Imagine with me for a moment, if you were God and you had a very specific plan and purpose for any given son or daughter of yours.  If such were the case, I’m sure you’d sometimes use other people as instruments of encouragement; living, breathing tools to accomplish your will.  I know I imagine our God that way, in His great love for us.

It leaves me awe-struck every time I dwell in the wonder of the ministry of encouragement.  How we can each be used by God to lift up and spur on those around us, if we allow ourselves to be willing conduits of encouragement.

I have experienced it again and again both online and offline.  The coolest thing is?  Sometimes I am so amazed how much the smallest gestures can make a difference, that I am reminded anew that if only I am willing to do the same for others, I too can make a profound difference in someone’s day in the simplest ways.

My youngest daughter and I were recently blessed with just such an example of transformative encouragement.  We’ve run into one obstacle after another, ever since starting her undertaking to help make a difference for homeless people in Chicago.  I’ll spare you the stories on that, but instead want to share with you how much we were uplifted by one simple note of encouragement.  It came seemingly out of the blue, but I know it’s arrival was no accident!

A local judge had apparently heard about Emma and God used him to send encouragement months after getting underway – not right away, when everything was still fresh and energized.  There was more than enough support and encouragement to be found then. How often does that wear off in any number of difficult times when we find our vision fading and our energy flagging?  How much more could we use encouragement when initial support has died down?  This is of course even more true for the far worse trials and tribulations of this life.  This was merely a voluntary project we took on for ourselves, because we wanted to.

I am sharing all this with you for 3 reasons:

1) As a metaphor to apply in your own lives

2) As a general – How cool is this letter from this judge?!

3) A general update on the Caring for Chicago project status following our last update awhile back

The judge also included a copy of the original article from our local newspaper, that we did not even have a copy of – if you can believe that!!  What a blessing this man was to us  🙂

This is how easy it is to encourage those around us, or those we’ve never even met BIG time, in small, doable ways!  How can you encourage someone else today?

Make A Difference Mondays is a weekly linkup designed to encourage and inspire us to live each day on purpose by making a meaningful difference in someone’s life in even the smallest of ways. Read on to learn more about our vision, mission, and how to link up!

Mission
Our mission is to provide a consistent gathering place for like-minded women to build online connections, share inspiration, and provide mutual encouragement and accountability as we seek to live intentionally and make a difference in the lives of those around us.

Vision
Every Monday we will invite bloggers to link up any blog post that encourages women to live life on purpose. This could include testimonies or goals from your own life, small acts of kindness or service, creative tips or ideas for showing consideration to others — the possibilities are endless. Our objective is to use our God-given time and resources to His glory!

Also, just a heads-up:  we have created two fun new ways to keep us all connected! Now we have our own Facebook community group to stay in touch beyond the blog posts AND we also have a new #MADMlinkup group Pinterest board and we will be pinning our favorite posts from the linkup that inspire and encourage us to make a difference. We are so grateful for you and would love for all of you to join us for fellowship in the above linked community group and you can follow the Pinterest board right here to watch for your posts:

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