We are introduced to the story of Nehemiah with friends and family sharing with him the bad news of the state of the walls of Jerusalem. The wall is broken down and the city gates are destroyed with fire. The city is in ruins. The wall around the city, which represented its stability, its security, its prosperity and stature was lying on the ground in ruins. Maybe you are looking at some broken walls in your own life right now. It could be that you have watched your life savings disappear through the impacts of COVID and your wall of financial provision for the future is lying on the ground in a million pieces. Your business could be on the ropes, or your job could be on the line. It could be your marriage, your children, your parents, your health, an addiction that you struggle with, depression. Maybe the stress of the situation has made you an angry person. You had good emotional strength, and an easy personality, but now the walls are broken down and there doesn’t seem like anything you can do about it. The first step towards repairing those walls is to face the facts as they are, which is where Nehemiah chapter 1 starts.