Panhandling for Encouragement

Finding God’s Mercy in an Encouragement Famine

I guess it’s true that love is all you wanted. Because you give it away like it’s extra change.

I first heard those words in a song when I was sixteen. It’s been almost twenty years since then and they’ve been lodged in the forefront of my brain ever since. At sixteen I didn’t know why that image took up so much space. I only knew it felt true. I revisit it often like replaying the scenes from my favorite movies in my mind. There’s something about feeling like “a penny left out in the rain” that resonated deeply in my soul. Like being small and overlooked. Like something of little value that had slipped through someone’s fingers and landed on the pavement. Something that wasn’t significant enough to pick up. It wasn’t worth the effort of reaching down. It lays there while others too busy with their lives rush past.

I live in an age when I have the privilege of owning several Bibles, all printed in my native language, just sitting on random surfaces in the house. Full of rich theological truths I will never exhaust. Living water that will never run dry. Yet many days I find myself spiritually depleted. Some days encouragement seems scarce. I cringe at the thought of explaining that sentiment to Job in Heaven one day. Even so, I wrestle with the Lord about a very poignant issue in the churches of modern day America.

I myself belong to a healthy body. The pastors of my church are faithful to the Gospel, answer emails in lightning speed and are committed to our sanctification through expository teachings of the scriptures. As if that weren’t enough, they offer us deep theological equipping classes that resemble seminary more than they do a Sunday school hour. And a man and his wife that lead our weekly small group have weaved their lives with ours in the sweetest of ways. Showing up to my children’s plays and perfecting the art of true biblical hospitality. I am immensely blessed.

To be clear- I lack nothing.

I’ve noticed I must hold a deeper hunger for encouragement and spiritual closeness with others than most.

I am an extrovert. I lead the Greeting Team. I am friendly, bold and passionate. You’ll see me flitter from person to person on any given Sunday morning with confidence- connecting with as many members as I can to offer genuine friendship and connection. Eager to love, praise and befriend others. So, why then does encouragement feel scarce? Why do I always feel slightly outside the circle? And if I feel that way, how much more do others feel it?

Paul Christopher of the Salt and Life Daily describes the silence as an “encouragement famine.” I love when the Lord uses the words of another believer to help me realize I am not alone in my most personal spiritual longings. That’s the second time in a week God has shown kindness and mercy to me in this way and it’s a balm to my weary soul. Like a postcard from Heaven. Evidence that he sees me. This particular phrase of Paul’s struck me because just a week before I read his post, I was explaining these longings to a friend from church.

“I imagine myself pan handling for encouragement. Cold, wet and lowly. Weakly shaking a shallow tin bowl, begging for encouragement and true close knit community.”

Like settling for loose change…

I joke, “I’ll take a rebuke! Anything!”

She burst into laughter. And so did I. She laughs not to make light of my suffering but because the image is quite comical. Begging for rebuke. She also doesn’t quite understand my thirst. Born into a family with both parents that were believers. A faithful preacher for a Dad. A mom that offers a bounty of love and discipleship. Several brothers and sisters, also saved and eager to spend time with her. And friends from college, and other networks that fill her cup every week.

If I am in an encouragement drought, she is swimming…no. She is drowning in it.

The Lord was so kind to bless my friend in this way. Because of this strong foundation, she has committed her life to missionary work overseas and will leave our church soon. I admire her more than she will ever know.

Our good Father has blessed me in other ways. I have a happy marriage and a true companion in my husband. Something the hearts of my single friends ache for. He’s also given me two beautiful and healthy children. Something my friends battling infertility only dream of. The paradox isn’t lost on me. It highlights the way the Lord gives and withholds. He knows what to supply and what to deny in order to sanctify us.

Encouragement is meant to circulate in the body of Christ. But, I can’t help but see the disparities. Some believers receive much of it. While others become experts at surviving without it.

Maybe I’ve experienced scarcity so that I myself will abound in encouragement. Maybe that’s how the Lord is using me to bless my local church.

Maybe this famine has trained me to recognize crumbs of grace that others may gloss over and miss.

If you feel this hunger too, perhaps the Lord intends it as training. A famine that teaches us to become generous with encouragement ourselves. May it pour out of you in abundance. Hebrews 10:25

Since the feast feels far away, even the smallest provision becomes precious to me.

So, I look for the small yet meaningful evidences of His care. My little postcards from Heaven. A blog post from another believer, scripture, a friend’s laughter. The sermon my pastor gave today highlighting the quiet obedience of men like Ananias to share the Gospel. Ananias will never get the recognition or praise that Paul did, he explained.

But, the God of the universe who sees Ananias has never once overlooked me.

And suddenly it becomes clear. The sixteen year old that couldn’t shake the metaphor of a penny left out in the rain and didn’t understand why. For this moment. Another postcard from Heaven. The gospel itself offering proof that He bends down for things the world would pass by. God condescended and took on human flesh, lived the perfect life we could not live, and Christ died the death we deserved so that we may fellowship in Heaven with Him forever.

The world may step over pennies lying in the rain. You may sometimes feel overlooked by well meaning brothers and sisters in your local church.

But, God bends down.

He sees you.

And that is enough.

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5