The Encourager 2: Upsiding the Downside

With sin & selfishness snuffing out so much hope, getting a positive word from anyone is pretty rare indeed. Growing up can be especially hard. People have expectations of you, mixed in with their fears (in most cases), and they tend to hand off to us what got handed on to them.

Hurting people hurt people …

So for the most part, parents just don't really know how to nurture the beauty and innocence of their kids past the toddler stage. At some point, the "life lessons" kick in; that’s where they start to tighten the screws to make sure we get a hold of life before it grabs a hold of us.

So part of the need for encouragement comes from the negative-space of our missing out on what we naturally hunger for. Encouragement beams us back again to that sunny place and in a flash of uncertain acceptance, helps us believe, if even only for a second, that we might actually be who we thought we were. Fleeting as a truth can sometimes be, it helps us feel whole again.

God doesn’t want us to live under the tyranny of anything. That’s why He sent Jesus.

He’s our Salvager. Airlifting us from the hard places, the dark places, the bad places and sad places into light and love and fearless possibility again.

Encouragement starts with people and passes perfectly on to Him.

Be encouraged.