the encouragement project {guest blogger: Sarah}

I am very humbled to have the always sweet Sarah over to my blog for a guest post in my encouragement project series. She is one encouraging woman! Go show her some love today if you don’t already follow her. Also, I’d love to have more guest writers for this series. Interested? E-mail me at benandkelli01 at aol dot com.

Hi, my name is Sarah and I’m the one behind The Fontenot Four! I am so excited that Kelli asked me back to write a post for her on encouragement today! I just love Kelli and her blog. I have been following Kelli for a while and I know that when I visit her blog I am going to find a loving environment full of encouragement, words of wisdom, and some fun stuff to boot – recipes, DIY projects, etc. Thanks for having me today, Kelli!

The need for encouragement in my life {and I suspect in many other people’s as well!} is great. Needing encouragement and needing validation aren’t the same thing. Validation is often important as well, but I’m talking about encouragement from others – lifting someone up when they need it, possibly bringing them to a place of peace over something. I have two daughters – 7 and 5 – the younger of whom is special needs and medically fragile. I love her to bits and wouldn’t change a thing, but it’s hard work. If you have a chronically ill or special needs child, then you know what I mean! If you’ve seen someone working with a special needs or ill child, you have an idea of what I mean. Parenting a special needs and medically fragile child can be extremely extremely blessed and rewarding but it’s also extremely isolating. The need for encouragement is so great.

Over the course of Peyton’s 5 years, I’ve become increasingly “reclusive” as her needs have increased. I cannot work outside the home, so my husband works two jobs. That leaves me on my own watching the kids a lot. Because of cutbacks, Peyton no longer gets the home nursing hours she requires. It’s bare minimum. It’s hard to carve out time for yourself when it’s so limited by someone else’s needs. I find myself exhausted all the time. Worn out. Just “done”….most of the time. I don’t even have to be really outwardly busy to feel those things. I just do. There are times when the isolation overshadows things and drags me down into a place where I need help – it’s not as often now, thank God! I’ve been building my relationship with the Lord and, in doing so, have found the load easier to bear. That doesn’t mean that life never becomes difficult or that I don’t find myself needing encouragement.
This past September, I was finally able to join in our church’s women’s ministry in their “Sisterhood Mornings” women’s bible study group. The study itself was excellent. Aside from the tools I learned for studying scripture, I also learned how much I need to take care of myself! I realized that I truly needed this group – not just for the scripture study…but for the connection to other women. Each Thursday morning, we would have our teaching and then sit at our tables and discuss the homework from our workbooks. In the process, we often discussed some of our challenging life situations. Obviously, for me, I would bring up stories about life with Peyton. It was so good to have a group of women who could support me in what I was dealing with. No, they couldn’t relate, but they could offer real spiritual encouragement.
At the end of the study semester last week, after the final teaching, our tables were to discuss the things we learned from the study. There were various questions we were to go around the table discussing. One of them asked the participants how the others at the table demonstrated their growth through this study. Our table had 6 or 7 ladies at it. Do you know what happened? As they went around the table, many of those women told of how they saw me growing in Christ through all of this. They talked about the huge issues I have and how they have issues too, but couldn’t imagine the ones I deal with. They talked about the grace I handle those issues with. They just spoke so highly of how they saw me handling my unique life situation. On the one hand, I felt so unworthy of such high esteem from these ladies. On the other, I felt so incredibly encouraged by what they had to say.
You see, I just go around living my life – it’s just life. I do what I do because that’s how my life is. I don’t do the things I do for praise or fame or recognition at all. I don’t do them because I am out to prove that I am Super Woman. I surely am not. It’s just the life I was given to live, and I do what I do because this is what was in the plan for my life. But it feels isolating and discouraging so often. I don’t view myself they way these women saw me. But it was so encouraging to hear their thoughts. It lifted up my spirits. For that moment, I felt like what I do matters outside the walls of my home. It made me realize that whether I know it or not, how I handle my life challenges really does impact other people.
No, I don’t need praise for just living my life – but a bit of encouragement can really do wonders for a person’s spirit. It might give someone the boost they need to get through that day alone! There may be things going on that we just don’t know about and that encouragement might be just the thing they need. You just never know when your words of encouragement might breathe life into a situation. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you think someone might need encouragement in some way – say something. Just a couple little words of encouragement can mean the world to someone!

All I can add to that is amen, sister. I love, love, love reading your encouraging posts. Thanks for sharing what God is doing through your life- I have no doubt that I’m not the only one who has grown because of your wisdom.