Are you interested in finding a good friend? How to win friends and influence people is a really good book by Dale Carnegie that was written years ago that has great advice that is timeless. If you need a friend the main key is to be a good listener. When we show that we are interested in what someone else is interested in, very often you will find a friend. I have a friend who heard me speak one time about the kind words my dad used to say to me when he was alive. He was the king of kind words. When ever I spoke with him on the phone, he would regularly mention 2 things that I have never forgotten. He always mentioned that I was a good mom, doing a good job with our kids, and he would say words that are kind about my appearance. I didn’t realize until he went to heaven in November 2005, how much I hung on his words whenever we spoke. Well, one of my sweet friends heard me say that about my dad, and now very often when she sees me, she tells me I am a good mom and that I look beautiful. Talk about a cup filler. What that made me realize is how much every mom needs to hear that they are doing a good job, and every lady wants to hear that they are beautiful. So I’m giving you an assignment!! Find a way to encourage moms everywhere with life giving words of blessing, and make sure you let all of the amazing women in your life now how beautiful and valuable they are! Your words can make a world of difference in their life.
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Prayer Buddy
One of the ways friends can encourage us with words is through prayer. My prayer partner and walking/workout buddy is the dearest woman on the earth. I call her love personified. We see each other at least 2 or 3 times a week to work out and pray together. She comes to our church so I see her there too. We definitely have prayed for each other, and I would be more than confident to have her in my corner any day. She knows how to get heaven’s attention, and to storm the enemy’s gates. She is one tenacious lady who gets thing accomplished. I think everyone needs to have a prayer partner who you know you can count on. Mine just happens to be my workout buddy also. Gal 6:2 says for us to carry each other’s burdens, and that’s the scripture I think about when I think of her. She is like the scuba diver who is prepared with oxygen, flippers and a mask, who comes in as a rescue swimmer and gives oxygen so the swimmer without all the gear so they won’t drown. I think it is called buddy breathing when a scuba diver does that, and it can save someone’s life. I know having a good friend and hearing the encouraging words of a friend, not only breathe life into our soul, but put the wind back in our sail. So today, I want to encourage you…..do you know someone who can use some oxygen or some wind? Be a buddy breather, and let your words encourage your friend.
Who makes you laugh?
Laughter is like medicine. You’ve heard that Bible verse before and it has been proven scientifically. Laughter helps to heal a body. I hope you have someone in your life who makes you laugh. Often it is our kids, and I can’t remember when I laughed so hard all afternoon when I took my son Carson and his friend Dawson on rides at the Fair. We laughed until our sides hurt! Sometimes the one who makes you laugh is a good friend – my laughing buddy and good friend is Carola. We relate to each other so well, we are both in the ministry, and sometimes it seems like we are twin daughters of different mothers. We think a lot alike and we often say the same thing at the same time….maybe because she was raised by parents from Europe too. She made my day last week when she happened to be in town and we got to go to spend some time together. We joined up with some other good friends and just had the best time, just relaxing and laughing until our sides hurt! I think about her words in my life, and what an encouragement she is. Not only through laughter, but by phone calls, and emails, and little gifts. All of that put together say to me I value you, and I value our friendship. Those words and deeds are what make great friendships. Why not share some laughter today? Or call your friend, send a text or an email and encourage your friend. It might just make their day.
Helpful Friends
Intro:
Is there anything better in life than knowing the love of a good friend? Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. Someone once said, “A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.” Another thing a good friend does for you is encourage you with their words. Their words in your life can feel like oxygen to your soul. Proverbs 12:25 says that an anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up. This week we will look at friendships, and how powerful our words can be in our relationships. Here is your encouraging word for today.
Monday
What kind of friend are you? This week we talking about the power of words, and specifically we are talking about their impact in our friendships. So what kind of friend are you? Do your words point out flaws? Do you overlook flaws and say something nice? Or do you determine to help fix flaws gently? We like the ones who just don’t see our shortcomings, but the ones who help us grow and who gently instruct us are the ones we should really appreciate. It happens pretty regularly that I have a typo or two in my email …and sometimes people point them out. I usually spot them in other’s work, but hate it when mine are pointed out. There are those who either notice them and don’t say anything, or notice and comment. And then the third kind, who notice and ask if they can help make it better. Tawnya is a person just like that. She has started coming along side me to make my eword better, and to be an encourager in my ear. She will be a blessing to help not only my email, but my radio program as well, and a whole lot of other areas! The words, I would love to help you, were the best words I could hear from my sweet friend. What words can you say to your friends? The words how can I help, or even I would love to help you, may be the best words they could hear as well. A special thank you to all of those who have helped with my dailyeword in the past, and especially to our amazing media team.
Extras and excess
On Friday, we talked about giving away excess. I want to encourage you today to find creative ways to bless someone else. I always want my heart open to God’s voice to hear if there is something specific God wants me to sow into someone else’s life. I can remember specific times that I gave away an item to someone when they said that what I blessed them with was exactly what they needed. The law of sowing and reaping works in this area too! If we want junk, we give away junk! If we want the best, we can give from our best! So how can you be creative in giving from your excess? Maybe combine together with a couple of other people who are your size, and do a clothing swap. Something old to you, may be just what someone else can use to spice up their wardrobe. How about bigger items? What if you have an extra car that you don’t use, or a boat, or some larger item? Why not consider donating it (or it’s value) to your church or some missions organization? Why should we let our excess sit and rust in the driveway, when it’s value could be used to bless the kingdom of God. How about the extra time you might have found in your schedule when you decluttered your life? Why not cook a meal for someone who’s just home for the hospital, or find a way to serve in your church, from Children’s Ministry to Helps of any kind? Let’s be good stewards of what we have so we can not only bless the kingdom of God, but then see it expand exponentially. That’s what good stewardship is all about!
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dailyeword for kids
Intro:
Hi kids, this is Dorette with an encouraging word for kids today. As school approaches, I’ m sure you are going through clothes, and discovering that you have outgrown lots of your stuff. We are talking today about being a good steward, and that applies to clothes as well. What we don’t need, we can give away to someone who does. Be encouraged today to be a giver! Here is your eword for kids today.
I know you are hearing about it all the time. Everyone, everywhere is telling you to be green! Green is a good thing! God was the first one who told us to take care of the earth, so it is kind of cool that the world is finally catching on! The Bible tells us to be good stewards of what we have. Stewardship is usually a word attached to money and giving, but it really relates to every area of our life. Good stewardship is basically taking care of what we have and not wasting resources. Because we are a land of abundance, we freely waste on a regular basis. This should not be so! We are so blessed! But that is a good reason to be more conscious of being a good steward and not less of one. Those who have been given much are responsible for much. So what we do have should be cherished and taken care of. How can we be more conscious of taking care of the earth? The biggest thing we can do is begin to be thoughtful and thankful. When we realize that 17% of the world’s population goes to bed hungry every night, it should make us thankful for the food we get to enjoy. When we realize that lots of kids don’t even have one pair of shoes and we have 10, we should be thankful. We should think about others and how we can bless them. So next time you are about to throw something away that could be used by someone else, or shouldn’t be wasted, remember to think and then thank. Think about how blessed you are and thank God for the abundance in your life that you get to share with someone else. That’s good stewardship!
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Consumed Consumers
In our family, we have made the decision to put a cap on how much we will consume. Once we reach that limit, it is time to give something away. An easy way we have done that is when someone gets a new shirt, they give an old one away. We have a bin in the laundry room just for give aways. It works with shoes, belts, whatever. Often the space available limits how much you can have, and because Americans usually have lots of space, we fill up every corner. Being from a European family, I love the companies that have found ways to make use of every single inch of space. Everything is smaller in Europe. I have a refrigerator and then an additional freezer. Most homes in Europe have a small refrigerator, and that is all. Their kitchens are very tiny, and to Americans it feels like the galley kitchen in ships. One thing small space makes us do is to reduce the amount of things we have. As westerners, we are consumers. Give me, give me, give me, more, more, more. Somewhere there is that unwritten rule that says he who dies with the most toys wins! Well, in a day when lots of people are struggling financially in the world, it is becoming evident that thinking that way can get you into deep trouble. We believe in abundance. We thank God for abundance, but God gives us seed, some to sow, and some to consume. It is important that we know the difference, and don’t eat the seed that was given to us to sow. Let’s be good stewards, and bless others in the process. That’s an abundant way to live!
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How Green are You?
Recycle is such a popular word today. You hear it often – How green are you? I love the color green. It reminds me of life and things that are growing! We hear the word “green all the time in our culture, and what is amazing is that God thought it up! He is the one who told us to take care of and manage the earth. Take a peek in Genesis – it’s really there! It’s great to see the world catching on! I know everything can get out of balance, but we do want to be good stewards of our planet, we do want to reduce waste, and reuse what we can. It’s kind of fun to see how used items are making a come back! My question of how green are you, is a loaded one. I hope you are green in the popular sense, but how green is your spiritual life? Are you living the abundant life that Jesus came to give? Is there a river of life flowing out of you? Are you experiencing the joy of the Lord and being a blessing to your family, your church and your world? Is there life in your life? That may sound like a funny question, but I hate to see Christians, who have the life of God in them barely making it through the day. Burdens, cares of the world, even present circumstances dictate their joy level, and their level of peace. My Bible tells me that there will be trouble in the earth, but to be of Good Cheer, Jesus has overcome the world. He did that for us, so that we could live in the joy that he enjoys! Be green in everyway. Make sure you are a good steward or your stuff, but also of your spirit. Stay full of the life of God. That’s an encouraging way to live.
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Declutter
Declutter isn’t recognized as a word on my computer, but it is a word you hear fairly often. If we are talking about being a good steward in our home, it is a word we will become well acquainted with. If you look at just the amount of mail that comes to our home each day, without a good system to take care of it, manage it or organize it, we could fill a room with just junk mail in a short time. One key to decluttering is to have 3 bins – one for trash (throw away), one for reusable items to be given to someone else (give away), and one for things to be organized (put away). It works fairly easily, and in the end, after the garbage bin is filled, the give away bin taken away, and the put aways are all put away, the clutter monster can be conquerored. But just like anything in our own lives that has a way of sneaking back in, we have to manage the success we’ve gained, or soon we will have to start the process all over again. You can see how that happens all the time not only in the home, but in our spiritual lives. Someone has made the commitment to God that they will be in church consistently and something legitimately comes up when they have to miss for several weeks. Getting back in the habit becomes harder because other excuses creep in and all of the sudden, the big life change that they determined to make isn’t such a big deal anymore, and they come to church only when it is convenient. Let’s be consistent and persistent! Decluttering our homes isn’t convenient, but it is important in the big scheme of life. We don’t want anything to keep us from God’s best for us, and clutter can do that. Most of all, let’s unclutter our hearts, and be pure and clean before God.
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Ship shape
Ship shape – what does that look like? As we talk about Good Stewardship this week, I’m sure there are those of you who are hearing your mom or dad’s voices ringing in your ears……Clean up this messy bedroom, were you born in a barn? I guess the only one that would really apply to is Jesus(!), who was actually born in a barn, but for some reason, I doubt if he had a messy bedroom! I guess the scripture that comes to mind when talking about organization and living in an environment where there is peace and tranquility is the one found in Corinthians that talks about everything being done decently and in order in the church. I think God is pleased when things are done decently and in order in the home too. I image God defines ship-shape as decently and in order. For those of you who might have a boat that you can live on, ship shape is necessary because of the limited space available and the movement of the water. Everything has to have a place, or it would be a mess. That applies if you’ve traveled in an RV as well. One quick turn, or one swift wave, and everything would be all over the place. Well, thankfully, our homes don’t get shaken up like that, but we can still have a place for everything and everything in its place. Order is a good thing. It makes life easier. So can we order our lives, and our homes to be orderly? I think that is what God would like. He is the best steward of all, and he desires the same for us. Let’s demonstrate good stewardship by having our homes be ship shape! That’s orderly and organized!
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