“….so I sent messengers to them with this reply: ‘I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?’”
Nehemiah 6:3
Dr. Haller Nutt of Natchez, Mississippi, had a dream. He wanted to build one of the greatest plantation houses in all of the South. Being a doctor and cotton farmer gave him the wealth needed to accomplish this dream home. He made his sketches and searched the nation for the best architect to make his dream a reality. He found Samuel Sloan in Philadelphia to design it. It was going to be an octagon-shaped mansion with eight rooms on each of the six floors. All of that was going to be grouped around a middle piece, a six story rotunda that would be capped with a 16-sided Byzantine onion-shaped dome. It was going to be beautiful with nothing else like it in all the South. Dr. Nutt went all over the world to purchase the very best furnishings for this masterpiece.
As soon as construction had begun, tragedy struck. The Civil War erupted. All the workers left to fight. Dr. Haller Nutt lost everything during the course of the war.
During that time, he moved his family into the basement of this grand mansion so that they might be safe and have shelter. Dr. Nutt died in 1865 before the war was over. The family continued to live in the basement. In fact, they lived there for over a century, 111 years! Finally, some relatives donated it to the local historical society. To this day, it stands as a monument to an unfinished dream.
In chapter 6 of Nehemiah, enemies tried to stop him from completing the dream that God had laid on his heart – that of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. But Nehemiah stayed focused. He completed his God-given dream in record time to the praise of His glory. He is a role model for us today.
Prayer Focus: Pray that God will enable us to complete the dream that He has given us in such a way as to bring Him glory and expand His kingdom. Pray that He will thwart any enemies who try to steal our dream and prevent it from happening. Ask the Lord how you can take ownership of this vision using the time, talents, and treasures that He has given you.
