Encouragement for Life: Words of Hope and Inspiration

By Charles R. Swindoll

Every book by best-selling author Charles R. Swindoll shares one quality-the rare ability to touch the reader with positive and assuring words of encouragement. This book is a collection of some of the most uplifting thoughts on paper from one of the most beloved and personable authors of our day. In a world touched by storms, conflicts, and heartache, Encouragement for Life reminds us where we can find the Eternal Source of encouragement and hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Oct 29, 2006
• ISBN: 9781418578985

Charles R. Swindoll

Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the clear, practical teaching and application of God's Word. He currently pastors Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, and serves as the chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary. His renowned Insight for Living radio program airs around the world. Chuck and Cynthia, his partner in life and ministry, have four grown children and ten grandchildren.

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© 2006 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

Project manager, Terri Gibbs

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations in this book are from the The New American Standard Bible (NASB) © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, and 1977 by the Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission.

Other Scripture quotations are from The Living Bible (TLB) © 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. Used by permission and The Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV® (NIV). © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

Designed by LeftCoast Design, Portland Oregon.

www.thomasnelson.com

ISBN 978-1-4041-0323-8

Printd and bound in Belgium

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Contents

Preface

Encouragement for. . .

Self-Doubt and Insecurity

Despair and Doubt

Indecision and Uncertainty

Anxiety and Worry

Injustice and Disappointment

Mistakes and Failures

Suffering and Sorrow

Closing Comments

Acknowledgments

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Preface

Encourage me.

Maybe you haven’t said those words out loud in recent days, but chances are you have shaped them in the silent hallways of your soul.

Maybe you haven’t stopped anyone on the street and said that phrase. But if someone cared enough to look closely they would see the words written in your sad face, drooping shoulders, and pleading eyes. They would hear the words echo in your unguarded comments and unsuppressed sighs.

Is that where you’ve been lately? Are you running shy on reinforcement and affirmation? Are you beginning to wonder not when relief is coming, but if it will ever come? Then I believe this little book will help. I am writing it with people like you in mind. People who feel riveted to the valley where the sun seldom shines and others seldom care.

I do not write out of sterile theory but out of reality. My pen has been dipped in a deep well. The ink has been dark and often cold. At such times I have struggled with a lack of self worth . . . a common battle waged in the valley. The long shadows of discouragement have often stretched across my path. Those times have been bittersweet—bitter at first, sweet later on.

I have only one goal in mind: to encourage you. Tired, discouraged friend, take heart! The Lord God can and will lift you up! There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. No valley so dark that the light of His truth cannot penetrate.

Encouragement.

If you miss it and need it and want it, read on. And if you find it, by all means share it with others!

CHARLES R. SWINDOLL

We are never closer to

God than when trials

come upon us.

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Take God seriously,

but don’t take

yourself too

seriously.

Chapter One

ENCOURAGEMENT

FOR SELF-DOUBT

AND INSECURITY

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What Incredible Worth!

Possessions of the powerful, wealthy, or famous, no matter how common, can become extremely valuable, even priceless. Napoleon’s toothbrush sold for $21,000. Can you imagine paying thousands of dollars for someone’s cruddy old toothbrush? Hitler’s car sold for over $150,000. Winston Churchill’s desk, a pipe owned by C. S. Lewis, sheet music handwritten by Beethoven, a house once owned by Ernest Hemingway. At the Sotheby’s auction of Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s personal belongings, her fake pearls sold for $211,500 and JFK’s wood golf clubs went for $772,500. Not because the items themselves are worthy but because they once belonged to someone significant.

Are you ready for a surprise? We fit that bill too. Think of the value of something owned by God. What incredible worth that bestows on us, what inexplicable dignity! We belong to Him. We are a people for God’s own possession (1 Pet. 2:9).

The price paid for us was unimaginably high—the blood of Jesus Christ—and now we belong to Him. We have been bought with a price. That’s enough to bring a smile to anyone’s face. But there is more. . . .

As a result of God’s mercy, we have become a people who are uniquely and exclusively cared for by God. The fact that we are the recipients of His mercy makes all the difference in the world as to how we respond to difficult times. He watches over us with enormous interest. Why? Because of His immense mercy, freely demonstrated in spite of our not deserving it. What guilt-relieving, encouraging news!

HOPE AGAIN

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AN ENCOURAGING WORD :

Freedom

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Be who you are. Give

yourself the O.K. to break

the mold and exercise your

God-given freedom.

God, in grace, has

purchased you from

bondage. Christ has

literally set you free.

Sometimes it’s encouraging just

to thumb through the Scriptures

and find all the promises that

tell us what God thinks of us,