Strengthen others always.
I was only 12 years old and I was in Class Seven, which is the last year of the Primary School system of my country. A few weeks to our final national Primary Leaving Exams (P.L.E), our school organized a Parent’s day for updates, speeches, and student performances.
I was not so much interested in this day because my Dad had passed away three years before. I opted for the football field to play with my friends. As we played, I saw a boy running hurriedly towards me.
On reaching me, he breathlessly told me: “Come quickly, the Headmaster is calling you”. We both ran to the venue where all parents were gathered. The headmaster was briefing them about the school’s performance.
When he saw me, he gestured to me and made me stand in front of all these parents. I started shaking thinking in my heart: “I wonder which school regulation I have broken”
The headmaster speaks.
Then, as he put one arm on top of [by then] my little head, he told the whole assembly of parents the following:
“We know our school will perform very well because we have a lot of hope in this boy”.
The headmaster’s words of encouragement changed my life. I dropped despair and picked up hope. I threw away self-pity and put on a garment of worthiness, tailored by the Headmaster’s words.
Spoken words shaped my future.
When these words were spoken, I knew for the first time that the world had hope in me. I felt like Baby Jesus when Simeon lifted him and spoke words of blessings and encouragement upon his life (Luke 2:28-33).
The Headmaster’s words were like a prophecy that God used to transform my life. In fact, this prophecy came to pass. I was the best student in that school that year, and four years later – in a different school, I was also the best after sitting the Secondary school exams.
Up to now, God is still using the headmaster’s words of encouragement and blessing to enable me excel in both the secular world and in God’s Kingdom. The world still has some hope in me, just as he prophesied.
Encourage others always.
Dear reader, if you want to see blessings in your life, start encouraging and blessing others. Do not discourage or curse anyone because negative words come from the Devil.
My ministry of encouraging others.
In addition to my ministry of writing, God has given me the responsibility of encouraging and blessing others. I have so many testimonies of individuals whose lives have been changed because of my encouraging and blessing words.
The woman vendor selling pineapples.
One time I stopped my car by the roadside to buy fresh pineapples from a lady vendor. After buying, I told her these words:
“God bless you so much. May God give you many buyers”
Three weeks later I stopped at the same place to buy from the same vendor. She remembered me very well and gave me her testimony as follows:
“Sir, before you bought from me three weeks ago, I used to have many unsold pineapples at the end of each day. But from that date when you spoke words of blessings to me – up to today, not even a single pineapple remains at the end of each day!”
