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ENCOURAGEMENT


Encouragement according to a well known dictionary is support of a kind that inspires confidence and a will to continue or develop. I think the definition fits the word, or doesn’t it? This word in question requires a great need, a man or woman does not need this word unless that need is there.
Encouragement. I’m pretty sure this sounds like an everyday word when you say it. I mean, its meaning has never really sunk deep enough for it to have an effect in most people’s lives. We use and misuse this word as much as we like but it goes a long way in doing and undoing in the lives of people.
                “Encouragement”, each time you say or don’t say that word or act it in every instance and with everybody, something goes off or comes on in the lives of those affected. Encouragement could come in lots of forms; it could be a pat on the back, or just a word, or just a hug, or a call, or a text or E-mail, anything that keeps another person hanging on. Before I wrote this I was what you would call a depressed fellow. But thanks are to God for this word encouragement. This word goes beyond just realizing what it takes to go on. But it goes as far as taking you where it is you are meant to be. It’s like a drug you take to make every pain go away, it’s like grace when you have none to go with, it’s like bread in the time of hunger, and it’s like wisdom in the time when it is most needed. Bread, drugs, wisdom are all vital when they are truly needed, so is encouragement. You and I need it in the time of depression, and sadness, at times when we just can’t go on.
                It could come from you, from your experiences, from the lifestyle others lead, from God Himself or from His Word. You need it, I need it, so when it all looks like it is not worth it, just think about the only one who can give you encouragement and you’ll be fine.
                Hanging on is a vital part of life. Stuff happens and in some cases, don’t happen. We need to learn the art of hanging on, but being human we cannot always be perfect therefore we need others to lean on. You need me as much as I need you. When life throws problems and situations we cannot withstand, I’ll need you to stand behind me. Same goes for you. That’s where encouragement comes in. It’s the least we humans can do for each other, just being there.
                A dictionary defines encouragement as: “Support that inspires confidence and a will to continue or develop”. I wouldn’t define encouragement any better than this. For a long time in my life, I’ve needed this support, like many other people, I didn’t get it. And I have to admit it hurt. Lack of encouragement or outright discouragement has led a lot of people into a state of depression. Depression capable of killing or leading people to commit suicide. When all it would have taken was just a word and that person would have still been alive or working or healthy…
                I cannot enumerate all the forms of encouragement, but I can tell you how far it goes in saving a life or keeps a soul hanging on. Calling just to say I care, or just a visit, or a pat on the back, could be just what that person needed.
                So don’t hold back, don’t ever be too big to be kind to another person or say good stuff or care about another person, you might be saving a life and a destiny. When I encourage you and you encourage me, we encourage them and they encourage us, we could make the world a better place. Encouragement is gender, age, and race independent. You need it as much as I do. Simply put, a man can encourage his wife and she her husband, friends can encourage each other, fans can encourage each other, members of any meeting of any kind can encourage each other, families and relatives can encourage each other.
                But if we deliberately choose not to encourage each other, then we are solely responsible for the outcomes of not doing so: Deaths in the form of depression, resolution of the hearts of those involved to do evil, social vices to satisfy the need to be loved or at least create a false impression of being loved. I guess what I am trying to say is; help that lady carrying her load, or talk to that brother or sister who always sits alone, or take note of somebody who constantly does something for you or for a group of persons, or say something to that lonely heart. And you never know, you just might have pushed that person from the edge of death itself.


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