(In)Couragement

Great website....I would "incourage" you all to visit it. Very well done, as usual! DaySpring is a class act, in every sense of the word. That's my friend, Holley Gerth, in the picture modeling the T-shirt. She's a writer for DaySpring and a wonderful gal! You can click on her picture for a direct link to the website. Good stuff!

So what encourages us? Let's see: hugs? notes in the mail or online? God's Word? Oh yes, BIG encouragement. I have had scripture lift me up personally when nothing else would work; not words, not hugs, not emails, nothing. The Word is full of encouragement, merely by the fact (at least to me) that most every person that contributed to the writing faced some trial or test or temptation at some point in their lives. Could we think of it as God's blog where those chosen to a specific task have 'weighed in', writing their innermost thoughts and sharing them with the God of the Universe, their Creator and friend? I think of David in the Psalms and how his spirit cried out in anguish to the Lord. Could anyone around him encourage him at those points in his life? Remember when he was hiding from Saul because the King wanted to kill him? How about when David's infant son (by Bathsheba) was dying? We read passages like, "I cry in the daytime but thou hearest not." (Ps 22:2) or "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul." (Ps 69:1) You can find many times people have cried out to the Father for mercy, understanding, healing and restoration. The point is, He's always there. He never moved or went anywhere.

I saw a sign on a church's marquis one day as I drove by and it has always stuck with me, even to this day. It said, "If you feel a distance from God, guess who moved?" Good one! He didn't move, He didn't go anywhere, He's always been right here, listening, watching, waiting. WE are the ones that get off track, out of line, all screwed up.

When we lost Hunter in September of 2004, I thought there was nothing anyone could say, nothing I could read, nothing I could do that would ever lift me up out of the pit of grief and dispair I was in but, know what? "Joy comes in the morning" After months of grief-stricken tears and dashed hopes and dreams, I did begin to heal, I did find encouragement in reading His Word, I could listen to other people speak truth into my life. Amazing? No, just healing and realizing that God never left me, never forsook me. He was there all the time, watching, listening and waiting for me to lift my hands to Him in honest faith.

Reminds me of a wonderful verse: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Love it, love it, love it!

So, could these words all be combined in the same sentance? Faith, Hope, Encouragement? I know the definitions are different but they could certainly be used in the same sentance and I often think of the others when I think of one.

Be encouraged, my friend. Be hopeful, be full of faith. Share one another's burdens, cry with those who cry and laugh with those who laugh. Love one another.