Encouragement

There are many readers of this blog who know me personally while others of you read this blog based on the recommendation of your friends.  For those of you who do not personally know me I have a strong desire to be an encourager.  I take that approach to my daily walk with Christ and I purposefully look for opportunities to share that action with people.  But even those of us who possess that desire to be an encourager have the need to be encouraged.  Over the past two days my life has been blessed by receiving encouragement from people that God has strategically placed in my life.  This encouragement has taken the form of words and actions.  Yesterday (Sunday) several people spoke a word of encouragement to me and this was not just limited to people who attended church with me although there was one specific encounter in which a person opened their heart and spoke a heartfelt word that spoke "life" to my life.  I was also blessed at lunch yesterday when an individual approached our table and begin to encourage our pursuit of the will of God.  I will admit that I know the individual nevertheless that knowledge did not diminish the effect of the conversation.  This morning I opened my email and a wonderful brother in Christ had taken the time to write a letter of encouragement to me.  A few days ago my wife received a thoughtful card in the mail which included a wonderful word of encouragement.  Why am I writing these thoughts on Monday afternoon?  I write because the Spirit reminded me of the powerful "ministry of encouragement" for the lack of a better term.  Each of us will meet or already have met an individual today who just needs to hear a word of blessing or encouragement.  They may be standing at a crossroads in their life and they are choosing to take the road marked despair or the road marked hope and you can be the instrument that points them toward the highway called HOPE and COURAGE.  Take time to be an instrument of encouragement.  You will be blessed in your role of servanthood and the recipient will be blessed as they draw strength from the Holy Spirit!