It Came Out of the Blue

Have you ever received an encouraging email, note, or text out of the blue?

I’m guessing it has probably happened to you. I’m also betting it happened on a day that you were really discouraged. Crazy right?!? How in the world did that person know to send you that text or FB message just then? How did they know you were down?

At first when you get that unexpected encouragement you are thrilled, but if you’re like me, your mind shifts toward insecurity. Am I wearing my emotions on my sleeve? This is too freaky and timed too precisely. Have I been saying stuff that makes me seem down or like I’m fishing for compliments or encouragement?

Recently, I was feeling discouraged and “out of the blue” I get a FB message from a friend asking me how I’m doing and he said a lot of encouraging things. Then a day or two later I get a text from another guy saying the same thing. Weird! Just what I needed…at just the right time! But wait! Maybe they talked to each other? Maybe I am being Debby Downer online?

Neither of them live near me, why would they both send me a message? So, I did the only logical thing. I asked him if I seemed down…to which he replied, “No, you always seem upbeat. You were just on my mind.” Hmmm…suspicious.

Later in the week my wife said she called someone she had been thinking about “just to chat” and low and behold they were having the worst week of their life. Her friend said, “A talk with you was just what I needed.” Hmmm.

By now my reticular activating system is in full gear. I’m hearing it everywhere now. People “out of the blue” reaching out to people to encourage them and “it was just what they needed,” “perfect timing.” In the office, I hear the awesome team that I work with talking in the hallway about how they encouraged someone who had been on their mind. A few days later I hear a team member say how someone encouraged them… “at just the right moment.”

How does that happen? At just the right time you are the dispenser of just the right encouragement. Or at just the right time you are the recipient of exactly what you needed to hear.

As a pastor I should have known better. It’s not really a surprise. I should have known that the reason my friends reached out to me was because of God or more precisely the Holy Spirit prompting them. They are men of deep faith who listen to God.

The good news is every time you encouraged someone “at just the right time” you listened to God too! God used you to encourage someone else. How about that?

Promptings to encourage are always from God. (1 Thess. 5:11, Heb. 10:24-25, Eph. 4:29) So when you get a prompting or someone crosses your mind, act on it. All the “what if’s” that try to talk you out of acting on it obviously aren’t from God. Why would God not want you to encourage someone?

Sending positive thoughts toward someone is silly and pointless. People can’t feel your thoughts, but they can feel your words. Your thoughts or appreciation can’t encourage someone as long as it is trapped in your mind. Set it free!!! Express your encouragement! Write it, mail it, text it, FB it, tweet it, say it…it all counts and it all matters.

Who is thinking about quitting something important today that might hold on a little longer because you encouraged them?

Who might not give up on a dream because you spoke words of life?

Think about it this way…maybe the most important thing you do in this life might just be encouragement. Imagine one day being in Heaven and hearing the other side…the reason I stayed married is because of that phone call…the reason I didn’t take my own life was because of your words…the reason I was able to help so many people was because you encouraged me when I was ready to give up…

Imagine the symphonies, books, paintings, songs, masterpieces, organizations, companies, and countless other dreams that get abandoned too soon because of one missing ingredient…encouragement. You can change that and breathe wind back into their sails.