You Can Change Someone’s Life

January 16, 2024 by GBM International

Proverbs 16:24 says this.

Pleasant words [are as] a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. [GBMV]

Many years ago I was going through a really hard time. I had just lost my first husband, I was struggling to keep up to date at my job, and I became pretty ill for a while.

I was feeling horrible and felt as though not a single person in the world understood or even cared about what I was going through. But that was not entirely true, because there was one dear soul who made a huge difference in my life.

One day during this period, I visited my old grandmother. She was in her nineties and lived in an old age home. We got talking and I shared some of my difficulties with her. Then I said to her,

“Gran, I honestly don’t know how I am going to cope with everything. I feel like I am falling apart.”

She looked me directly in the eyes, smiled and said,

“You will do just fine! With the Lord’s help you will make it through.”

Those were words of wisdom from someone who had had a very tough life and had been through many dreadful experiences. But no matter what she went through, she kept positive and came up smelling like a rose.

Yes, I still struggled for quite a while afterwards. But her words to me that day somehow encouraged me and helped me to keep going and not give up.

This is what Solomon was talking about in the Scripture from Proverbs that I shared at the beginning. Her pleasant words lifted me up and encouraged me. My situation was still stressful and negative. It didn’t change that. But it motivated me and helped me to push on through, because better things were coming.

There is an example of this sort of thing in Scripture concerning David and Jonathan, his beloved friend. Saul was hounding David and wanting to kill him, so David fled to some woods and hid there. Jonathan found out about it and it says this in 1 Samuel 23:16 and 17.

And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.
And he said to him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father will not find you; and you will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you; and that also Saul my father knows. [GBMV]

I love that Scripture. Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him in the Lord. He probably risked his life doing that too, because if Saul had found out he may have wanted to take him out as well.

The thing that stood out to me from this passage is the fact that Jonathan went to encourage David. He was having a hard time trying to escape from Saul and living in very harsh conditions. I am sure that it wasn’t easy to live in some woods. It must have been cold, damp and maybe even dark. But he was trusting the Lord, and I think Jonathan’s arrival was a breath of fresh air to him.

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Are You Doing This?

It is so easy to be negative and to run people down all the time. But if you use your tongue to produce discouragement and stress, you are hardly being a blessing to the Body of Christ. However, when you see a fellow believer trusting the Lord but still going through difficult times, it should be so easy to encourage them.

You don’t need to be someone high up in leadership, like a pastor to do that. You can be an ordinary member of the Body of Christ, but you can allow the Lord to use you to minister hope to people.

Don’t ignore the person. Like me, they may be crying out for someone just to give them a listening ear and to care. But most people just say, “Shame shame,” and walk away. Take an interest in what they have to say and try and put yourself in their shoes.

If you can flow in prophecy, the Lord may give you a word of encouragement for them. But if you can’t, it is not a problem. Simply pray for them and ask the Lord to intervene in their circumstances. Or speak one or two words of blessing by saying something like this.

The person may not see an immediate change. But just you being caring enough to listen to them and trying to encourage them can make the world of difference to them.

Perhaps you have never thought about this before. But from now on, try and put this into practice. Just seeing someone encouraged can make you want to keep on doing this. Because as you give out in love, love, joy and every good thing will flow back to you.

Many blessings.

Daphne Crause
Apostle and Servant of Jesus