{"id":21004,"date":"2014-08-01T00:15:45","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T04:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=21004"},"modified":"2014-07-31T23:24:25","modified_gmt":"2014-08-01T03:24:25","slug":"encouragement-comes-many-forms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/08\/01\/encouragement-comes-many-forms\/","title":{"rendered":"Encouragement Comes in Many Forms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20533\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg\" alt=\"encouragementbloggraphicromans15\" width=\"425\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg 425w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This morning I\u2019ve been meandering around FaceBook&#8230;noticing oh-so-very-many encouraging posts. \u00a0This&#8212;the encouragement&#8212;is a wonderful use of social media such as FaceBook, don&#8217;t you think? \u00a0Encouragement comes in MANY different forms; for example,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>beautiful photographs of God&#8217;s gorgeous Creation that are shared<\/li>\n<li>quotes that nurture our souls and motivate us to go and do<\/li>\n<li>prayers that are offered to sisters in need<\/li>\n<li>and (my favorites!) Scriptures that you post to remind another of God\u2019s goodness, His grace and mercy, His faithfulness, and His love.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is through the history depicted in the Scriptures that we come to know so much about our great God and His heart for all mankind.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">For whatever was thus written in former days was written for our instruction, that by [our steadfast and patient] endurance and the encouragement [drawn] from the Scriptures we might hold fast to and cherish hope.<br \/>\nNow may the God Who gives the power of patient endurance (steadfastness) and Who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,<br \/>\nThat together you may [unanimously] with united hearts and one voice, praise and glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: center;\">Romans 15:4-6<\/p>\n<p>Truly it is by and through the Scriptures that our hearts and minds are encouraged. In the Bible we read of God\u2019s promises, we hear of the Hope of eternity spent with Him (and each other) in His Kingdom, we learn of our Father\u2019s unconditional love. All intended to encourage us!<\/p>\n<p>Here are definitions for the words <em>encourage<\/em> and <em>encouragement<\/em> from Webster\u2019s 1828 dictionary:<\/p>\n<p>ENCOUR&#8217;AGE, v. <em>enkur&#8217;rage.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To give courage to; to give or increase confidence of success; to inspire with courage, spirit, or strength of mind; to embolden; to animate; to incite; to inspirit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>ENCOUR&#8217;AGED, pp.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Emboldened; inspirited; animated; incited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>ENCOUR&#8217;AGEMENT, n.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The act of giving courage, or confidence of success; incitement to action or to practice; incentive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each of us knows by experience&#8230;some more than others, it is true&#8230;that there are days when we simply feel that we don\u2019t have the courage to endure. There are times when the stresses and pressures of this world cause our little hearts to cave and we doubt we can handle them. There are life situations that we struggle through worrying and being overwhelmed at times. These are all situations and circumstances in which <em><strong>we must find a way<\/strong> <\/em>to seek the One Who has made us promises, the One Who is faithful, the One Who loves us unconditionally&#8230;the One Who desires to encourage each one of us!<\/p>\n<p>There is SO MUCH that is good and joyful and righteous and blessed and a blessing \u00a0to think about! \u00a0When we set our thoughts on THESE things, we will be encouraged!<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">Finally, brothers,<br \/>\nwhatever is true,<br \/>\nwhatever is noble,<br \/>\nwhatever is right,<br \/>\nwhatever is pure,<br \/>\nwhatever is lovely,<br \/>\nwhatever is admirable\u2014<br \/>\nif anything is excellent or praiseworthy\u2014<br \/>\nthink about such things.<br \/>\nPhilippians 4:8<\/p>\n<p>It is our&#8217;s and our&#8217;s alone&#8230;a constant choice we have to work towards being encouraged! \u00a0We are not alone in this! \u00a0We have each other&#8230;we have the Scriptures&#8230;we have Jesus&#8230;we have the Holy Spirit&#8230;and we have God Almighty! \u00a0We CAN do this! \u00a0We can become encouraged and live with joy and rejoicing! \u00a0So&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!<br \/>\nBe anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication<br \/>\nwith thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.<br \/>\nAnd the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.<br \/>\nPhilippians 4:4, 6and7<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\">*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>My prayer and desire for each of us:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.<br \/>\nAnd let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds&#8230;<br \/>\nbut encouraging one another\u2014and all the more as you see the Day approaching.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Hebrews 10:23-25<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This morning I\u2019ve been meandering around FaceBook&#8230;noticing oh-so-very-many encouraging posts. \u00a0This&#8212;the encouragement&#8212;is a wonderful use of social media such as FaceBook, don&#8217;t you think? \u00a0Encouragement comes in MANY different forms; for example, beautiful photographs of God&#8217;s gorgeous Creation that are shared quotes that nurture our souls and motivate us to go and do prayers that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":20533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6228],"tags":[6936,144,235,6934,6933,1287,425,6935],"class_list":["post-21004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encouragement-2","tag-1-thessalonians-411","tag-bible","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-encouragement-comes-in-many-forms","tag-encouragment","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-romans-154-6","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-5sM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21004"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21023,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21004\/revisions\/21023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}