Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week (34 page)

Why would he carry around an article like that? Lincoln served during difficult times of civil war and upheaval over slavery and other major issues troubling our young country. He was criticized, ridiculed, and constantly put down. So even this great man needed to be reminded now and then that someone appreciated and believed in him.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be a dream releaser and a wallet filler. I want to speak much vision, much faith, and many blessings to
inspire others and give them encouragement. You have the power to help someone go to a higher level. The people in your life are not there by accident. Are you believing in them? Are you urging them forward? Are you speaking the blessing?

I have an assignment for you. Find at least one person you can build up. You may have four or five different people. Write their names on a sheet of paper. List what you like about them, their strengths. Pray over that. Ask God to show you ways to bless them. And then speak favor into their lives. Write them encouraging notes. Let them know you believe in them.

As they succeed, so will you. Your bringing out the best in others will also bring out the best in you. Remember, an encouraging word works wonders. Be free with your compliments. Tell people what they mean to you. Get in the habit of building up those around you. When you sow those seeds, God will make sure you go higher, too.

A
well-dressed man stopped me on a busy sidewalk not long ago. From his appearance, you’d think he was on top of the world, but behind the facade, he was in much pain. He and his wife had separated. He was so discouraged.

“I don’t have a reason to live anymore,” he told me.

He sobbed and sobbed. My coat was wet with his tears. I didn’t have all the answers. I couldn’t solve all of his problems right there on the sidewalk. But I could pour in some healing oil. I offered words of encouragement.

“God has you in the palm of His hand,” I said. “Our meeting is not an accident. That’s God’s way of saying, ‘Everything will be all right.’ ”

That’s all some people need to hear. You don’t have to preach a sermon. You don’t have to quote twenty-five Scripture verses or counsel them for eight hours. Just a few kind words can start the healing process.

After I prayed with the man on the street, he noticed how wet my suit was from his tears. He was embarrassed. “Oh, Joel. It looks like I’ve ruined your jacket.”

I didn’t tell him, but I wore those tears like medals on my jacket. You’re never more like God than when you’re helping those who are hurting. One of our assignments in life is to help wipe away the tears.

Everywhere we go there are people in need. There may be smiles on the outside, but on the inside there is pain. Many are quietly hurting and they need healing. We all have a ministry. It may not be in the pulpit, but God
is counting on each of us to reach out to others and bring healing wherever we go.

Are you sensitive to the needs of those around you? Your friends? Your neighbors? Your co-workers? Many times, like the man who stopped me on the street, someone may be hurting, but they hide it because of shame or embarrassment. Often, they don’t know how to reach out for help, so be prepared to reach out to them. Be a healer. Be a restorer. Take time to wipe away the tears.

Your job is not to judge. God wants you to lift the fallen, restore the broken, and heal the hurting.

Too often we focus on our own goals and our own dreams, hoping for a miracle, but I’ve learned that I can become someone’s miracle. There is healing in our hands. There’s healing in our voices. We are containers filled with God’s love.

You are full of encouragement, mercy, restoration, and healing. Everywhere you go, dispense the goodness of God. You can say to those in need:

• “You may have made mistakes, but God’s mercy is bigger than any mistake you’ve made.”
  

• “You may have wasted years of your life making poor choices, but God still has a way to get you to your final destination.”
  

• “You may have had an addiction, but the power of the Most High God can break any addiction and set you free.”
  

That’s what it means to dispense good. You lift the fallen. You encourage the discouraged. You take time to wipe away the tears.

Jesus told about the good Samaritan who was riding his donkey and saw a man who had been beaten and left for dead on the roadside. He lifted the injured man onto his donkey and took him to a place where he could recover. I love the fact that the good Samaritan let the injured man ride while he walked because sometimes to comfort others, you may have to
give up your own comfort. Sometimes you have to trade places with those who are hurting.

To be a healer, you will be inconvenienced. You might have to miss dinner in order to wipe away a tear. You might have to skip a workout to help a couple work through their challenges. You may even have to drive across town and pick up that co-worker struggling with an addiction and then bring him to church.

A true healer doesn’t mind inconvenience, or taking risks in the course of reaching out to those who truly need a hand up. Jim Bakker, the fallen minister and cohost of
The PTL Club
television show, went to prison for five years on fraud convictions. When he was about to be released, Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, contacted him and said his family had rented him a house and provided a car for him.

“Franklin, you can’t do that,” Bakker told him. “I have too much baggage. You’ll be criticized. Your ministry can’t be associated with me.”

Franklin said, “Sure we can, Jim. You were our friend before, and you will be our friend afterward.”

The first Sunday after his release, Jim Bakker was living temporarily in a halfway house as a condition of the court. Ruth Graham, Billy Graham’s wife, called the place and asked the man in charge if Jim could have permission to leave and come to church with the Grahams that Sunday. The judge agreed. When Jim entered the church, they ushered him right down to the very front row and sat him next to Franklin Graham.

The Grahams had ten or fifteen family members there. There were two vacant seats next to Jim Bakker before the service started. He didn’t know who they were for. But when the music kicked up, a side door opened and out walked Billy and Ruth Graham. They sat right next to Jim Bakker. He had been out of prison only forty-eight hours, but the whole world was put on notice that the Grahams still considered Jim Bakker a friend.

What were the Grahams doing associating with a convicted criminal? They were loving him back into wholeness. They were acting as healers.

I heard somebody say, “A true friend walks in when everybody else
walks out. A true friend doesn’t rub it in when you make a mistake. They help rub it out.”

That’s a question to ask yourself when someone you know falls off the path. Are you rubbing the mistake in or rubbing it out? Are you a healer and a restorer, or are you critical and judgmental?

The Scripture says that Jesus was a friend of sinners (see Luke 7:34). I don’t know about you, but I’m determined to live as a healer. When someone falls and makes a mistake, I’m showing up to help rub it out and not rub it in.

That doesn’t mean you overlook wrongs and act as if they never happened. But you understand if it were not for the grace of God, you, too, could be in need of healing. When you show mercy to the guilty, when you encourage the discouraged, when you lift people up as everyone else is pushing them down, your actions touch the heart of God in a very special way.

As a parent, I appreciate it if someone helps me, but if someone helps one of my children in a time of need, there is nothing in the world I wouldn’t do for that person. It’s the same way with God. When you make it your business to help His children, His sons, His daughters, by wiping their tears or lifting them when they are down, be prepared: You will not be able to outrun the goodness of God.

Singer Tammy Trent went to Jamaica with her husband, Trent Lenderink, shortly after their eleventh wedding anniversary. They rock-climbed and went to the beach for several days and then, just before they were supposed to leave, Trent decided to check out the blue lagoon, a favorite diving spot on the island. Trent was an avid scuba diver, but he didn’t have his gear this time. Instead, he dove into the lagoon with just fins and a snorkel while Tammy watched. She didn’t worry because Trent often dove like this. He could stay underwater for up to ten minutes free diving.

Ten minutes or so went by and Tammy began looking for her husband. He had not yet come up for air, and she grew worried. Fifteen minutes—still nothing; twenty minutes… panic set in. Tammy called the authorities. Trent had drowned, tragically. They recovered his body the next day.

Tammy, who had been with Trent since high school, was in shock,
totally devastated, and she was alone in this foreign country. She called her parents and they said they would come immediately. The first available flight was the next morning, which just happened to be September 11, 2001, the day the terrorists struck in the U.S. All flights were grounded. Tammy’s parents could not go to her, and she could not leave Jamaica.

Tammy was so distraught. She prayed, “God, if You’re up there anywhere, please send somebody to help me, somebody to let me know that You care.”

A little later there was a knock on her hotel door room. It was the housekeeper. She was an older Jamaican woman. She said, “I was cleaning the room next door. I don’t mean to bother you but I couldn’t help but hear you crying, and I was wondering if there is anything that I could pray with you about.”

Tammy told her what had happened. That older Jamaican woman put her loving arms around Tammy and held her like she was her very own daughter. That moment, thousands of miles from home, Tammy Trent knew that God was still in control.

The Jamaican housekeeper was living as a healer. She was sensitive to the needs of those around her. She heard the cries for help coming from another room. She could have thought,
Oh, I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m busy. I’ve got problems of my own.
Instead, she dropped what she was doing and embraced one of God’s children. She knew her assignment in life was to help wipe away the tears. That moment, she poured the healing oil onto Tammy’s wounds.

She simply let her know that she cared. She was the first step in Tammy’s long period of healing.

The Scripture says that one day God will wipe away all the tears (see Revelation 21:4). There will be no more tragedy, no more sickness, and no more pain. But in the meantime, God is counting on you and me to wipe away the tears. It’s great to go to church and celebrate God’s goodness. But your work continues when you step outside. Always be ready to step up and offer healing.

You can sense when someone is hurting. All of a sudden, you feel a flow
of compassion and you think,
I need to go pray for them. I need to go encourage them.

Don’t ignore those instincts. That’s God wanting you to bring healing. There’s a tear that needs to be wiped away.

Victoria called a friend named Shannon awhile back. A young lady answered and seemed somewhat troubled. Victoria said, “Shannon, is this you?”

The voice was muffled and said, “Yes, this is me and I’ll be okay.”

Confused, Victoria gave Shannon’s full name and asked again if she had the right number. The young lady said, “No, you must have the wrong number. This is a different Shannon.”

Victoria was about to hang up, but she felt this flow of compassion toward the person on the line.

“Shannon, I know this may sound strange, but can I pray with you about something?” she asked.

The woman began to weep.

“Would you please? My father just died, and I’m so depressed I don’t know what to do.”

Victoria prayed and spoke faith to her. She comforted her as best she could, assuring her that God was at her side. Before she hung up the young lady said, “You’re my angel. Now I know that God still has a plan for my life.”

God will bring people across our paths so we can restore. Be sensitive and follow that flow of compassion.

I was at the hospital visiting with a friend when a mother and daughter recognized me in the hallway. They asked if I would go down the hall and pray for the woman’s husband, father of the young woman.

I agreed, and when we arrived at his room they said they would wait outside.

I thought that was a little strange, but I went in. The man was about sixty years old. I did not know him, but we visited for ten or fifteen minutes. Then I prayed over him. I gave him a big hug.

When I walked out, the mother and daughter were grinning from ear to ear.