{"id":1055,"date":"2017-01-31T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T17:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/encouragerstime-to-take-courage-and\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:08:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:08:54","slug":"encouragerstime-to-take-courage-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=1055","title":{"rendered":"Encouragers\u2026Time to Take Courage and Encourage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Have you noticed when you walk into a store and you hear one of the clerks or food preparers shout out \u201cGood afternoon, welcome to ____\u201d? Isn\u2019t that encouraging? You were noticed! And you know that some of those sales clerks have been taught to say something nice to you like \u201cI love your hair or I love your sweater!\u201d In spite of it seeming a little trite, it still gives you a feel-good feeling, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I started thinking about those people who have been encouragers to me. I remember, as a young child, the choir director pointing out \u201cYou harmonize so beautifully at your young age.\u201d That gave me such confidence to belt out my harmonies even more. Someone else said, \u201cDonna, you have the most beautiful clothes.\u201d That\u2019s because my sweet mama, though she didn\u2019t have much financial wherewithal, she made sure that I had beautiful clothes to wear and she could do that because she was a great \u201cdeal\u201d finder. I think that\u2019s why, to this day, I go to the sales racks before I look at the full-priced items. In my post, yesterday, I spoke about how average I was in school, but when it came to my clothes, I stood out. <\/p>\n

Today, I am an outgoing, avid writer, teacher and speaker, because my husband encouraged me to speak publically, to get my pilot\u2019s license, real estate broker\u2019s license and more. I had a boss who encouraged me to apply for a job that I didn\u2019t have the required Master\u2019s Degree for it, but he knew I could do the job. I did and he was right. More recently, was the encouragement and support I had during the time of my husband\u2019s illness and later his passing. The loving attention and care from dear friends and family lifted me way above the fray. And, now, the encouragement I receive from so many of you, my FB friends and family \u2013 that cheers me on in doing what I\u2019m doing right now — encouraging me to keep encouraging.<\/p>\n

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I said all that to say, because I was encouraged by others\u2026..I, too, became an encourager. And that\u2019s my point today, to say it\u2019s time for us all to put on our Encourager Hats. It\u2019s obvious how much our world needs cheerleaders and encouragers. I know as I type this post, you get what I\u2019m saying, because you sense God\u2019s gift within you. You\u2019ve been through your share of heartaches and someone was there to encourage you, so you know like 2 Corinthians 1:4 says \u201cSo that you might comfort others with the same comfort that you\u2019ve been comforted with\u201d, you must encourage others. Now you are passionately aware that you\u2019ve been called to speak up, reach out and lift up others. It\u2019s not always easy because you don\u2019t want to intrude or be a \u201cknow it all\u201d, but that\u2019s not what matters. What matters is you have something to give even if the recipient seems to be less than aware of your God-given gift. Here\u2019s how you know you\u2019re an encourager:<\/p>\n

~ You hear someone express pain \u2013 maybe from a loss of a loved one, or the loss of a marriage, or they are experiencing physical pain, you know you must encourage them with at least the words \u201cI\u2019m praying for you\u201d, but you don\u2019t want it to sound like a clich\u00e9. I promise you…it isn\u2019t. However and whenever you say those words\u2026it matters \u2013 if you pray. The power of heaven lines itself up with those prayers. It tells them\u2026.you care enough to call in the cavalry\u2026..er\u2019 CALVARY where God marshals His army of warriors on their behalf. They know they\u2019re not alone in their fight.<\/p>\n

~ What about that attitude of looking for something good in someone, like those store clerks, to build up and bring a bright light to their day? Why not encourage by remarking \u201cYou are the fastest cashier I\u2019ve ever seen!\u201d or \u201cYou are so friendly. Thank you.\u201d or \u201cI love your smile\u201d. When we do that, we\u2019re being encouragers. <\/p>\n

~ Encouragers often go the 2nd mile. Sometimes being an encourager means we should go out of our way to encourage someone. Invite them to lunch so they can just vent. Offer to take care of their children so they can have a couple of hours of \u201cMe Time\u201d. Take over cookies or a cake with a little note that says \u201cThinking about you and what a great Mom you are!\u201d <\/p>\n

I promise you, every word and action we offer in whatever way, is multiplied and magnified. We hold the power in our hands when we pick up the phone to send a text or to type a comment in a FB post that speaks truth and life and comfort. It\u2019s not as much about the actual words as it is about knowing we care. We don\u2019t have to be concerned that our words are perfect and we should never let the enemy talk us out of typing them \u2013 he knows the good we do as encouragers and of course he gets all bent out of shape when we foil his plans.<\/p>\n

1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing”!<\/p>\n

Rise and shine, Encouragers! Let\u2019s go get \u2018em\u2026..let\u2019s ENCOURAGE!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you noticed when you walk into a store and you hear one of the clerks or food preparers shout out \u201cGood afternoon, welcome to ____\u201d? Isn\u2019t that encouraging? You were noticed! And you know that some of those sales clerks have been taught to say something nice to you like \u201cI love your hair…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4333,2247,1716,2248,1720,4818,253,1721,1266,6581,6582,5949],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-2-corinthians-14","tag-cheerleader","tag-comfort-others","tag-encourage","tag-encourage-one-another","tag-encouragement","tag-encourager","tag-encouraging","tag-god-given-gift","tag-lift-up-others","tag-reach-out"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6256,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions\/6256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}