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Friday, September 27, 2013

Encouragement, the oxygen of the soul!

As someone that is loved by words, I am always in need of a good compliment! I want to encourage you to be an encourager, somebody that is always ready to give some love! 
One of my favorite saying is:
“I can live for two months on a good compliment.”
Like oxygen, encouragement has the power to strengthen a flagging soul, heal a broken heart and lift up a fallen outlook. Encouragement can come in many forms. It might me a sincere compliment, a note, a pep talk, a simple touch or a pat on the shoulder, the offer of a hand to help someone...



You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing, but you should meet together and encourage each other. Do this even more as you see the day coming. Hebrews 10:25 

Fellowship that encourages is vital to survival. Spend time with godly women. Don't let you job and your family and all the other demands in your life isolate you, get connected! Go to church meetings, small groups, get-together! 

BE THE ENCOURAGEMENT THAT SOMEBODY NEEDS!
When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need—words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will do good to those who listen to you. Ephesians 4:29

Here are some Scriptures on Encouragement:
Proverbs 12:25Ecclesiastes 4:10Isaiah 41:13Deuteronomy 31:6

This is one of my favorite testimony of encouragement:
You can read about Anne Sullivann's biography and learn more about two of the most extraordinary women in our history! I love to know that I learned about them thru my youngest child's devotion to a book (another story!)

Don't take people for granted! Ask God to give you compassion, so you can be the one to encourage, to lift someone up, to stop, to notice, to ask AND to listen! 
Don't give up on people! Love never fails! (1 Corinthians 13:8) - If you keep loving them, God will use you to bring them healing and hope.

When you screaming on the inside for help, learn to encourage yourself, get back on track, recoverKing David learned to encourage himself: "And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God." 1 Samuel 30:6 

In the book "A Family Shaped by grace" by Gary Morland, there is a chapter Be God's Access, where he encourage us to always outweigh criticism with encouragement. Because we need at least 6 times more encouragement than criticism. Criticism steals energy from people. Encouragement infuses energy into people. Criticism is not a change agent. It's a venting agent for the criticizer.

In the Bible we find Barnabas, whose name means "son of encouragement", continually encouraged those he encountered. (Acts 4:36)

When you take time to be with others, you find encouragement and help and hope to give others and to yourself! 
Give and receive! You will find yourself being lifted up as if a cloud of oxygen were pouring into your lungs :D