You’ve heard me say this before, and I’ll say it again. Encouragers need to be encouraged. Wow was I encouraged yesterday. I woke this morning still encouraged so much so, that I had a jammin’ session with Jesus. Now that’s fun! You know that saying “What goes around, comes around”? That happened to me yesterday. I learned I got something pretty special: I need to share or I’ll burst!
True Story Ahead
This work week has been filled with a lot of Strengths coaching. Yesterday, I had a Strengths coaching session with a new employee right at the beginning of my day. This was one of those sessions that was truly fun and fulfilling. After the session, as I was packing my belongings, this young man asked if he could pray.
Where I work, this isn’t unusual activity, but I was totally surprised when he prayed specifically for me. He prayed that God would continue to empower me, bless me, and encourage me so that I can continue to do that for others.
Oh my goodness, my cup got filled up.
Later, a colleague and I were talking about my daughter. The next thing I knew she asked if she could send her an email of encouragement. She did. Then she came and shared that my daughter had already responded to her. Then she sent me a copy of the email. I’m telling you, I cried. To experience the blessing of someone else caring, encouraging, and praying for your own child makes a mom weep with joy and gratefulness.
Once again, my cup was filled.
Then after work, when my husband and I were getting our athletic shoes on to head over to the gym for a quick workout, he said, “Michelle, your blog post today was really good.” What? I stopped tying my shoes, looked up in surprise, and thanked him. This acknowledgment and compliment meant more to me than he even knows. My husband is super smart. He reads tough stuff and has an analytical mind. That my husband thought my writing was good overwhelmed me.
My cup was full.
One final cool experience. While I was running on the treadmill, I had a brief conversation with Jesus. I told Him how overwhelmed I was by those three interactions. I know His Spirit spoke to mine. “Michelle, what goes around, comes around. You’ve prayed for a lot of people. Now someone publicly prayed for you. You’ve encouraged a lot of people, now others have encouraged you. This is how it works. What you sow, you reap.”
Immediately after this conversation, I heard a new song on the Amazon music station: Rend Collective Experiment. Well, it’s new to me. This is now one of my favorite songs. It’s the song I was jammin’ with Jesus to this morning: “Run Devil Run” by the David Crowder Band. This song is fantastic. I felt encouraged and validated.
I love the beat. I love the lyrics.
I got somethin’ make the devil gonna run!”…
I got the King of kings and the Lords of hosts
I got angel armies and a Holy Ghost
I got spirits here that are tied by fire
I got a valley of bones that came alive
I got a cross, a hill, and an empty grave
I got a trumpet sound and one sweet name
Shake the gate of hell, the sinners and dogs
I got my Jesus and the devil gotta run
Coincidence that I heard this song after the day I had and while I was actually running on the treadmill? I think not. I don’t believe in coincidences. Jesus was blessing me and confirming to me that I have something. I have been sowing. I did reap huge blessings. These blessings validated again I have a purpose for Jesus.
My cup was overflowing!
I’m so grateful and happy God gave this song to the David Crowder Band to write and sing. Because they used their talents and shared them, I am blessed, encouraged, and energized. I pray they will reap mighty blessings too because of what they have sowed.
Jammin’ with Jesus
I got over 2,000 steps this morning jammin’ with Jesus. Not only that, but I broke a sweat singing for my Savior. I love it!!!
Jammin’ with Jesus empowers us and sets us free.
Friends, I encourage you today, listen to this song by the David Crowder Band. We have Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords, King of kings, who conquered sin and death on the cross. No matter what the devil is trying to trouble or bog you down with, tell the old devil to run. Claim who you are in Christ, then start jammin’ with Jesus.
Let your soul, your heart, and your mind be lifted up and inspired today. We have an amazing God who has called each one of us to a special purpose.
We all “got somethin’ make the devil gonna run!” Let’s go do it! Let’s remember we all have Jesus, the most wonderful gift of all.
Let’s sow generously using the gifts and talents the Lord has given us. Let’s pursue our purpose!
We will reap what we sow.
That’s such a neat story! Thanks for sharing.
Do you know your love language by any chance? It sounds like you’re really touched by Words of Encouragement 🙂 Interestingly, that’s my husband’s top love language and the one I struggle giving the most. Thankfully, encouragement isn’t a gift we can only be born with, but we can practice and grow.
Hi Kelsey! Thanks for reading my blog post. My primary love language is gifts followed closely by words of affirmation, specifically words of encouragement. In Chapman’s book, he wrote about different dialects of words of affirmation. One dialect is verbal compliments, another dialect is encouraging words, and a third dialect is words of appreciation. There are more, but these are the top three in my eyes. They’re all affirming, but they all have different focuses. I find myself encouraging and appreciating easily, but complimenting doesn’t come naturally. I wonder what words of affirmation dialect your husband prefers? This could be a great conversation for the two of you. Even if a love language doesn’t come naturally to us, as you mentioned, we can practice and grow. I believe my husband’s primary love language is acts of service followed by words of affirmation, but he loves verbal compliments. I have to be intentional to compliment. I’ve recently noticed I don’t do that as often as he needs me to, so I wrote a post-it note reminder to myself to compliment him. That may seem silly or even insincere to some, but when we are instilling a new habit because we want it to be a part of who we are, we need to find ways to help ourselves accomplish that. My post-it note is just one way I’m reminded to love my husband the way I know he receives love. Compliments!