Hi there. My name is Lisa van den Berg with The Ways Of Wisdom, and I want to welcome you to God Today. I had cancer about 10 years ago, and part of the journey of radiotherapy treatment is that, you go in for five minutes each day, five days a week for six weeks long. So every time you go in, you get to see the same group of people, right? Because we’re all there for a regular appointment. And it was beautiful, because you get to see these different people and learn how to pray for each one of them.
One couple in particular, was a couple in their sixties and the gentleman’s wife had cancer. She was having radio and chemotherapy at the time and he would just sit quietly with her in the waiting room, wheel her into her treatment to come back out again and never, never a word was exchanged or said. So the one day I’m standing outside the elevator, I needed to go and get something, and the gentleman of the couple comes and stands next to me. So I’m standing there and I’m praying quietly, “Jesus, give me something to say to encourage him, please give me something to help him, because he looks so sad,” and I’m getting nothing right? Blank. I’m hearing nothing. So the elevator doors open and the two of us get into the elevator and I’m standing there and I’m still praying like crazy, “Please give me something.” And I’m hearing nothing. You know, now I’m getting like, “God, why didn’t you give me something to give to this man?” But we’re standing there and you know what it’s like in an elevator, right? So we’re standing, looking at the doors, and suddenly the man turned to me and he just started yelling and he was screaming and he was like, “It’s so unfair! We had such amazing plans for our retirement. We were going to do so much. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.” And we literally went down one floor and the elevator doors opened, and he kept quiet and he walked out and I was standing there a little bit in shell shock, because I’ve never even heard this man speak, right? I’m going like, “Jesus, why didn’t you give me something to encourage him? The man is in so much pain.” And I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, “Lisa, he didn’t need you to say one thing. What he needed was somebody who is not attached to the situation in any way, but still understood, because he can’t talk to his wife like that because she’s going through so much. He can’t talk to his kids because they’re in their own mourning about this. He can’t talk to his friends. He just needed a place to release.” And I learned that day, that there is so much power in just partnering with God in everything to encourage somebody else. And it won’t always look like we think it looks, it won’t always look like a word of encouragement. It could look like a hug. It could look like writing them a note. It could look so many different ways, because God knows exactly what the other person needs.
So I want to encourage you no matter what your circumstances are, and in fact, even as you’re going through difficult circumstances yourself, as you say yes to partnering with God, to give encouragement to somebody else, you will be blown away by the way He wants to show love to other people through you. So let’s pray. Thank you so much, Lord, for this opportunity to constantly be encouragers, to constantly be giving words and hugs and whatever you come up with to other people, to help them in situations that we don’t even know that they’re going through. So I pray and I bless us today to be open to hearing ways to encourage other people, and to go on an adventure with you of what it looks like to actually give people encouragement in the way they need it. I bless us to do this Lord, and I say, thank you for the opportunity to be able to do it. Let’s go for it, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.