Encouragement

 We love encouragement. Just talking about answered prayers with several members of the safety team I am on, I was encouraged by the stories of answered prayer. I think when a person has learned to trust God and you see his faithfulness in supplying our needs, and you tell your stories it encourages others to trust God. A friend talked about his desire for a fishing rod and his job didn't pay that much in the early days. But he had been saving for his fishing rod and a need came up to repair a tire and he spent his money he had been saving for the fishing rod to fix the tire. His wife asked him how he was doing as far as saving for his fishing rod and he explained about using the money for the fishing rod to fix the tire. His wife was disappointed that he had used his money for the fishing rod to fix the tire. He said when the time is right God will provide as they walked into Walmart. As they were walking in the parking lot, he saw something blowing in the wind ahead of them. He put his oldest daughter down (as he was carrying both of them) and told her to step on that paper blowing in the wind. His daughter stepped on it and it was a $50 bill. He went in and got his fishing rod that day. It is incidents like that that build our faith in God. God does provide our needs and sometimes even out wants.  I told a story of my own, I had made a bad decision to marry someone I had no business even being in a relationship with. It was not going good and as I prayed one day about the relationship as I was driving down the street. I told God, I really didn't know what to do, I know God hates divorce, but I felt this woman was cheating on me. She didn't want a divorce and I couldn't prove she was cheating on me although I felt like she was. We were separated and living in different places. As I was praying about my situation, I said God I can't see what you see, and I really don't know what to do. Is this person really wanting to fix things and am I being too hasty in wanting a divorce?  I felt impressed to turn one or two blocks over because the street I was on was where she was living at the time, and I didn't want to appear to be spying on her and drive past her house. As I pulled up to cars in line at a stop sign on the street a short way over from where she lived, I was about 4 cars back, I saw her walking across the street at the intersection in front of us. I watched as she went to the gas station and got into a van. It was the van of the guy I thought she was cheating with. Then it is like I heard a voice in my head say, I showed you this so you would know, don't go over there and make a fool of yourself. I was at peace with seeking a divorce. I did not go over there and make a fool of myself. One other time I got a phone call in the middle of the night. I didn't know who called, but they said if you want to know where your wife is she is at the Motel 6 in Skyway. I drove by the Motel 6 on the way to work the next morning and saw the van I recognized in the parking lot. I came by later about the time I thought they would be leaving and sure enough as I was walking toward the parking lot entrance, here they came, I waved to let them know I saw them and went on my way.  It is not worth going to jail over someone that has no morals, and it is better to just walk away. It took a while, but I did get my divorce. I say that story because even though I put myself in that situation God still helped me in the midst of my trouble. I have never forgot how God answered that prayer in my time of turmoil. God is concerned for our welfare and loves us. Even in that situation where I did it to myself, God still helped me out of it.  I am encouraged by thinking back on my own answered prayers and the answered prayers of others. God bless, LVZ.

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1Thessalonians 5:11 (NLT).