I Love Being an Encourager

It took me becoming a blogger to see this calling. I love to write, and, admittedly, seeing less than 20 people read the posts you thought were earth-shattering and would change the world for the better, shakes your faith in your writing abilities and makes you question if God truly meant for you to blog.

But, this week, I had something resembing an epiphany! As I wrote a comment on one of the over 200 blogs I follow (yes, I need to cull that down), I realized that often we fail to recognize that any activity can have multiple sides, and each requires something different from us.

I follow some amazing blogs, people who daily add wisdom, knowledge, joy, laughter, and hope to my life. I love letting them know just how much I enjoyed their posts, whether filled with words or flowers or songs or beautiful quilts. I feel such a high in informing them of the good that their blog posts bring to those who read them.

I want them to know that their work is valued and necessary. I meet too many young people who have never been encouraged, and, therefore, can’t see their value and worth. All of the world loses when this happens.

“I am an encourager,” came rushing into my soul, and I am overjoyed to play the role. I don’t flatter. If I don’t like a post, I just delete it and move on. I realized that an encourager has to real and honest, because I think people abnegate hypocrisy and want authentic feedback. I know I do.

I sat a couple of days and realized that being an encourager is one of the spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit, for Romans 12:8 (TPT) states, “If you have the grace-gift of encouragement, then use it often to encourage others.” So, one of the calling on my life, and I do see it as a gift, is one that I have always done and relished doing as a parent, friend, wife, preacher, and college professor has been letting people know their value and worth in my eyes.

Yet, it is not just the encouraged that profit from receiving encouragement and an appreciation that they are on the planet at this moment, touching my life in sweet and lovely ways, I also benefit, especially from my blogging community.

I laugh each day from someone’s antics with their cats or dogs. I travel to places I cannot afford to go. I see art that I would have missed, if not for the blog posts. I take long walks and fantasize about cooking great meals, although I can barely boil water. Flowers of all varieties soothe my soul each day, and poets extraordinare teach me the artistry of words that I have never encountered before.

So, I am proud to be an encourager, and to let the people who enrich my life with their writing know that truly they are needed in the world today. We need the fiction and the kick-in-the-butt from those brave enough to speak truth regarding our world today. I am encouraged by your tenacity, determination, and perseverance in chronic pain and in mental illness. You keep on keeping on, sharing your families and lives with us. Many have become friends from afar.

I will continue to encourage you, to thank you, and to let you know when you inspire me and console me and enlighten me, for we cannot afford to lose your voices in the world. The trials of life come like a thief to steal my joy, threatening to blanket me in darkness and hopelessness.

But then, I read a great blog post, fiction and non-fiction, or a funny poem or nonsensical post, and I am renewed. I feel compelled to tell the writers of this miscellany of hope and weirdness of how they touch my life, my heart, my soul, my mind, and my hope, and, subsequently, of their necessity.

This is a time for Jubilee, when encouragers are needed more than ever and, yes, a little fun and craziness, too. I can’t stress enough that your writings are for our good. Don’t stop!

Fandango prompt is Thief. Ragtag prompt is For Our Good. Word of the Day Challenge is Jubilee. Your Daily Prompt is Abnegate. The Daily Spur prompt is Stress.