I’m an idiot – something I own up to quite regularly! But I can honestly say it wasn’t until today that I saw the link between courage and encouragement and therefore the real meaning behind encouragement.

I guess when I’ve thought about encouraging people before I’ve just thought about geeing people up, making them feel happier. Today, for example I was just leaving the living room to head to the study and the husband said ‘thank you for encouraging me’ I just thought it was because I said I’d enjoyed his sermon, but also because of some other stuff that’s going on at the moment. But then… when I got in to the study I was looking at the worship for school this week where the theme is courage and it was whilst I was doing this that the penny dropped!

To encourage someone is something we talk about regularly but is SO much more than just geeing someone up, it is about giving somebody courage. We all need courage in different ways and similarly we all encourage in different ways but we all have the ability to do so.

Since the penny dropped and I realised how much encouragement actually meant I have felt challenged. Where do people I know need courage in their lives and how can I encourage them? But I think one of the biggest challenges is where do I need courage in my life and do others know that I need courage in those areas? Because if people don’t know you need courage then they are less likely to encourage you?