August 2025 – She Believes 3

Relationships August 25, 2025

Encouragements and Support Matters

²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

I was so blessed to have the world’s greatest parents. Parents who were always so encouraging and supportive of my goals and dreams. I also have siblings who are very encouraging and supportive, and I know that this is the example they witnessed just as I did growing up in the same household.

Just as I was encouraged I like to encourage others which turns out to be great since I have been blessed with the gift of encouragement. I love it, because I have seen people’s countenance and mindset actually change when sharing a few positive words of hope. It’s amazing just how much weight our words carry and how much of an impact our words can make. We can actually bring blessings or cursing with our words.

We have the power with our words to actually bring sunshine to someone’s cloudy day. When someone is considering giving up just a little bit of encouragement can be a huge difference maker.

I have a question for you. When someone comes to you with a plan that they think is a great idea, are you supportive of their dream? Do you encourage them to go for it, or are you the person who tells them every reason why it will fail. If that’s the way you respond, you may not even know that you are breaking their heart by throwing a wet blanket on their excitement with lots of negative comments?

Today I would like to challenge you to encourage others when you see that it is needed. It may not be your gift and it may not come to you naturally but you can certainly choose to be an encouragement to others by the words that you impart to them.

Our encouragement and our support matters. Most importantly it matters to the person that you may encounter.

Sometimes we can encourage others without even knowing it. Years ago I had started attending a church that had a really great Women’s Bible Class.

For weeks I had attended but never really said anything. One Sunday I decided to get involved in the discussion and I shared a portion of my story with the ladies in the class, because it tied in with our discussion.

Everyone was stunned when I shared what I had been through. Afterwards the ministers wife came up to me and said you have got to speak at our Women’s Retreat. More women need to hear your story.

I didn’t know it at that very moment, but that would be the beginning of me speaking at Women’s Conferences from churches to even a University. God used her words of encouragement as a confidence booster.

You see that Sunday what the minister’s wife was saying to me was more women needed to hear my story, but what I heard was my story mattered and I mattered.

Because of the few seeds of encouragement that she planted in me that day many women have been blessed.

Just her words of encouragement made a difference in my life that day, your words can also make a difference in the lives of others.

Who will you choose to encourage today?
Romans 15:5
⁵May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,
Galatians 6:2
²Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Relationships August 19, 2025

A New School Year

³Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Psalm 46:1
¹God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

This week was the beginning of a new school year for a lot of families. Some parents will have children entering kindergarten or first grade for the first time. And I can tell you firsthand that it is heartbreaking for a mom to leave her sweet little one for the first time.

Some parents will have children entering Junior High or High School for the first time.

And then there are also the parents who have done something very brave, by driving their children miles away to drop them off at college for the very first time. There are many first times in a child’s life, and each first time is a big deal for the parents too.

From the time our children come into this world, our main focus is on protecting them and making sure that their every need is met. We would do anything in this world to protect our children, and with each first comes the awareness that they are getting closer and closer to leaving the nest that we have so carefully prepared for them.

One of the ways that we can keep our children safe is by praying for them, and the school year that they are about to embark upon.

Below, I have listed some things that may be helpful to pray for this school year.

This year, our children will form new friendships. Let’s pray that God will bless our children to be a part of a good, healthy circle of friends, and that our children will not be negatively influenced.
Pray that they will learn easily and even be excited to do their homework.
Pray that if they are not clear or if they don’t understand what they are supposed to be learning, they will be brave enough to seek out help.
Pray that they don’t struggle with peer pressure.
Pray that God will bless them with good Christian friends.
Pray for their safety as they go to school, pray for their safety at school and when they return home.
Pray that they will be willing to listen to the advice that you may give them throughout the school year.
Pray for their teachers, the cafeteria workers, the Principal, and administrative staff members. And most importantly, pray that your child gets the teachers that is best for he or her.
Pray for all of the students. Pray that everyone will be blessed with a great school year.
Pray that God will give you and your spouse an extra measure of strength for those moments that may be challenging this year.
Pray over your child each morning before they get out of your car.
Pray that your child’s school has a peaceful learning environment.

1 John 5:14

¹⁴And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.
Matthew 18:20
²⁰For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Prayers August 10, 2025

Are You Afraid

Has God ever asked you to do something that was absolutely scary to you? Maybe it was something that would require a great sacrifice on your part, or maybe it was something that would take you way out of your comfort zone. It could have been something that you just felt totally inadequate to achieve. And honestly,

sometimes we simply feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the assignment God gives us.

Our Bible gives us a great example of this when we look at the life of Moses. I venture to say that Moses experienced several situations where fear could have easily shut him down. Below are a few situations that are shared in scripture.

Sacrifice

Moses would have to sacrifice the comforts of life, to be a leader for a group of people who spent most of the time being very ungrateful and complaining a lot.

Numbers 11:1-9
11 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. ²When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. ³So that place was called Taberah,^[a] because fire from the Lord had burned among them.

⁴The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ⁵We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. ⁶But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

⁷The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. ⁸The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. ⁹When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

Moses’s response to God asking him to lead His people, revealed that it would definitely be out of his comfort zone and that he also felt inadequate to lead them.

Exodus 4:1
4 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

Exodus 4:10-17
¹⁰Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”¹¹The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹²Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”¹³But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”¹⁴Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. ¹⁵You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. ¹⁶He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. ¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”
Moses felt that the load was too heavy to bear.
Numbers 11:14
¹⁴I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.
Each time that Moses came to God with a problem, God did not change the assignment that He had given him, nor did He let Moses off the hook. He simply arranged for him to have help for the situation. Many times when we are afraid or when things get hard, we want to give up. During those times we must remember that just as God had answers for Moses, He also has the perfect solution for our problems and insecurities as well.

I want to encourage you today to be ok with feeling fear. It is absolutely normal to feel fear when God asks you to do something that is totally out of your comfort zone or sphere of experience. Be very clear, where God guides He provides. God will never ask you to do something that He will not provide either the people or resources for it to be accomplished. All you have to do is show up with belief and faith. Trust me when I tell you that He will have everything else to make it happen. So no more fear, doubt and excuses, because with God’s help you are more than capable.

So if you know that God has given you an assignment and you have been reluctant to move forward, I want to encourage you to go be great, because God and the world are waiting on you! Blessings for a life of obedience and stepping out in faith when the Master beckons you to do so.

Moses was concerned about his ability to speak and God allowed his brother Aaron to be his voice piece.

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