ENCOURAGEMENT

“They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.  So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.”

Isaiah 41:6,7 KJV

It is very important that we encourage one another.  It is especially important that we encourage our pastor and family.  One of my pastors used to call his wife to stand beside him.  He would put his arms around his wife and tell us to pray for his wife because she encouraged him when he was down.

For those of you who have been on my mailing list for a while, you know that I went through a crippling devastating depression for forty years.  I believed nobody loved me and that I didn’t have a right to live.  I crawled underneath a bed in the mental hospital because I was afraid of everyone and everything.

As I lay under that bed, Jesus came to me.  He put His arms of love and compassion around me and lifted me up from under the bed and said “I love you, Joanne.  It’s safe for you to come out from under this bed.  I won’t let anyone hurt you again”.  It was the first time anyone had said to me “I love you”.

Rev. Charles Frederick Weigle wrote a beautiful heart touching hymn “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus”.  It is true.  No one ever cared for us like Jesus does and nobody ever will.  What a Saviour!  What a Friend, this Jesus of Nazareth!  Worthy is the Lamb of God!  All hail, King Jesus!  O how I love Jesus.

Joanne Lowe

September 21, 2017