Have you noticed when you walk into a fast-food restaurant or retail store that you’ll hear one of their employees shout out \u201cGood afternoon, welcome to ____\u201d? Isn\u2019t that encouraging? You were noticed! You also know that some of those employees have been taught to say something encouraging to you like \u201cI love your hair” or “I love your sweater!\u201d Despite it seeming a little trite, it still gives you a feel-good feeling, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About four months ago, I spoke for a women’s meeting at my church. Last Sunday, a young woman pushed through the crowd to tell me how much she was encouraged by my words at that meeting. In turn, I said to her: “And, you are an exhorter and encourager because you just lifted me higher with your encouraging words!” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I started thinking about the people who have been encouragers to me. I remember, as a teenager, the youth choir director pointing out \u201cYou harmonize so beautifully at your young age.\u201d That gave me huge 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 had a tight budget, managed to provide me with trendy clothes because of her “deal” finder abilities. I think that\u2019s why, to this day, I go to the sales racks before I look at the full-priced items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was shy and an introvert as a child and teenager. Not many believe that because today I am outgoing because of those who encouraged me. I had a boss who encouraged me to apply for a job that I didn\u2019t have the required Master\u2019s Degree. I applied and got the job. On-the-job training served me well for even more open doors. I was encouraged to step into leadership roles many times because of the encouragement of others. Now, I am beyond blessed by the encouragement I receive from so many of you who cheer me on in doing what I\u2019m doing right now — encouraging me to keep encouraging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My point today is to encourage us all to put on our Encourager Hats. It\u2019s obvious how much our world needs cheerleaders and encouragers. As I type this blog, I know you get what I\u2019m saying because you sense God\u2019s gift of encouragement 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 and you give it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can be \u201con purpose\u201d encouragers \u2013 like for those store clerks — to build them up and bring a bright light to their day. \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\n\n\n
We hold the power to encourage when we pick up the phone to send a text or to type a comment in a FB post that speaks encouragement. So, rise and shine, Encouragers! Let\u2019s go get \u2018em\u2026.let\u2019s ENCOURAGE!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a01 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have you noticed when you walk into a fast-food restaurant or retail store that you’ll hear one of their employees shout out \u201cGood afternoon, welcome to ____\u201d? Isn\u2019t that encouraging? You were noticed! You also know that some of those employees have been taught to say something encouraging to you like \u201cI love your hair”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15574,"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":[22813],"tags":[2247,1210,1716,1769,2248,1720,4818,1721,1266,22812,6582,18375,3996],"class_list":["post-15573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-build-each-other-up","tag-2-corinthians-14","tag-blog","tag-cheerleader","tag-christian","tag-comfort-others","tag-encourage","tag-encourage-one-another","tag-encourager","tag-encouraging","tag-exhorter","tag-lift-up-others","tag-noticed","tag-unite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15573","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=15573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15575,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15573\/revisions\/15575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}