Tag: reaching out

Encouraged in order to encourage

couple-climbing-a-mountain

Reflections based on 2 Corinthians 1:1–11.

‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.’

I believe this passage provides an immensely helpful, rounded picture of the role of encouragement in our lives. Paul begins his letter by offering praise to the ‘God of all comfort’. The word comfort comes from the Greek paraklēseōs, which means providing aid, including encouragement.

Paul explains that, just as our suffering can sometimes be because of our faith, so our comfort comes from the Source of that faith too. He explains that both he and his companions have suffered greatly, and yet it has taught them how to rely on God alone for their hope. I think that’s a lesson that we can continue to learn throughout our lives. I can be exceedingly quick to get into self-sufficiency mode when faced with pressures and difficulties. Leaning on God can sometimes only happen once I’ve exhausted my own resources, which is not how God intends us to live.

This latest season in my life has included some fairly big difficulties, which threatened to floor me, but I’ve really experienced God’s care and comfort. And, already, just sharing with others has opened up that sense of encouragement and support – not only for myself but I have been able to offer it too. That is how God wants us to live: coming to Him for our encouragement and then reaching out to those around us. When we allow Him to fashion and mould us through our difficulties we can reach out to others that we find come across our paths at a later date who are going through a similar thing. Just being able to shout encouragement from the sidelines, revealing that we’ve been able to get through to the other side of something they are struggling with is such a gift – both for the recipient and the one who gives the support.

Prayer: Have you considered the cycle of encouragement before today? Thank God that He ministers His comfort to us and gives us opportunities to give out what we receive to others.

A BIG weekend = BIG fun! :)

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It has gradually dawned on me over the last day or so that we have a manic weekend ahead, and I should really be preparing for it. I can tell I’m tired because instead of rushing about ‘doing’ things, packing and creating lists, I’ve been procrastinating! Anyway, this weekend we will be enjoying three different events that are providing us with unique opportunities to reach out, have fun with our children and make links – both with possible clients but also with neighbours and friends.

The Diamond Jubilee is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and my daughter has grabbed hold of it particularly enthusiastically – she knows more about the royal family than me now! And, to kick off our weekend of fun, we are attending my daughter’s school’s jubilee street party. She has been deciding on what dress to wear for weeks, and has been busy practising the songs they are going to be performing for us. It promises to be a real treat – last year’s royal wedding street party was great fun – if a little noisy and chaotic! ;D

On Saturday we are heading to TheBigChurchDayOut. Armed with my press pass and list of possible questions for the artists, I’m thrilled to finally be able to make it. Having interviewed organiser Tim Jupp earlier in the year, which allowed me to learn more about his heart for the event, has made me intrigued and I’m looking forward to experiencing it for myself. I’m also hoping to catch up with people I’ve been working with – and others I hope to work with in the future. I’m not quite so sure whether we made the right decision when we allowed ourselves to be talked into taking our kids – who are 6 and 3 (although their older cousins are rather excited about the prospect of showing them round and looking after them – hooray!). And looking at the programme there does look like a lot of things for children to do – and Tim assures me it is a big day out for all the family. I guess having mine there will enable me to really test whether that is indeed the case…

On Monday our road will be closed as we host one of the 110 street parties going on in our town alone! I think it is fantastic that so many people have gotten together with their neighbours to organise these parties. Ours is definitely an ambitious one and a small committee of us have been meeting and planning for it for a long time now. There have been fraught moments, when it looked like the budget had been blown, or people disagreed over decisions. However, overall, it has been a fantastic way to get to know the neighbours better (although ours are all pretty friendly anyway – people who spend time with us always comment on how our road is like the one on Neighbours). But even though we are a pretty friendly bunch life is so busy that we rarely get much time to spend with each other. Our fantastic next door neighbours are also now in our church so it has been great that the wife, who is now retired, has been so helpful with the street party preparations, and we have had opportunities to mention the church in a casual way (as my husband is one of the pastors they know we are church goers anyway – and he is down to say the Jubilee Grace on the day). We are also able to help add to the festivities by lending the church face paints (and inviting a few of our best face painters along to the party!). It is moments like these that I think just being there, having fun, helping out and being honest about who we are can really enable us to be Christ’s ambassadors. That truly is worshipping God through our lives. It’s nothing heavy – just fun and friendship. And I know our kids are just going to love it – the thought of memories being created and shared by my family and our neighbours is wonderful.

So here’s to this weekend – just looking at what I’m going to be up to is making me tired – but also making me smile! 🙂 Whatever you are doing I hope you enjoy it x