Gifts Inspired and ALWAYS Encouraged

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.  If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.  Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11)

The Lord is so gracious in reminding me of the gifts He has given me and how precious those gifts are.  Yesterday, Paul and I flew to Hawaii and I was sitting back in awe of God again at all that He has done.  Paul is always like a little boy in a candy shop when we are on a plane, even though he’s a pilot, he just can’t seem to get enough of the air.  It’s quite exhilarating to watch.  God truly has given him the desires of his heart by allowing him to work in his passion and allowing me to travel with him.

This got me to thinking, back to last year where in just 8 more days it will be a year since he proposed to me.  Add another month to that, and you have a year that we will have been married.  I look at this with great joy and see how God has given us the opportunity to encourage each other in our passions.  Paul is my number one support when it comes to writing my books, speaking at an event, doing these devotionals, putting a website together, talking to people about Jesus, etc.  He loves it and encourages me so much in it.  I truly believe it’s one of the keys to keeping our marriage strong and succesful!  He believes in me and encourages me forward and I believe in what he does and encourage him forward in it.

This is how we ought to be with our christian brothers and sisters.  When we see a passion or gift in someone, we ought to encourage them to develop it and fully use it in the Lord.  May we speak positively toward one another, lifting each other up in love and kindness.  Think of how far we could go in this next year, if every word out of our mouth was a word of encouragement to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  May we live to refresh, encourage, strengthen, serve, and faithfully adminster grace to those who are around us.  We are an extension of the One who first loved us and gave His Son for us.

Dear Father God, I pray that this day and every day I will be an encouragement to my brothers and sisters in Christ.  May I choose to see those who are hurting and lift them up with Your love.  Help me to see the passions that lie within their hearts and help develop them in You.  You are what I live for, You are who I’m breathing for, and I pray my moments come to glorify You more and more every day.  Thank You for continuing to be faithful in my life and in the lives of those I love!

Learning to encourage through Christ’s love,