Encouragement #3

ENCOURAGEMENT #3

Sorry that this is late. I had difficulty connecting to our server this morning. Here are some additional thoughts on encouragement.

1. Don't use encouragement as a form of manipulation. Encouragement
needs to be genuine, not phony or forced. The person you are attempting to encourage will most likely see right through you if you are encouraging for the wrong reasons.

2. Be specific and direct with your encouragement without adding
sarcasm or criticism to your comments. My mother-in-law was a great cook. My wife is an excellent cook. When we were first married, my mother-in-law lived with us. One night Jan cooked a fabulous dinner and afterwards my mother-in-law said, "This was a good dinner. Now when I make this ..."

3. Use random acts of kindness in your arsenal of encouragement
tools. Be creative. Cards, notes in unexpected places, flowers, candy, gifts, can all be used to express encouragement. It could be showing up at a friends house and helping him with a difficult project. I could go on and on - you get the idea.

4. Encouragement takes practices. The more you do it, the easier it
will be. It is worth it!

Make it a lifelong goal - encourage one person a day for the next year.
Just think - that's 365 people!!!

Great quote: The holy and most glorious God invites us to come to Him, to converse with Him, to ask from Him such things as we need, and to experience what a blessing there is in fellowship with Him. He has created us in His own image and has redeemed us by His own Son, so that in prayer with Him we might find our highest glory and salvation. Andrew Murray