HOW TO ENCOURAGE WHEN FACED WITH SUFFERING, SICKNESS

This perspective on suffering encouraged me beyond my fears and turned me to look at Jesus. God could have stopped Jesus' death, but did not so that good and grace could come for me. How can I not trust someone that gave His only Son? What do you want to develop in me because of this? But the struggle is there to keep looking back.

"Should you pray for a miracle? Well you're free to do that, of course. My general impression is that the God who is able to do miracles--and He certainly can--is also able to keep you from getting the problem in the first place. So although miracles do happen, they're rare by definition...Above all, I would say pray for the glory of God. If you think of God glorifying Himself in history and you say, where in all of history has God most glorified Himself? He did it at the cross of Jesus Christ, and it wasn't by delivering Jesus from the cross, though He could have...God is in charge. when things like this come into our lives, they are not accidental. It's not as if God somehow forgot what was going on, and something bad slipped by...God is not only the one in charge; God is also good...If God does something in your life, would you change it? If you'd change it, you'd make it worse."

Pastor James Montgomery Boice, May of 2000, stood before his Philadelphia church and this is how he explained he had been diagnosed with liver cancer. Eight weeks later, Pastor Rice left this earth to be with Christ, after he taught his people how to live and then how to die.

VETERANS DAY ENCOURAGEMENT

"Never take for granted the freedoms we have in America. Always remember that men and women have fought and died for those freedoms. Always thank veterans and those currently serving in the military. Yes I know it is hard to realize that people actually had to fight and be willing to die for what they believed in. We are all spoiled and don't understand that committment. We might not have to face the reality of dying for our country, but we can remember and respect those who have sacrificed for our freedoms and those who are currently serving in our military. Growing up in some places around the country it might be hard to see, but I can assure you the world is a dangerous place and our country must be strong in order to preserve what we have. Don't be afraid to say thank you and shake the hand of veterans and those serving in the military."
Life Lessons I've Learned-Paul Zeltwanger

Thank you military men and women in all branches of the armed forces. We appreciate your service!

GOD'S LOVE NOTE ENCOURAGEMENT

Reading about how much God loves me in Jeremiah 1:15 and Psalm 139 are sometimes difficult to wrap my brain around. I struggle with how can such a big all-knowing, all-powerful God love an insignificant little person like me?

As a mom, reading several paragraphs from ‘Crazy Love’ helped me get it. Francis Chan says, “For the first time (after my oldest daughter was born) I got a taste of what I believe God feels for us. I thought about my daughter often. I prayed for her while she slept at night. I showed her picture to anyone who would look. I wanted to give her the world. Sometimes when I came home from work, my little girl greeted me by running out to the driveway and jumping into my arms. My own love and desire for my kids’ love is so strong that it opened my eyes to how much God desires and loves us. Through this experience, I came to understand that my desire for my children is only a faint echo of God’s great love for me.”

And I might add, how much He wants to spend time with me each and every day. Remember to shout words of worship, read about God’s love for you, hide His word in your heart and talk to Him throughout your day. He can’t wait to hang out with you.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO FACE YOUR FEARS pt 2

What fears wake you up at night and keep you from taking steps you know you should to tackle your problems? Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of ruin in relationship?

I struggled with fear this past week as I was asked to do something I didn't think I could. I know I'm not alone in feeling afraid. Fears are normal and a common problem in the human mind. In fact, I might venture to say it's one of the hardest situations to work through in life and I'm not sure we can live life without it.

The secret is not letting it paralyze us or keep us from experiencing God's strength and care for us. Success is dependent on having the courage to act in the midst of fear, not in never feeling fear.

What propelled me forward even though I did not feel like doing what I was suppposed to do? How did I deal with and conquer fear?

I was encouraged by reading this Bible verse and then applying it to my specific situation. Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10

God is with us and never falls asleep while watching over us. We can move forward with courage and confidence to victoriously face and conquer fear.

Just go for it, you can do it.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO FACE YOUR FEARS

My brother Paul wrote an amazing little book for his four children. It's called Life Lessons I've Learned and want to pass on to my kids. Now he's been through some tough circumstances in his life and wants to encourage his kids how to handle those tough times we are all sure to have.

One of the most encouraging paragraphs talks about facing down our fears. He says, "One of my business mentors taught me, when facing challenging circumstances or major decisions, to always write down and think through all of the possible worst case scenarios. Then he encouraged me to spend the energy to literally put myself into each scenario and process through living out the worst case reality. It made me realize that I would survive anything my mind was worried about. Once you can convince your mind that you can get through anything no matter what happens, you are ready to take that next big step. Who knows, it may be that next step that leads to you achieving your dream!

"He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life." Ralph Waldo Emerson

HERE'S TO GIRLFRIEND ENCOURAGEMENT

I read an interesting article several weeks ago and was intrigued by what the author said. "I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman, whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health is to nurture relationships with her girlfriends."

Of course, we women have always known this, right girls?

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely.

Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters, mothers and friends and evidently that is very good for our health. It has been said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging, working out at a gym or eating the right food.

True friendship is a sacred important thing and it happens when we drop down into that deeper level of who we are, when we cross over into the broken fragile parts of ourselves. We have to give something up in order to get a friendship like that. We have to give up our need to be perceived as perfect. We have to give up our ability to control what people think of us. We have to overcome the fear that when they see the depths of who we are they’ll leave. But what we give up is nothing in comparison to what this kind of friendship gives to us. Friendship is an opportunity to act on God’s behalf in the lives of people that we’re close to, reminding each other who God is. When we do the hard intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more of the divine into daily life.

So whenever we hang with our gal pals, let’s just pat ourself on the back and congratulate us for doing something good for our health and let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends.

Evidently it's very good for our spiritual and emotional health.

THE POWER OF ENCOURAGEMENT

A friend knew I was going through a hard time and gave me words of encouragement. As the words came out of their mouth something took place in my spirit. Literally a transformation, and then my motivation and inspiration soared. I was reminded in that moment of the power of encouragement. Why is it we so often neglect using this powerful tool?

Just prior to entering the Promise Land God told Moses, “But commission Joshua and ENCOURAGE and strengthen him for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land.” (Deuteronomy 3:28) In a very critical moment in this young leaders life God reminded Moses to encourage him. The Hebrew word for encourage is chazaq which means, “to make strong or firm”. Encouragement has power.

Here are 7 things encouragement will do for our friends, family and acquaintenances.

1. It helps them see the work God is doing in or through their life.
2. It motivates them to continual improvement.
3. It enhances their confidence and courage.
4. It expands their vision. When they know the progress they’ve made has been recognized and appreciated it causes them to dream bigger.
5. It validates their giftedness. Most people struggle with clarity in the area of their giftedness. A specific word of encouragement can help bring needed confirmation.
6. It creates relational bonds.
7. It teaches them to encourage others.

Mac Lake, edited by KG