Encourage one another


Encouraging one another is SO important. 

So why do many Christian women spend more time tearing each other down instead of building them up. 


Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.  (1 Thessalonians 5:11)


The Bible doesn't say we can encourage each other occassionally or whenever we feel like it, or when we are feeling happy . . . we need to do it ALL THE TIME.

We need to encourage, encourage, encourage.

And guess what . . . that means ALL women, not just those at home, or ones with children, or those who you like, those of the same age as you. You can not be selective in who you comfort and encourage. 

But exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13)

Lets extend a hand to all women, making our blogs feel inviting, so when someone stops by . . . they know they are among friends, a place to find encouragement and comfort.  Your kind words might make all the differences to that person visiting.  So take the time to respond to comments, or if visiting, why not leave a comment to say hi. Might sound small but it means a great deal to the other person.

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:8-10)


  • Without encouragement, we would quickly become overwhelmed. 
  • Without encouragement, we would feel unloved and unwanted.
  • Without encouragement, we would struggle day-to-day.
  • Without encouragement, our lives would feel pointless and burdensome.
  • Without encouragement, we would struggle to overcome pain and sadness.
  • Without encouragement, we would feel that God was no longer interested in our welfare.


We live in a world where people are selective with their encouragement or they are often too busy sit and listen and when they do, they seem to be more interested in sharing gossip rather than caring about you.  How sad our lives would be if no one care enough about us. Sadly, there are many in this very situation who are alone and no one goes out of their way to make sure they are ok. This is a particular problem among our elderly. 

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

However, part of our role of comforting and encouraging each other also includes "bearing one another's burdens". This can be very hard at times, especially when you have your own troubles and they feel too heavy for you to carry. How can you possibly bear another's burdens on top of your own?  Remember that two can lift each other up, can lean on each other for support, make each other smile and laugh and before long the load does feel much lighter. Sharing the load also means you can share God's Word, that God loves us, that God equips us, that we are treasured and that we are never alone with our burdens.

But, don't put all your energy into encouraging your friends and forget about your husband. He needs your encouragement more than anyone. He needs to be reminded daily that you love him and that you are there to support and help him in any way you can. Through your encouragement you boast his confidences, you can empower him, make him stronger, happier, healthier, more positive and the list goes on and on! A happy husband makes for a happy marriage. 

Lets keep on encouraging one another and perhaps encourage just a little more!

*****

Comments

  1. Very important - and as you said, the Scriptures exhort us to encourage one another and that is really important. Of course as believers we shouldn't depend solely on other people's encouragement - we need to depend and lean on the Lord for everything most importantly so when others don't find time or take effort to encourage us we won't fall into deep depression. But the Lord definitely created us with a thirst for encouragement from our fellow mankind, too, and it's only right that we should encourage each other as often and as much as we can. :)

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    1. God's encouragement and standing by us is the ultimate encouragement, and we need to us the power of His encouragement to encourage and comfort others - just imagine how much LESS sadness and loneliness we would have if we reached out to one other person each day - many of our problems would just melt away. :))

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  2. This is so true -- we all love to be encouraged. I think it was Mark Twain who said "I can live three months on one compliment"!

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    1. How true, I think I will have to use that quote somewhere :))) Have a wonderful day.

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  3. This is a fantastic post! Yes, we really do need to encourage each other. I especially liked your reminder of encouraging ALL women and not being selective. Sometimes it is easier to just encourage those who are the most like us. Thank you for sharing your heart!

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    1. Thankyou so much Carrie - I love how the bible stresses the importances of reaching out all women and offer encouragement, which of course goes with the verses to "love our neighbours", once again we can't be selective in our love to others either. Bur sadly some Christian women are selective which is very unChristian. Have a wonderful day.

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  4. Yes, encouraging, showing love, showing that the other person is important.... Probably if there was more encouragement, there would be less mental illness. I just read a post about mental illness and loneliness and it shows the mirror image of what you wrote. http://www.emilywierenga.com/mental-health-statistic-church/

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    1. I only read an article the other day about the level of loneliness in our society, in particular among young people and these are young people that are surrounded by so much "noise" but still feel lonely. I do think encouragement would go a long way in helping them mentally. We also have the same problem with the elderly - those at home but don't get to see many people during the day, how sad and lonely they must feel. We do need to reach out and offer words of encouragement and comfort to those around us - it makes for a healthy society to start with and has many other benefits :)) Thankyou for dropping by.

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  5. Jo, this encouraged me today! Thank you. I've been carrying some other people's heavy burdens as well as my own recently and I've felt quite worn down yesterday and today as well as having elevated anxiety levels over the last weeks. One thing I think we need to remember is that allowing ourselves to become overwhelmed with other people's problems isn't going to help us or them (or our marriages). Some people just won't share our burdens or can't, so it's hard to carry our own and theirs. I realized yesterday that I need to just pray for some things and not get too involved in details or the situation. While we're to bear one another's burdens, Galatians 6:5 says "every man shall bear his own burden." Both are true, so we need to figure out how to find balance in it. Sometimes our own burdens are as much as we can handle, or we need to be more selective in bearing other people's burdens.

    I also thought of one encouragement that you didn't mention. It is when David's men were ready to kill him because their wives and children had been kidnapped and their stuff stolen while they were away. 1 Samuel 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. This is very thought provoking. Sometimes we have to encourage ourselves in the Lord, remind ourselves that He is in control and that He will keep His word to us. I am going to guess this is probably the hardest encouraging for most of us to, especially when we are "greatly distressed"!

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    1. So glad I could send encouragement across the seas :)) I agree that we need to be selective on the number of burdens we carry - we are not strong but rather weak vessels and we can only manage so much. Have a wonderful week and thinking of you :)) xxx

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  6. Such a great reminder! Very good read and I couldn't agree more with you! Have a blessed and wonderful weekend :)

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    1. Thankyou and you too have a wonderful week ahead :))

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  7. So true. It's nice hearing an encouraging word from a friend and equally important to encourage your husband. Thanks for sharing on Small Victories Sunday link up.

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    1. I think we often forget about our husbands is a our busy lives :)) He is our most important person here on earth :)

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  8. I enjoyed your post and agree with you. As women we can bring more joy into our lives by encouraging each other. And, yes, thank-you for mentioning husbands! The Bible gives this instruction to us in the book of Titus.

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    1. Women often forget about their husbands when it comes to encouragement, we think they are strong and resilient but they are often any thing but. Men in their 30s and 40s are very vulnerable and that is the age group with the biggest rate of suicide for men, they need their wives more than ever.

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  9. Thanks so much for this heart felt post. I know in my life there have been times that just an encouraging word turned my world around. The world is a hard place at times and it is so nice to be able to "shore" one another up. Blessings.

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    1. very true - just one kind word can make all the differences :)

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  10. Another great post Jo and thanks for sharing it at Good Morning Mondays. You are so right we spend so much time pulling people down and we need to really be encouraging each other. We all have our issues to deal with and I think if we removed the log from our eyes we could see others more clearly. Thanks and blessings

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    1. :)) very true!! If one person was kind to just one other person, what an effect it would have on society.

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  11. Wonderful post, we all need a little encouragement, but we need to be conscious of other's need too and in giving it, we open ouselves up to God's encouragement as well.

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    1. :) thankyou, encouragement and comfort is so important in keeping us going.

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