Encourage One Another

I feel like God's been trying to teach me something about encouragement... Encouragement is a sacrifice. It is elevating others above yourself... it costs something whether it be time, money, etc. I feel like encouragement is something I need to work on...now! Not when my life is going well... being an encouragement to others is easy when life is good... there is no sacrifice (or in my view less of one) But when you have your own issues, and you put them aside in order to help or encourage others... man that's amazing! (I've seen that happen!)

We need encouragement because we get discouraged... how do we get discouraged though.... to me there are at least 2 ways if not more: words said and words left unsaid.... people are not always the easiest to get along with and we are human... we make mistakes! Sometimes we say things that hurt people more than we know! You guys have probably all heard the saying "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" that is one of the biggest lies...EVER!!!!! We may not like to admit it, but  WORDS HURT. Words have a way of cutting deep and staying with us... kind of like baggage... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlTzgTW3WaE (watch it!) We get to the point like in the video where we crumble under the weight of others words!(and our baggage) Words said... Just like words said can have a bad effect on people words not said can effect people just as much... keeping quite about something because you don't want to be picked on too... whatever your reason not telling someone something encouraging... I'm not okay with that! Do I still do this... yes! I'm not exempt from this! I do not always encourage other, but I'm working on it... I feel like so far, for me, encouragement is seen through the sacrifice of time! I could and probably should be in bed now, but instead I feel the need to share this with you... to encourage you to encourage others! I went to something on campus called Cultivate this week (maybe like Monday??) The speaker at Cultivate spoke on encouragement, and I remember asking God to use me to encourage others! Well he heard me... like he always does!

I challenge you to ask God to give you opportunities to encourage others... and when those opportunities come, and I know they will... be willing to sacrifice your time, money, energy... whatever it is give it up!

God Bless!
He has made you beautiful!