The Encouragement Project (Ebook Shorts): 21 Heart-to-Heart Ways to Show You Care

By Holley Gerth

You truly care. You want to help others.

Yet you still have times when you aren't sure what to pray, what to say, or what to do. You already have what you need most: a loving heart. Now Holley Gerth shares simple ways to turn your care into action. With her trademark warmth and enthusiasm, she offers

· prayers based on God's Word to help you pray for the person you love
· specific words for when you're not sure what to say
· practical ideas for small, simple ways to show you care
· encouraging devotional thoughts for your heart too

Whether encouraging others is second nature to you or you find it struggle, The Encouragement Project shows you how to share God's heart for people--one prayer, one word, one act of kindness at a time.


This book is the perfect companion to Holley's book You're Loved No Matter What.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781441245380

Holley Gerth

Holley Gerth is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, speaker, and cofounder of (in)courage.me—an online home for the hearts of women. Holley also encourages thousands of readers through her blog at www.HolleyGerth.com. She is wife to Mark and mom to Lovelle.

Book preview

© 2014 by Holley Gerth

Published by Revell

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.revellbooks.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-4538-0

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007

Italics in Scripture reflect the author’s emphasis.

Contents

Cover    1

Title Page    3

Copyright Page    4

Introduction    7

Showing You Care for Someone Who Needs . . .

1. Encouragement    11

2. Confidence    14

3. Hope    17

4. Grace    20

5. Peace    23

6. Rest    26

7. Freedom    29

8. Joy    33

9. Renewal    36

10. Provision    40

11. Support    43

12. Protection    46

13. Healing    49

14. Courage    53

15. Comfort    56

16. Strength    59

17. Perseverance    62

18. Wisdom    65

19. Guidance    68

20. Friendship    71

21. Care    74

A Prayer Just for You    77

Notes    79

About Holley    80

Other Books by Holley Gerth    81

Back Ads    82

Back Cover    86

Introduction

You truly care about people.

You want to help others.

You love giving encouragement.

Yet you still often find yourself saying, I’ll pray for you, and not following through the way you’d like. Or you feel tongue-tied at a time that calls for comforting words. You may even walk away from a tough situation, scratching your head and thinking, I have no idea what to do!

You already have what you need most: a loving heart. Now I’m going to share some simple, easy, practical tools to turn your care into action. Through working with thousands of people as a writer, a counselor, and a life coach, I’ve learned what truly helps most.

The great news is, we won’t be doing this on our own. God cares even more about the people in our lives than we do. He’s committed to helping us serve them well.

The most famous prayer of all says, "Give us today our daily bread (Matt. 6:11), not my daily bread." I believe that means we can ask not only for what we need each day but also for what others in our lives need. God already knows who will come knocking, and he understands exactly the bread that will fill their hunger.

The burden for helping people never rests on us. We have the joy of being part of the process, but we don’t have to make anything happen. Our role is obedience. God’s job is results. And what he wants most from us is for us to simply open our hearts and share what he gives us. We can all encourage each other—one prayer, one word, one act of kindness at a time.

Thank you for your heart to help others. Our world needs more people like you, and you make a difference even more than you know.

Each chapter that follows covers a specific area of need and includes four parts:

Devotional—When you’re encouraging others, you need encouragement too.

What You Can Pray—Prayers created from Scripture for the person you love.

What You Can Say—Specific words to help when you’re not sure how to respond.

What You Can Do—Practical ideas for small, simple ways to show you care.

You can read this book in order or use it as a go-to resource whenever someone in your life has a need.

Note: For simplicity and readability, I’ve used the neutral pronouns they and their rather than him/her. Thanks in advance for your grammatical grace!

1

Encouragement

A holiday is approaching as I write this, and a popular commercial features people saying things like, Tell me I’m loved. Tell me I’m going to be okay. Tell me I’m beautiful. We connect with these phrases and could add our own. Life knocks the wind out of all of us at times, and we need to be encouraged.

The word encouragement appears far more times in the New Testament than the Old. It’s a spiritual gift. But even those who may not specifically have that particular gift are still called to encourage. Encouragement is described as coming from two sources—God and each other. And unlike simple compliments or kind words, encouragement is rooted in truth. It brings us back to what’s realer than real. It reminds our hearts that what we see or experience right now is not the full story. There is more to life and more to us than meets the eye.

I’ve written over two thousand greeting cards for DaySpring, the Christian subsidiary of Hallmark. Encouragement lies at the heart of all of them. I remember how when I first began, I would ask people, What would you like to say to the ones you love in your life? I did a lot of research and read many books. But I found that the best encourager of all already lives within me.

He lives within you too. The Holy Spirit knows what people around you need to hear in deeper, more powerful ways than we ever can. The Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God (see 1 Cor. 2:11). The Spirit also knows the hearts of people. That means when you let the Spirit encourage others through you, you connect the heart of God with the hearts of people in a supernatural way.

I’m also trained as a counselor, and people often ask me what to say in difficult situations. I still believe the best encouragement is simply the presence of another person who cares. Even in a professional counseling