Encouragement Is Urgent

Let us encourage one another.

Hebrews 10:25 NIV

I wear many hats as a parent, as all parents do. I am a provider, a leader, and a disciplinarian when necessary. But I believe my greatest responsibility is as a cheerleader. More than anything else, kids today need the supportive love, encouragement, and cheering-on of their parents. James Dobson, the family expert who spent years studying problems of adolescent behavior, once said in my presence, “Here’s the distilled wisdom of all my research. Here is what you need to do if you have adolescents: just get them through it.”

Just get them through it! Hang in there with them until the whitewater rapids of the teenage years are left behind.

Encouragement is an urgent need of our day. A church that does not equip its people as encouragers will soon phase out of any meaningful ministry in its community. God help us to learn how to be encouragers!