Encouragement Where You Least Expect It

Encouragement can come from the most unlikely places.

I served in a one-year internship with Vision of Hope, a residential facility for women seeking biblical help from life-dominating sins. I was there to serve and encourage the women seeking help. But in turn, those women encouraged and challenged me in my walk with God in so many ways they never even realized.

• Because as they struggled with sin, I remembered how deeply rooted my struggle was with sin, and how it was not easily overcome.
• As I watched them learn how to deal with the hard situations in life and not run from them, I was challenged to continue persevering in my difficult circumstances.
• As I spoke truth to the women when they were struggling, it was I who needed to hear those exact same truths.
• As God redeemed and healed their broken pasts and sin, God was in the process of doing the same with me.

You see, as long as we’re on earth, we never “make it” to perfection. We never stop battling sin. Things never get easy on the spiritual war front.

But that’s where the body of Christ comes in. As we strive together, we can encourage, exhort, and challenge one another. Just as Hebrews tells us to do.

“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:13

Sin is deceitful and our own hearts are too (Jer. 17:9). We need brothers and sisters around us who will help point out sin in our lives, who will challenge us when we are going astray, who will exhort and encourage us to persevere when it is hard.

But sometimes that encouragement and exhortation can come from the most unlikely places. Don’t look down on others who may be in a different place than you spiritually. God can use them to impact you in more ways than you know.

So to the women who are working hard to fight their sin and complete the program at Vision of Hope (or who have finished!), I admire you. Your faithfulness has encouraged me significantly, and I am grateful for how God is transforming and using each of you.