Tag Archives: encourage

To encourage you

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As a long-time lover of words, I was glad to get fresh revelation today regarding a favorite word: encourage.  There are other words more fun to actually say, like “bombastic” and “persnickety,” but I love what “encourage” means.

This word pondering came about because I am thinking about several friends who are facing hurt – some with weary hearts, some with bewilderment, some with anger, some with all of those.  My heart’s first impulse is a desire to encourage them.

encourage one anotherSince I was thinking of blogging about it, as it turns out I am doing right now, I looked the word up on dictionary.com and thesaurus.com.  The prefix of the word, the “en” part, causes the rest of the word to mean “to cause to be in a place, position, or state.”  Like the word “enthrone” means to put someone/something on a throne, etc. When we encourage someone we are urging them, hopefully causing them to stand in a place of courage.  The definition of “encourage” is to inspire with courage, spirit or confidence.

When we’re facing uncertainty, hurt, unwelcome change, or even a dream that has crashed to the floor and shattered, we have an opportunity to learn and grow.  However, that is not usually the first thing that comes to mind in difficulty, to say the least.  Sometimes we won’t move from where we stand or see something good God has for us unless what we are clenching in our little hands is taken away or falls apart.

In those times, we need courage to keep looking ahead, confidence to keep trusting God.  Our faint spirits need refreshing, heavy hearts need lifting.

You and I have the ability to help one another into a place of courage!

So, to my friends who are weighed down today, hurting or feeling low:

I want to remind you God sees you and your circumstance. He loves you and is near, whether you feel him there right now or not.

I want you to know you are not alone.  You matter, your feelings matter, and I’m here to listen if you need me to.

I want you to remember that God is working things out for good.  He’s ahead of you making the way for you.  He’s got plans and big dreams for you and they’re good.

If you don’t feel cheerful that’s okay, I can be quiet with you.  If you don’t feel like singing it’s alright, your song will come back or God will give you a new one.

I want you to keep in mind that although we get injured in this battle of life, the final outcome is already secured for us.  God wins.  So you win.

I want you to know, deep in your heart of hearts, that you are loved.

I pray God washes over you with his peace and light so that your eyes shine brightly again, heart full of hope.

I say and hope and pray all of this to encourage you.

Encourage each other and give each other strength…  I Thessalonians 5:11

When you go through deep waters,
    I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
    you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
    you will not be burned up;
    the flames will not consume you.  Isaiah 43:2

I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor ruling spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, nothing above us, nothing below us, nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39

Wise words from Grandma

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comfortingIn an email conversation with my dad this morning, he reminded me of a time that was tough in my mom’s life (physically at least).  She had all three of us by C-section and shortly after my little brother was born she had to have her gall bladder removed!  This was back when they didn’t do the tiny little belly button incisions.  She was hurting.  My grandmother, her mother-in-law, told her during that time, “When you’re hurting, somebody needs you.”  This took my mom aback.  Someone needs me?  I’m hurting here!  I’m the one who just had two surgeries almost back to back.  Nonetheless, during my mom’s hospital stay she encountered another patient, a lady who was hurting in her heart, not just her body.  God used Mom to encourage and bless that lady.  It may not have happened if Mom’s heart hadn’t been opened to the possibility by grandma’s wise words.

Wow – this is good truth!  One of the enemy’s biggest tactics to mess me up is self-pity and self-absorption.  There’s no better way to counter that attack, no better way to get your mind off of yourself and your hurts than to look for someone who needs you, someone you can bless or encourage or serve.

It seems that getting absorbed in ourselves and our pain actually multiplies the pain.  What seems to be a help becomes a hindrance.

We’re going through some refining big-time these days, my family and my church family.  We’ve got to lean into it, even when it hurts, because it’s for our good.   Then we need to realize that it’s not only for our good, but so we can be better at reaching to people who don’t know God or His love yet.  It’s not about us.

So I say to the Klotz family and to the New Life family, “When you’re hurting, somebody needs you.”  Look outwardly, strain your necks and hearts to see who you can love on and encourage today, lean into the refining but then keep looking at God and the purpose of it all:  to make us more like Him so we can bring more of his lost kids back to Him.

And thanks, Grandma.