Everyone Needs Encouragement and Everyone Can Be an Encourager

Encouragement is so necessary in people's lives. I'm not saying that someone should need encouragement all the time, but definitely from time to time. Encouragement is the "lifting of dispiritedness or despondency by an infusion of fresh courage or zeal." Christian writer William Ward once said, "Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you." Encouragement is so powerful and can change things around very quickly. If you seen anything about the Tour de France which is taking place right now, you'll notice the roads in cities and mountain ranges lined with crowds. What are they doing? They're cheering on and encouraging the competitors to keep going and finish the race. This infuses something in the competitors causing them to dig deep and press on. Hebrews 12:1 encourages us, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." There's a huge cloud of witnesses in heaven cheering all of us on and encouraging us to press on and finish our races. One of the most impacting things I've ever seen on encouragement involves British sprinter Derek Redmond in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Check it out if you want to be encouraged :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFKpZnok10s