“The kids love you.  I’d like for you to consider teaching 6^th grade Sunday School.”   Jean, my older friend, went on to encourage me with the “God-given potential” she saw in me.   I never would have done it without her words of affirmation.

That was back in 1983 when I was 23 years old.   I began with a group of seven girls, learning the Bible stories as I taught them.  What I lacked in knowledge, I made up for with love and joy!  My class quickly began to grow as the girls encouraged their friends to come.  Within a couple of months we had grown to 29 students.    For the next three years, I continued to teach Sunday School, and God blessed my efforts with similar results.

Who knew?   I certainly didn’t because the cons outweighed the pros as far as I was concerned.   For starters, I had only been a Christian for four years.  But God put Jean, a wiser and older woman, in my path to exhort and train me in the faith.   She prayed for me.  She came along side of me and taught me the spiritual ropes.   She invested her life into mine.

Her encouragement shaped my walk of faith.

We need each other, dear friends.  We need to point out the true God-potential we see in others, to affirm their Spirit-given gifts and point out their likeness to Jesus.   We need to instruct them in love when they are drifting off course and encourage them as they correct their path.  We need to care about, pray for and build one another up in the faith.

Who knows?  A little bit of encouragement could make a whole lot of difference!

3 Responses to “A Little Bit of Encouragement”