“Encouragement has the effect of a gentle rain; it causes steady growth.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2013-02-15) from his book, Be A People Person: Effective Leadership Through Effective Relationships (p. 162). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Who in your life has encouraged you? It made a difference didn’t it?

John shares, “The secret of Andrew Carnegie’s genius for developing others was his ability to encourage good qualities while holding faultfinding to a minimum.”

He also says, “I have yet to find the person, whatever his or her station in life, who did not perform better under a spirit of approval than under criticism. There are enough critics in the world; what we need are more cheerleaders!”

Let me give you some words of encouragement from a poem that John shared:

“People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered— love them anyway!

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives— do good anyway!

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies— succeed anyway!

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow— do good anyway!

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable— be honest and frank anyway!

The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds— think big anyway!

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs— fight for some underdog anyway!

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight— build anyway!

Give the world the best you’ve got and you’ll get kicked in the teeth— give the world the best you’ve got anyway!”

I want to cheer you on today. God created you to make a difference and He has great plans for you and through you. You have what it takes.

So who can you cheer on today?

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“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle? Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life. It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed. Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life. Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you. You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good. Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...

“What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Rick posed this question at the end of his chapter, You Are Not an Accident. In this chapter he deals with the fact that God created you the way you are with a purpose. In other words you are not an accident. I am also reading the Apostle John’s view of Jesus and what He said and did while He was here on earth. In the beginning of Chapter 9 there is a story about a blind man. And the disciples who were with Him asked Him a good question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? ” Have you ever asked the same thing about something in you that you don’t like? Like that characteristic is a curse or something. Society has set a standard that is not a standard of God. Remember, He created you and you are not an accident. Je...

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