Speaker 1: yourself space to process your feelings, doubts and questions with God.

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Speaker 1: Maybe set aside five minutes to journal so that you

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Speaker 1: can express whatever feels heavy to the one with the

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Speaker 1: ability to reduce your load. Tell him how you feel,

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Speaker 1: ask him to help you. Sense his presence, listen for

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Speaker 1: his perspective and guidance, and rest in his love. Let's pray,

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Speaker 1: Holy Father, thank you so much for your tender care.

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Speaker 1: You see our every hurt, our every concern. You understand

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Speaker 1: our fear, our stress. Whatever emotions are weighing on us

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Speaker 1: to and we'll weigh on us tomorrow. You get it

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Speaker 1: all and you love us completely. Thank you that we

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Speaker 1: are never alone, We're never helpless, we're never defenseless, we're

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Speaker 1: never overpowered because you have given us and will give

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Speaker 1: us everything we need to thrive and to live fully

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Speaker 1: yielded obedient lives to you, we know that is where

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Speaker 1: we experience the greatest freedom, fulfillment, joy and peace. If

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Speaker 1: we have spent a lifetime suppressing, denying, disregarding our emotions,

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Speaker 1: we might not even recognize how we feel, and so

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Speaker 1: we ask that you would reveal back to us and

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Speaker 1: help us gain emotional maturity. We love you and we

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Speaker 1: praise you. And as the name of your son, our Savior,

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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, that we pray a month