Tag: everyone

Do Good To Someone

On By vickleaIn Scripture5 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I find this verse a bit challenging. First of all, that word “whenever.” We won’t know when that is if we are not looking for the opportunities to help others that are right in front of us. I think I am personally so focused on what I am doing or need to do that I don’t look around me and see those opportunities that are right there for me to see if I would just open my eyes.

The other word that seems to be a challenge to me is “everyone.” I don’t think I have the ability to do good to everyone, but I do know that if each of us chooses SOMEONE every day to do good for, then that will make a big impact on the everyone we are supposed to be doing good for.

My conclusion in my meditation on this verse is that God never asks us to do something for which He does not equip us and which He knows we could never do. He has a plan, and I think His plan is for us to be more aware of the needs of others and to do as much good as we can to as many as we can. For non-believers, we can perhaps open the door to share with them the love of Christ. For believers, our family members, we can help them along the road to eternity that sometimes gets to be difficult. After all, I am sure someone has helped you at some time, with a smile or a word of encouragement that kept you going during a hard day. God’s plan is not for us to be focused inward, but to focus outward, so that the good we do will reach everyone, in some way.

What do you think about this verse? Does it challenge you or inspire you? When I first read it, I felt challenged and that perhaps God was setting me up to fail. But since I know He doesn’t do that, I meditated, prayed and decided to be inspired by His Word. I’m going to look around today and find someone to do good for. How about you?

Who Needs Encouragement?

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

The answer to my rhetorical question is…everyone! As I read my devotional this morning and pondered whom I should reach out to and encourage them, the answer came back to me…everyone I encounter today, and everyday. There is not one day that goes by that we don’t meet someone who needs encouragement. How about the grumpy lady behind the cash register or the busy young man stocking the shelves in Walmart? How about the man on the other side of the gasoline driveway, the one mumbling about the high prices? How about your spouse and your children? Your siblings? The list goes on and on. I know that there were days that I could not have made it through the challenges of life if someone had not encouraged me to just keep going. There are lots of reasons to be discouraged…let’s be the one to give people a reason to be encouraged and more light-hearted and hopeful as they face a new day.

My encouragement for you is that you are the ones who give me a reason to open my blog each day and type out what is going on with me and how God is meeting my needs. Thank you for reading this blog and for your comforting and encouraging words.

Prayer update: Now that the pulmonologist told me that I could stop taking the new meds he prescribed, my vision is clearing up. That is excellent news because in two weeks, I am the designated driver to get my husband to and from his cataract surgeries. God is good…all the time!

Encouragement that Builds

Have you ever regretted not saying something to someone? Maybe they were going through a hard time and you didn’t know what to say, but you felt like you could have said something.

When Paul, the author of 1 Thessalonians, is writing to the church in Thessalonika, he gives them some practical advice.

Paul tells the church to continue to encourage one another. This was something they were already doing, but Paul felt it necessary to remind them to keep doing this.

Encouragement can change someone’s attitude. It can lift someone out of a dark place. Encouraging someone can give them the hope and determination to push through a hard season.

Maybe you can remember a time when someone encouraged you when you were going through a hard time, and the difference it made in your own life. Paul is encouraging us to do that for others.

The Church is meant to be a place of encouragement. We should never leave any encouragement unspoken, but we should generously uplift one another.

Spend some time today thinking about someone in your life who you can encourage. It might be someone who is going through a hard time, or it might be someone who needs to be reminded that others care about them. Never let encouragement go unspoken, as it is one of the ways we can build each other up.