Nehemiah's Census

Nehemiah 7:4-5 (NLT)

4 At that time the city was large and spacious, but the population was small, and none of the houses had been rebuilt. 5 So my God gave me the idea to call together all the nobles and leaders of the city, along with the ordinary citizens, for registration. I had found the genealogical record of those who had first returned to Judah. 

I find it interesting that Nehemiah gave God credit for the idea of registering the people. This man was obviously gifted in the area of organization. He documented all of the different families and groups who returned from exile and noted how many people there were...a total of 42,360 returned to Judah in addition to 7,337 servants and 245 singers. Why does it matter? I do not know except that I believe the Lord God our Creator has proven time and time again that He is in the details and He prefers order. Nehemiah knew the idea was from God so he followed through in obedience.
What idea has God given you? Do you question the purpose? Are you afraid of what others will say about it? Don't be afraid to follow your heart and proceed with your God given idea. He may reveal its purpose to you later, but maybe not. All you have to be concerned with is following through in obedience.
Recently, I have had the opportunity to work on a project that is an idea God gave a friend and me. There is no research to prove that our idea will be successful. We will never have statistics that rate its effectiveness. Nevertheless, we know God gave us the idea. So we have poured our hearts into it. Today, I spoke with another friend who put our design together. I said to her, "You have invested as much as I did." To which she said, "We want to give our best!" For notoriety? No. For applause? No. We were only the tools God used to create and transport His idea to the people He wanted to reach. What a joy to be a part!