Carol's Corner

The dictionary defines encourage as giving support, confidence or hope to someone. In the Bible it talks about encouraging and building one another up together. To me encouragement is giving someone support, helping them be confident that they are not alone.

It is great to be able to recite Bible passages and know what they say about how we should live life God’s way. Scripture tells us we should hide God’s Word in our hearts, meditate on it and study it. We need to know it. Living it becomes even more beneficial, not only for ourselves, but for others who are in our lives and who we meet.

Encourage, embolden, hearten, invigorate or reassure are all positive words. They carry a positive message and we long for those times where we know we are not alone, where we have someone in our lives who does encourage us. What does encouragement look like action?

I have been encouraged in various ways. Sometimes it is a listening ear and a hug. When I stood beside the incubator of my youngest daughter who lay in a comma in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit I felt alone. My husband needed to go to work and get things organized. When you own your own business there is not always someone to take over on short notice. A friend, our former pastor’s wife came to the hospital and stood beside me. She asked me to tell her about my baby and listened intently. Then she simply put her arms around my shoulders and cried with me. She didn’t try and answer the unaswerable question of Why? She didn’t give me any platitudes. She simply stood with me at a tough time. Then she offered to keep praying.

At other times encouragement from others has come in the way of words of affirmation, a note, a visit or a gift. Encouragement can be a smile from an acquaintance, a stranger in the supermarket or a business associate when you feel like no one cares. It might be an act of kindness. Encouragement varies with the circumstance, your personality and what might be an encouragement.

Zig Ziglar said this:

When you encourage others you in the process are encouraged because you’re making a difference in that person’s life. Encouragement really does make a difference.

A young woman asked me to help her with a presentation she needed to get ready for her one class at college. I met with her one evening at the library. She had lots of preparation done. She had been a member of my Toastmaster’s group for a few years and learned lots of techniques for giving a good presentation and had practiced them. She did not really need any help in putting it together but she needed the encouragement of someone willing to listen to her ideas and give feedback on the order she chose to put them in. She had so much information she needed the feedback from someone she trusted to choose what to put into the presentation and what to leave out as well as the chance to talk about the subject. This helped ensure she could describe to others what she understood for herself. I listened. I gave feedback. I reminded her of the skills I had seen in her over the last few years. I encouraged her to believe in her abilities and move forward with confidence.

A few days later I asked her how she thought the presentation to her class had gone. She felt confident of a good mark. She appreciated the time I took to be with her and listen as she prepared and my continued interest afterwards. When she received a grade of 100% I cheered. I felt encouraged by encouraging her and seeing the confidence it inspired to pay off.

When we smile at others we feel better. It encourages both parties.
What encourages you? How have others been an encouragement to you?