Words of Encouragement

Encouragement seems like such a small thing to give. But, for the recipients, it might play a large role in the decisions facing them at the time.

One of the most significant acts of encouragement that we have been a part of came about a year ago, when God sent us to a very small church in a small town in North Carolina.

My husband had been asked to help place a headstone at the grave of a woman that had died a few months earlier. While at the small mountain cemetery, he met the caretaker,  who told him of his mother's church. There was nothing special about it; just a small church with a small congregation on Sundays.

The following Sunday morning, we felt inclined to visit the church. Once there, no one showed up for almost an hour. We were about to leave, thinking we possibly had the wrong place. Since we didn't know the area, we had searched out its location on the satellite map.

We approached the little old lady that came and unlocked the door, and introduced ourselves. She told us her husband had pastored the church, but since he had died some months earlier, she was trying to keep the church going. Partway through her tale, another woman showed up. These two women were sisters-in-law, but both had lost their husbands recently. This pastor's wife went on to tell us that most of the time, it was just the two of them that turned out for the services.

She asked my husband to speak. He felt humbled by the request, and spoke about Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. His message emphasized the fact that Nehemiah did in 52 days what was not accomplished in the 150 years previous. Not knowing until he was finished, he spoke the very words the faithful woman needed to hear. 

She also told us that she had been debating whether or not to shut the church down. For several weeks, she had been seeking an answer to her prayer. Her dilemma was that it was a Baptist church, and we all know that Baptists, as a denomination,  don't 'believe' women should hold positions of authority in church. Yet, she felt a strong desire to keep having services, even though it was against the denomination with which she associated herself.

She needed to know if her wanting to keep the church open was really God speaking to her, or her own desire to see her husband's work continue. The words given to my husband to say was the encouragement she had been looking for. (Obviously, God's call is of higher authority than that of any denomination.)

When God sends us on a mission, we never know the extent to which it will be the encouragement someone needs to make a life-altering decision.