The Gift of Encouragement

What can you do to lift the spirits of another person?  How can you make a real difference in someone's life?  

E-coaches online get to do that one thing very often.  We encourage.  This is not just for those working online.  It is one gift we can all share.  

One thing it is not.  The mindless repetitions of positive mantras thrown at others whether they are true or not.  These can be self-serving and are soon discarded as insincere and presumptive.

There are three definitions one dictionary gives of encouragement and how we can help one another:

1. To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence.  Hope is a fragile commodity.  It is easily buried beneath the urgent, the busy, and the necessary. Courage to live a life outside the box of the world and within the heart of God may be just what a burdened friend needs.  These are words of perseverance, bringing confidence when others have trod that downward path and lived to tell of its benefits, despite how it seemed and how it wounded. There are always others bearing a heavy load. 

2. To give support.  Sometimes, a helping hand is the best kind of encouragement.  Seed money for a project, help with groceries, a meal out for an exhausted working mom, the list goes on.  Some young students need to spread their wings to live out what God has taught them. I was such once upon a time. Mission boards are ever in need of both people and finances.  Burdens, however, are not only financial.  Time is a commodity that can be shared in all sorts of ways.  Childcare, sharing household, and shopping chores are only the beginning of this category.

3. To stimulate; spur:   Here we have the greatest chance of all.  What is being sown in a heart by the loving Father through the Holy Spirit might need our testimony to the rightness of the way, even though it seems unusual.   We might point the way to passages in the Bible, a helpful book or site that can clarify difficult questions for someone.  We pray.  We are there for them.

I have received some of all these kinds of encouragement.  Dear mature Christians helped me serve overseas years ago. They led me to where I am now. They brought light during dark days and understanding where there were doubts. 

This is the gift of encouragement.  Take it up and share its glory with those around you! Can we be the people who make a difference? If encouraging others, then YES! It is just a word away!

Image: Mamoon Ahmed, found on Pinterest.