“But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.”
1 Thessalonians 3:6-7 ESV
Does that sound like you? Were you an encourager in 2020? A friend called you to tell you their spouse left them. They lost their job and are facing eviction. Their rock-solid family member was taken due to Covid.
They are rocked with depression and lost all hope.
When messy-people bring messy-problems, it makes sense to bounce. “Ew! I don’t want to deal with that!” When your car is making a terrible noise your solution is to turn the radio up.
But, encouraging people are tough people. Tough people do tough things. And life is tough. Taking your car to get fixed is time-consuming and it’s costly. The same with encouragers.
Encouraging people are nosy jerks. I do not mean that literally. They poke and prod and pry to get in your business. If you are hated for it, you are a good encourager. It is those nosy jerks that know the other side because they have often been through it themselves. They do not run. They do not hide. And they are not afraid to drag you out by your ears.
Sow Cincy 