May the God of Hope Give You the Courage to Encourage Others - Encouragement Café - August 25, 2017

 May the God of Hope Give You the Courage to Encourage Others
By Mindy Lee Hopman
Friday, August 25, 2017

“Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 NASB

Normally during this time, at the end of August, my heart is anxious about going back to school. However, as summertime comes to a close, this year I have a content, happy heart and a wide smile on my face from the memories of the coffee dates I had with some very precious people. 

I was strategic this summer, because my home, which is currently full of teenagers, makes life move too quickly during the school year. I wanted to redeem the time that was lost from our fast pace to reconnect with family, friends, and even a few former students.

When I spend time with God in His Word, He encourages me.

While God was encouraging me, I knew I needed to take the time to “give courage” to the people He placed in my circle to love.

To encourage means to “give courage” and as each one of us gains courage from spending time with the Lord, our hearts begin to change.

●      We become stronger and more aware of the vastness of our God and the smallness of ourselves.

●      We begin to see people from God’s perspective as loved, chosen, and adored by the King of kings.

●      We love others because God loved us first (1 John 4:19).

●      We let him lead us as our humility grows and we realize that less is more, and we begin to grow our relationships deeper because God works through transformed hearts to transform lives.

But sometimes we don’t have time to meet for coffee. And sometimes we want to gather our girlfriends to come together for a big event which includes worship, great messages, and lots of prayer. Sometimes we want to hear encouragement from God’s Word on the radio.

And since we check our email daily, sometimes it’s nice to find it’s an email devotional from women who love God and want to write about how God is working in their lives, so maybe you might relate to one story and realize that He is the Author of your story as well!

That is why our namesake is Encouragement Cafe! We are a group of women who love God, love to spend time in His Word, love to pray, love to worship, love to lead other women right to the heart of the Father, and love fellowship with one another as one in the body of Christ - especially around a cup of hot coffee!

Ideally, I would love to meet you for coffee! But since we probably live miles and miles away, let’s each pour our own cup and jump into God’s Word together.

I’ll meet you at Encouragement Cafe! As He encourages me, I promise to encourage you! Won’t you do the same?

Heavenly Father, I praise You for who you are and what You are doing in each woman’s life who is reading this devotional today. I pray that You would help her to connect to the stories about You that she finds here on www.encouragementcafe.com or the radio, or at an EC event, and help her to realize that You are writing her story just as You are writing each one of our stories. May she see Your fingerprints on her life and may she lean into You to let you turn the next page. May You fill her heart with confidence, strength, and courage today and always. And as You pour into her, may she pour into others - beginning with her immediate family and friends. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

© 2017 by Mindy Lee Hopman.  All rights reserved.

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