Do you know the power of an encouraging word? When Travis and I first started biking, I had so much trouble climbing hills. Embarrassing as it was, on our very first bike ride, I had to get off the bike and walk up the hill.

Each time we ventured out, those hills got just a little easier. I was overjoyed the day I made it to the top. But I almost didn’t make it. Half way up, with my thighs burning and sweat dripping off my face, I wanted to quit. There’s one thing that got me to the top of that hill. My husband. His encouraging words pushed me. He believed in me, even when I did not.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV says; “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…” 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV says; “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:  If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.”

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to reach a goal when you are doing it by yourself?

Whatever goal you are trying to reach, there is a secret ingredient that will get you to the top of that hill every time. The encouragement of others.

When I finished writing the first draft of my book, The Me Disease, I was terrified to let anyone read it. This was crazy, because I had sold my business in order to write this book. But in those moments, I was paralyzed by fear.

Travis noticed the fear and quickly offered to do the first reading. Every day, I would leave a completed chapter on the kitchen table for him to read. Each night. after I had gone to bed, he would proof it, making any changes and suggestions. On the back page of that first chapter, he wrote the sweetest note I have ever read. His words of encouragement got me up that hill. (FYI – I included that letter in the front of the book.)

Never underestimate the power of an encouraging word.

Since The Me Disease came out in March of 2019, I’ve been coasting down hill. If you read last week’s blog, you know how much I love coasting downhill. But with every hill you coast down, there is another hill you must climb.

So here I am, beginning to climb that next hill. I just started writing my 2nd book, God’s Little Book of Miracles (working title). It is time for me to dig in and push myself up that next hill. I can’t do it alone. I need your help, your encouragement and most of all, your prayers. And I am reminded that ‘two are better than one.”

I don’t care where you are on your road of life, we are all going somewhere. Find your friends. Surround yourself with companions who are willing to rally you on. People that believe in you, even when you don’t believe in yourself. And never underestimate the power of an encouraging word. It might be the very thing that gets you to the top of that next hill.

Let us pray;

Dear Lord, thank you that your Word reminds us that “two are better than one.” Thank you that you created us for companionship and we are better together. Surround us with others who will encourage us. Bring people into our lives that will believe in us even when we don’t believe in ourselves. And give us the strength to climb that next hill.  In Jesus Name, Amen. -M.