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Unwrap the Gift...
When my brother and SIL come home to visit, they always bring me the UPCI periodicals that I am unable to get here, one of them being the Pentecostal Herald. I put them in order to read when everyone goes home...
Moments ago I was skimming through the issue from December of last year titled Unwrap the Gift.
The articles in that issue are:
Unwrap the gift of life
Did God gift you to organize?
The gift of hospitality
The gift of teaching
The gift of giving
The gift of encouragement
The gift of craftsmanship
The gift of music
The gift of intercession
I only have had time this morning to briefly look over the article written by Sis. Nancy Norris, The Gift of Encouragement.
She writes, "Encouraging words are powerful, not because they flatter, but rather because they are helpful and true things, and because they share real love and concern. To encourage is to share, to bless, and to encourage without fear of loss."
I love this part, "When we remind people of their true worth, we are actually agreeing with God about the high value which He places on every individual...Encouragement is to agree with what God thinks about people and to share it with them."
Sis. Norris shares an incident in their lives from long ago when they learned that their son was born severly handicapped. She states that the outpouring of support was immediate and great with calls and cards coming from everywhere.
She received one such card from a missionary to Pakistan, Sis. Georgia Shalm. Sis. Norris writes, "I had only met her one time, and was surprised to see a personal card, a card that I still have twenty-three years later.
Sis. Shalm wrote, 'The last few days you folks have been so much on my heart and mind, and I just wanted to let you know that you have been a number one priority on my prayer list. I don't know if you are in need, trying to make a decision, or if you just need a special blessing from the Lord, but He has laid you on my heart and I have done my best to carry your burden with you.
So often we feel to pray for others and never let them know, and then they can't share in the blessing, so I wanted to tell you that you are not forsaken or forgotten and that God is still very much able to meet all your needs.'"
This has blessed me so greatly because encouraging is something I have tried to do and love to do, and sometimes feel that I yet fall short of the full impact of what it is all about.
I need to run and get going...I have a full day, but may I urge you today to be an encouragement to someone?!
They may be a family member or someone here...they might be a stranger in a store who just needs to hear that their children seem so well behaved in public, or that they are wearing a lovely blouse, or that color is so becoming, or they are such an example of godliness...
Have a blessed day...!!
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