Friday, October 2, 2009

Words of encouragement to brighten our day

Some weeks we find our lives filled with challenges and we wonder if we’ll ever get to Friday. It’s been a week like that at Hope Alive. With 15 children in the Hope Alive house now, our children often fight like brothers and sisters. And when the kids aren’t happy – nobody’s happy!

Today I was reminded of an exercise Ashley Ross, our Children’s Ministry Assistant, did with the school-age children to help change their attitudes. She had them write notes of encouragement and affirmation to each other. I saw one of those notes today hanging in a second grader’s locker in the after school program. It meant so much to this little boy that he taped it up on the inside. Four other children wrote the following messages about him … “You have a wonderful smile! I have seen you share and give to others.” “You are my bestest friend.” “You are a great brother.” “You are a great kid. I really like having you as a friend.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all shared encouraging and loving words like these with each other? I think the world would be a much better place. Seeing this note today just brightened my whole week. I hope it does for you as well.

Plan to join us for our upcoming Resident Achievement Banquet on Tuesday, October 20 at 6pm at Dutch’s Daughter’s Restaurant. It promises to be an inspiring evening of encouraging and loving affirmations of our resident families. Check out our new website for more information at www.hopealiveministries.org. Until next week …

Sue Oehmig
Founder and Executive Director

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