Life, like boot camp, is never survived well alone. There are numerous people out in the world today that were at Lackland AFB, Texas with me the summer of 1996 and I couldn’t have done it without them! Boot camp is hard and one of the things it teaches is that even if you are a star student you will not do well without your fellow Airman. I have always been a “just do it” kind of girl so this was a very new lesson for me to learn. I could iron shirts and nylons (yes, we did that, no wrinkles allowed!) like nobody’s business! I could get underwear into a perfect flat square or shave all the “wooly-boogers” (technical military jargon) off of socks. But I can’t shine boots worth beans. Okay, that lesson wasn’t so hard and the obvious solution occurred.
There were many days though that I just wasn’t sure I had what it was going to take. We were not allowed to speak to each other during Physical Training or while in the chow line. But more than one Airman at Lackland that summer risked wrath and punishment to encourage me. It became a habit with all of us. There were 700 Airman in our class alone, not to mention the other 2 classes at training at the same time. We were vigilant with our training but we were all suffering together and we respected each other for it. We pulled each other through, there was no other alternative!
Why this walk down memory lane? We are all suffering in this life. God promises us that in His word and one doesn’t need to look far to see the truth of it. God does let us know how to make it to the finish line though. He has left scriptures that remind us to encourage our brothers and sisters. Romans 12:15 talks about joining in the sadness of the sad and partying with the folks who have something to celebrate. Then we have another passage.
“So let’s do it, full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps His word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25 MSG)
So, what is it that we can say or do to encourage folks? I’m sure you have ideas and if you don’t mind I would love for you to share some of them.
If any of you are like me though, and you need encouragement right now yourself, God Himself has a message for you… Turn in your Bible to Isaiah 54:10. If you can, read the whole chapter. God is talking to His people about how they will come out of bad times, How God Himself will bring them out!
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