I don't know a lot. Shocking I know, but I'm not nearly as wise as I wish I was. But there is one trick I've learned in my life that's never led me astray, and that is to encourage people with abandon. If you need encouragement right now, don't wait around on someone to bring it your way, send it out to others instead.
Granted, this principal doesn't work for everything. If you need a car, I doubt you'll be able to give one to someone else (but you can still, however, be generous to random people). This tends to qualify more for the intangible things. I know that I've had times in my life where I've been down and really wished someone would go out of their way to randomly encourage me or just let me know that they're thinking about me to let me know that I matter and then I get even more down when no one does.
So I finally figured out that rather than sitting around waiting for someone to come along and help me, I could just go ahead and give to others exactly what I wanted myself. Instead of waiting for someone to encourage me, I can just go out of my way to encourage someone else. So whenever you're down, take the focus off of yourself and try to lift up someone else. I guarantee that you're not the only one needing it in that moment.
Discouragement and depression are not of the Lord. They are often weapons that are used against us, so whenever we take the focus from ourselves and lift up others, it's like using the enemy's weapon against him.
June Portrait
7 years ago
1 comment:
You don't know me - I'm the mom of someone you met in a coffee shop on Easter Sunday. Just wanted to let you know that my husband & I have laughingly enjoyed your blogs. I also wanted to let you know I've been praying for you about the job the Lord would have you in next. I might offer 2 ideas: 1) Knowing you'd like to work with youth, have you checked out Young Life of Greenville or Spartanburg? I don't know much about YL there, but when I was in college at Converse, there was a very vibrant YL group in Spartanburg (course, that was over 3 decades ago & I suppose a lot can happen in that amount of time). At any rate, if they don't have any openings, perhaps they might have a lead on a church in need of a youth pastor? 2) It may seem a bit bizarre, but have you tried signing up with a temp agency? Jessica signed up with 4 as a matter of fact, until one hooked her up with the company she has now started working with full-time just as of last week.
Your comparison of the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham and His promise to you as a Provider was a good one. I often get "antsy anxieties" myself, especially when I brazenly feel that my prayer request that has yet to be answered (preferably the way I am envisioning it to be answered) is spiritual or at least not obnoxiously selfish. So I took your suggestion of encouraging others to heart today when I went to Radio Shack and encountered an exceptonally perky/friendly employee who actually took the time to assist me! When I told her of her friendliness and my appreciation, her countenance brightened all the more and she seemed delightfully surprised. That, in turn, did indeed give me the warm fuzzies as well.
One last parting question: I can't find the blog where you first introduce the crazy cat lady - can you give me a date or send me a link? That phrase could very well describe me, so I am about to be killed with "curiosity."
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