Encourage-[en-kur-ij] to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence.
The enCourage Blog is weekly dose of encouragement in a world that is often filled with bad news. We offer life-giving entries each Monday and Thursday written by gifted women from across our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). You can subscribe below to have them delivered to your inbox. With hundreds of blog pieces, you can search on a variety of topics in the search bar above to read and share with friends. Christina Fox, a gifted author, serves as our enCourage General Editor. If you are interested in submitting a piece, you can contact her at cfox@pcanet.org.
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Clay Like Calling: God’s Glory in Our Weakness
KAREN HODGE | CONTRIBUTOR We stand on the precipice of a new ministry year. Let's gather the team, formulate a stellar plan, whip out a shiny brochure, and rally the women! And while we're at it, let's try to make it bigger, faster, or shinier than last year. Been there and tried that strategy. “Shiny Plan” seems like a bulletproof proposal in September, but by October, cracks began to form in our well-formulated plan. CRACK… You try to recruit women to execute this shiny plan and find that many of them are just "too busy" to participate. CHIP… You put the Women's Connect Event in the bulletin, announce it from the front, send an email, and then wonder why more women didn't show up when you are cleaning up. CRUMBLE…. After teaching a Bible study you spent hours preparing and then receive stinging criticism in the hallway, you hastily vow you will never teach again! SHATTER…. Although you meant to send the shiny plan to the Session ahead of printing the brochures, upon reading it, they suggest that you scale things back to avoid draining the church's resources....
When You Are Feeling Stuck
MEGAN JUNG | GUEST Dead end roads and flat tires. Tired of an age-old habit. Waiting on that person or that thing. Immobilized by fear. Weary of pain. While feeling stuck is a normal and inevitable part of life, it is frustrating, at best. "Stuckness" comes when something holds us down, back, or away from the thing we need or want. Our minds, another person, our bodies, circumstances, sin, the environment, perception, our stories—we live with countless hindrances, harnesses, and hurdles. When we are stuck, we long for freedom. Freedom comes when the harness loosens, the chains fall off, and we cut ties with the weight dragging behind us. We are freed from something and unto another thing. What do you think when you consider the word “freedom”? It can be a word fraught with associations and emotions: ache, entitlement, fear, patriotism, gratitude, grief, and more. How can we face our “stuckness” and experience freedom in light of what Christ has done? We start with freedom in Christ, which informs freedom’s function in the rest of life. Freedom in Christ frees us from, frees us to, and frees us unto....
Picked for More than Just Pickleball
MEAGHAN MAY | CONTRIBUTOR The first time I played pickleball was on our neighborhood court. I didn’t know the rules. I wasn’t dressed for it, didn’t have the right shoes, and honestly just hoped no one would notice how uncoordinated I felt. I stood off to the side, awkwardly holding my paddle, sure that I would be picked last—if at all. Then someone surprised me. One of the most skilled players on the court looked straight at me and said, “You’re with me.” She didn’t hesitate. She picked me on purpose. And suddenly, I wasn’t standing alone anymore. I had a place. I wasn’t better at the game, but I was no longer afraid. Because someone strong and experienced had chosen me. She saw me, called me, and gave me courage to step onto the court. That moment reminds me of something far more profound: God is for us. He didn’t wait for us to get it right. He didn’t look for the most qualified. He saw us in our fear, weakness, and sin and still said, “You’re with Me.”...
Making Space for Others
SUSAN TYNER | CONTRIBUTOR Let’s scoot over. Make room. Here, take this spot and sit by us. If you are walking into a space as a new student, neighbor, or church visitor, those can be some of the kindest words ever spoken. As a woman in my mid-fifties, I’m shocked that the awkwardness of junior high floods back so quickly when I am in a new situation. And, as a ministry leader who usually runs the room, I can forget how it feels to walk into an unfamiliar one. Like when I’m on vacation and walk into a local church service. Where are the bathrooms? Am I taking someone’s spot? Is it ok to carry my water bottle in? Will they notice if I don’t know the words to the songs? Or, when I moved to a new city and attended a couple of local fundraisers. I felt like Cinderella dressed up going to the ball. But, once I walked in, I realized my new clothes weren’t “quite right” compared to what the other women wore. Not to mention the feeling of standing against the wall as everyone but you seem to be chatting. Thank goodness for my phone so I could camouflage my awkwardness as a busy text thread. These kinds of situations remind me how it feels like to an outsider. I feel hot and self-conscious not to mention, guilty about every time I avoided “the new girl” in the room....
Standing Still in His Presence
KC JONES | GUEST For women, “moving” is never the problem. Whether we are moving forward, moving backward, or shuffling sideways in some sort of bizarre-crab walk, we are content to be in motion. Movement means things are happening; we are accomplishing much or at least appearing to do so. Movement also implies that by doing one thing, we are not doing something else. In many ways, it keeps us distracted from other things. Busyness can be a buffer against the pain of living in a broken world because it provides us with something else, anything else, on which to focus so that we don’t have to face the challenges, heartaches, and brokenness we all experience deep in our hearts. Running on Empty Don’t get me wrong: work is not the problem. Work was considered good before the Fall. After God created Adam, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). After He makes Man, God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him” (2:18). Woman is declared “helper” or “Ezer”; a sufficient support for Man. It is the same term used to describe the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, or “Paraclete” in the Greek. God fashioned Woman to be hard-working, capable, and strong. Our problem isn’t that we cannot “manage” all the to-do lists, work tasks, and extra-curriculars we cram into our schedules; it is that we often do not stand still. We don’t stop working. Even when we feel inclined to sit at Jesus’ feet as Mary did, we also feel the pull of a “Martha” mentality when faced with full days. Our constant busyness inevitably leaves us empty. We begin to struggle with disillusionment and doubt. We question what God is doing in our lives. We wonder why we work so hard if it does not make us any happier. We may feel overwhelmed about another schoolyear starting or another project deadline because we know there will just be another transition waiting for us at the end. It can feel like we are running on a proverbial hamster-wheel. Yet, we do have hope. It is an abundant hope, and it is ours for the taking...
Why the Work We Do Matters
MARIA CURREY | CONTRIBUTOR My mouth was needle-numbed on one side, wide open, gauze in one corner, a blue plastic place holder clamped between my feeling teeth and gums, and the drilling began. A cavity filling from childhood outlived its lifespan and needed to be replaced. Silenced, numbed, and essentially gagged, I was at the mercy of my dentist’s expertise and experience. Soon I was back in business, ready to chew again! Aren’t you grateful when someone has the education, gifting, and ability to do his or her job? Whether a stay-at-home mom, plumber, teacher, truck driver, doctor, or in ministry, the work each person does matters and has intrinsic value. Mothers cover countless roles and responsibilities around the clock, a plumber unclogs backed up waters and broken pipes, a teacher provides insights to all eventual jobs, truck drivers ensure supplies are transported and delivered, a doctor of any specialty facilitates healing and wellness, while one in ministry facilitates spiritual healing and wellness. When we stop to consider what it means to work, in every job, calling, or duty, we all need each other and the work done around us. Our world rotates in daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly cycles of work. Working for the Lord As workers for Christ, however, we are freed to a heavenly, God-given approach to work. Paul encourages the church in Colossae to work as if they are working for the Lord. Colossians 3:23-24 exhorts, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”...
