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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He Knows Me
SHARON ROCKWELL | CONTRIBUTOR When our granddaughter turned five, her parents took her to Disneyland as a surprise birthday gift. She was telling me all about it – her favorite rides, the food she ate, and then suddenly she said, “Do you know the best part Grandma? Almost everyone there knew me! Wherever I went, they called me by my name, and they knew it was my special day. They all said Happy Birthday.” Only later did her parents remind her that she was wearing a big Disney button that said Happy Birthday, Charlotte! We all want to be known. We were made to be relational, just as God is relational. We want to be known on a deep heart level. And we want to know someone who understands us and loves us anyway. Remember Adam and Eve hiding in the garden after sinning? God searched them out and invited them to be known in a way that would provide a road to repentance and forgiveness. When Moses found himself tending sheep near mount Horeb, he heard God speak to him from a burning bush. God called him by name, twice for emphasis, “Moses, Moses” (Ex. 3:4). He answered confidently, “Here I am,” (Ex. 3:4) but God cautioned him to keep his distance and to take off his sandals in reverence because he was on holy ground. Only then did God tell Moses who He was, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, The God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face. There was nowhere for him to turn his head from God’s blinding purity. Naked and exposed, he understood that God knew every sin he ever committed, and he was overcome by godly fear...
No One Left Behind! Made for More: A Shared Journey
KAREN HODGE | CONTRIBUTOR My family and I prepared for a hike during a recent trip to England. As we got ready, we needed to ensure we had all the equipment necessary for a long journey: the right shoes, plenty of hydration and food, and an accurate trail map. The first mile of the hike was relatively easy until we came to the edge of Malham Cove. I stared at four hundred steps straight up a three-hundred-foot incline to the white cliffs above me. At this point, I was tempted to turn back since I was only one mile into a five-mile hike. Half of my family was already at the top, and they shouted over the ledge, "The view is worth the effort!" I took my time so as not to trip or fall. I looked over my shoulder, and my kind son-in-law walked behind me. He is an expert hiker, so I urged him to speed up. As I huffed and puffed, he said, "Nobody in our family gets left behind." Over the next several hours, we saw spectacular views including grand vistas and beautiful waterfalls. I was also thankful that my son-in-law had an "AllTrails" app that helped us see when we were veering off the marked trail. That evening, when we got to the trail's end, we feasted and reminisced about our walk through the beauty of God's creation. A Shared Journey This fall, PCA Women’s Ministries will embark on a Made for More shared journey that will take us to eight cities around North America. It is our hope that these intergenerational conferences for young women third grade and up will just be the beginning of an ongoing conversation. We will be talking about the things that matter most surrounded by the people that matter most in our lives. We will explore big questions such as who is God, why am I here, what is my purpose, and what is my final destination on this faith journey? We hope that these questions spark conversations that will continue long after the conferences...
Aging Graciously in an Anti-Aging Culture
ELIZABETH TURNAGE | CONTRIBUTOR Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life. (Prov. 16:31) Geriatrician Louise Aronson believes there is a “disconnect between the reality of old age and our beliefs about it.”[i] She describes society’s negative view of old age: “to look at old age and see only bodily decline, forgetting that inside the body is a fellow human being.”[ii] Aronson invites us to foster a worldview toward older adults that says: “We still see you, and we still like, love, respect, admire, and are inspired by you, both for who you were and who you are….”[iii] When older adults believe that they are seen, known, and loved, they live fully and graciously as they age. Aronson is not a Christian, and yet, her words challenge Christians to consider what it means to age graciously in an anti-aging culture. To do so, we must consider a biblical view of aging and God’s call to both the young and the old to live all of our days with the hope of glory. A Biblical View of Aging: Normalcy, Losses, and Benefits of Aging In the Bible, aging is assumed: “Aging and dying were considered to be natural, expected, even providential processes that were ordained and guided by God rather than discrete chronological stages of human development.”[iv] Genesis 15:15 states that Abraham would be “buried in a good old age.” Psalm 90:10 proclaims that our lives are fleeting: “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty . . . they are soon gone, and we fly away.” For this reason, we should “number our days” (v. 12), making the most of each one. While the Bible assumes that aging is natural, it doesn’t glamorize it. Ecclesiastes 12 portrays the losses of aging graphically, even dismally. Using poetic language and imagery, the author details many casualties of aging, including weak hands trembling, teeth falling out, eyesight dimming, fears worsening, and mourning and grief increasing (vv. 3, 5). Despite this suffering and loss, aging does have benefits, according to Scripture. For example, it can lead us to anticipate our heavenly dwelling more eagerly: “We know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). In the Bible, aging also brings honor—it is an honor to be aged, and the aged are to be honored. The fifth commandment promises that honoring your father and mother leads to a lengthy life (see Ex. 20:12). Members of the church are exhorted to encourage older men and women and to honor widows (see 1 Tim. 5:1–3). Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for failing to care well for their parents (see Mark 7:9–13). According to the Bible, ageism is unacceptable. In a world that urges us to resist aging, we must recapture the biblical view of the subject. As we do so, we will learn how to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom...
Why Use a Physical Bible
.TARA GIBBS | CONTRIBUTOR Last fall, I received a text with nothing but a photo of the original, hardback, black and white English Standard Version Bible from my 23-year-old son. I replied with a single question mark. His response made me smile, “Mom, we are at Goodwill, and I saw your Bible.” Why would this text have such an effect on me? I have made more parenting mistakes than I can number, but that day, I stopped to give thanks to God that when my son sees a generic, hardback ESV Bible at Goodwill, he associates it with the impact and reality of God’s living Word in his formative years. What a picture of God’s grace. And what a reminder of the importance of God’s Word in physical form. The God who made us as physical beings allows us to touch, feel, and see His covenant love through physical words on paper. In this day where Bible access is incredibly convenient on our ever-present phones, it is easy to neglect the use of our physical Bibles. I confess my own struggle as a daily Bible-reading plan conveniently populates my inbox with clickable emails. I open the email, and a link leads me straight to a read-aloud plan with a devotional by Don Carson. What could be more convenient? I am a fan of using the audio feature to help me get through my longer Bible-readings. But there is something very personal and irreplaceable about picking up my own personal physical Bible, touching the pages, and hearing God’s faithfulness through these words for the last five decades. “I read this promise, during this struggle, on this page in the upper, right-hand corner.” I open my Bible to a passage I memorized with my children, and pictures of God’s goodness flood my mind. There is no replacement for regular use of a physical Bible. Here are a few places and ways we can do so: Encouragement to Use a Physical Bible Use a physical Bible in your personal devotional reading whenever possible. Reading comprehension, retention, and multi-sensory connection to the reality of God’s love and presence happen in a deeper way with our physical Bibles...
