ENCOURAGEMENT THAT CHANGED MY DAY

(Recently, my Mom sent this picture by 11Alive StormTracer, Kristine Wilcox to brighten my day)

by Tammy Phillips
June 10, 2021

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.”  (1Thessalonians 5:11 CSB)

ENCOUR’AGE, verb transitive enkur’rage. To give courage to; to give or increase confidence of success; to inspire with courage, spirit, or strength of mind; to embolden; to animate; to incite; to inspirit.

“But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Heb 3:13 NKJV)

EXHORT‘, verb transitive egzhort’. [Latin exhortor; ex and hortor, to encourage, to embolden, to cheer, to advise. The primary sense seems to be to excite or to give strength, spirit, or courage.]

I write to enCOURAGE and exhort  you in the Lord.  They pretty much mean the same thing.   We need courage to face this world.  To be honest, I had heard so much bad, bad news that I had gotten a bit discouraged.   I felt like I had been hit with a machine gun of horrible reports from people I knew.  One of my best friends is going through something so horrific that if I told you, it would be hard for you to believe.  It is hard for me to wrap my mind around.  One sister lost her husband.  One sister’s son had been a victim of a hit and run while trying to help clear the road from a bad storm.  Another posted that her sister and brother-in-law had lost their life in a violent attack at the hands of their own son.  Another sister posted that her niece who is a young mother had been missing for two weeks. Praise God, she has now communicated with the family.  The list continues, but I do not want you to become discouraged. 

The Bible also tells us, “David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. (1Sa 30:6 KJV)

I attempted to encourage myself like David did by reminding myself exactly who God is and all the answered prayers of late.  It built me up and I was encouraged, but I am so thankful to God that He also used three other people to change my whole day.  None of them even knew I was down, not a clue.

Throughout the day these are the messages I received.

Around 9 AM…

At 1:35 PM I received this text from Pam Verma, my lifelong best friend…

I picked up barbeque from Grey Smoke food truck yesterday around noon.  The BBQ was hidden in a black bag until dinner.  When I opened the bag, I found the third encouragement of the day…

We NEVER know what people are going through!  We never know how ONE encouraging word can change the direction of someone’s day.  The word of God tells us in our focus verses to encourage one another and build up or exhort each other daily!

I enCOURAGE you to change somebody’s day.  Be an encourager.  Spread a little light.  It will go a long way.  My prayer for you:  

 “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.”  (2Thessalonians 2:16-17 CSB)