Encouragement Changes Everything

Review by Gina Hall

“God’s love for us gives us the reason to encourage others.                                                                                                                          God’s love in us gives us the ability to encourage others.                                                                                                                              God’s love through us gives us the way to encourage others.”                                                                                                                  – John Maxwell

Everyone needs encouragement. There is probably not a day that goes by where God doesn’t purposely put people in our paths to encourage. We have many opportunities to be clean and useful vessels unto God’s honor and glory through our words and actions. Our daily words and actions have the power to change history in the lives of those around us…and to think it doesn’t cost us anything in most cases, but a willing heart.

We can begin with planning to encourage those in our home, those in our church family, and then the lost people that come into our lives – on a regular basis. It’s just a matter of being alert and setting a few moments aside for others.

What an exciting ministry this could be. Remember the Ron Hamilton song, “Happiness came looking for me when I started giving happiness to others!”  Giving out encouragement is a win-win situation. So if you already are an encourager, keep up the good job; and if you have let the ropes down on encouraging others, then ask the Lord to help you to do His will in this wonderful ministry.

If you could use a little boost in this area, I would  suggest you get a copy of John C. Maxwell’s book “Encouragement Changes Everything “ It will give you a refreshing outlook on the exciting ministry of encouraging others.

Here are a few excerpts from this book:

P. 41 “You never know when your casual compliment may catch a boy or girl, man or women, at the critical point when he would otherwise toss in the sponge.”

P.46 “How do you identify someone who needs encouragement? That person is breathing.” – Truett Cathy (Founder and Chairman of Chick-fil-A )

p.47 “If you want to lift people up, do it daily.”

p. 47 “You have the power to make another person’s life better or worse by the things you do today.”

p. 63 “People who add value to others always do so intentionally. I say that because adding value to others requires, a person to give of himself, and that rarely occurs by accident.”

P.77 “When you begin to pour your effort into helping someone else, it is absolutely amazing how that encouragement gets multiplied. Influence influences.”

P89. “Stop and make others’ priorities your priority. Ask to hear about their stories. Find out about their hopes and dreams. Make their success part of your mission.”

p. 85 “No matter how busy you are, you must take time to make the other person important.”

P.112 “Even the smallest acts of kindness and encouragement can multiply in the lives of others, snowballing into something bigger than we could ever have imagined.”

I hope these statements will whet your appetite to read the entire book. It’s a small 5×7 book with 126 pages.

Who has God put into your life today to encourage and cheer along the way?

You can purchase a copy of this book in good condition for $4.00 (includes shipping) at Amazon.com, or new one for $8.88.