An Encourager

There are certain people in our lives that whenever we get around them they seem to brighten our days, and even our lives. One of those is for me is one of our dear saints, Zel Huskey. There are several attributes which Ms. Zel possesses that makes my day better whenever I am around her.  First, there is rarely a time when you are around her that she is not smiling. Her smile seems to be contagious.  This seeming permanent smile is not one which is fake or manufactured.  I believe wholeheartedly that her smile is generated from the inside.  She has a way of looking optimistically at even the difficulties of life from a positive point of view.  When I leave I am smiling outwardly and inwardly.

The second thing which is so endearing about Zel is how she makes you feel as though you are the most important person in the world to her.  From the moment she sees you she offers genuine compliments and praise.  Once again, I do not sense there is anything fake about her words, nor do I believe she is offering praise manipulatively.  She genuinely speaks words of affirmation if not words of prophecy.  By prophecy I mean she says this is what I want to believe about you.  Here is a woman whom could have all the reason in the world to be down and depressed yet she chooses to be upbeat and encouraging.  How can one not leave her presence without feeling better about whom he is or life in general?  She is a true encourager.

We find another example of an encourager in the New Testament by the name of Barnabas.  In fact, his very name means exhorter or encourager.  We see this in several examples in the book of Acts.  First, Barnabas encourages the disciples to trust Paul for they were doubtful of him based on his previous reputation as a persecutor of the early church and Christians.  However, in Acts 9:26-31 we see where Barnabas brought Paul before the disciples offering them words of assurance that Paul had experienced a conversion experience on the road to Damascus.  Later, in Acts 11:19-26 Barnabas is sent to the outer regions of Antioch to encourage the early converts to hold true to their faith in Jesus Christ, even in the face of persecution.  Then finally, in Acts 15:36-41 Barnabas and Paul have a disagreement over whether to take John Mark with them on a missionary journey.  Paul remembered how John Mark had abandoned them on a previous journey in Pamphylia.  Barnabas believed in John Mark strongly and would not abandon him.  In fact, Barnabas and John Mark embarked on their own missionary journey to Cyprus while Paul departed for Syria and Cilicia with Silas. 

In each of these accounts Barnabas believed in either a group of people or an individual and made sure that he offered words of consolation and encouragement.  That is what I see in Zel, a special person who believes the best in people and seeks to bring it out.  I thank God for people like Zel, they are God’s gift of encouragement to each of us.

In closing, what type of person are you?  Are you a Barnabas and Zel or are you one who leaves discord?  God has called each of us to be instruments of peace and righteousness.  While we are human and will fail at times, we must seek to be God’s encouragers here on earth.  Paul told the church at Thessalonica to “…Encourage one another and build one another up…” (1 Thess. 5:11) 

In His Steps,

Pastor Ric