Carrie Baker – The Growth Collective

If you want to make a difference in someone’s life, or even in the world, you don’t have to wait for the right moment, the right platform, or a more impressive version of yourself.

You can begin today, exactly as you are.

We often imagine those we think of as “world changers” are the ones who do something BIG, visible, and extraordinary. The kind of people whose stories are told on stages, written about in books or played out on screens. 

But more often than not, the people who shape lives and change the world don’t look like that at all.

Their impact is found in smaller moments, in ordinary conversations.
In words quietly spoken when no one else thought to say them.

And one of the simplest, most powerful ways you can become that kind of person… is to encourage someone.

At its origin, the word encourage literally means: “to put courage into.”

To encourage someone may give them a spring in their step for the day. But at its best, it gives them the courage to begin something that could change the course of their life.

What if you encouraged 15 people in the next week? 

As a thought experiment, let’s imagine the impact this could have on those people: All of them felt encouraged and seen, making them feel really good for the rest of the day. You inspired 5 to do something big or small they have been putting off. You help 3 of them feel a confidence they haven’t felt in years and it begins to change the way they show up in their life. Your encouragement inspires 4 of them to go out and be that encouragement to someone else. 

Can you see what happens? It has a ripple effect. A small moment of encouragement has the potential to become something much bigger.

Who Needs Encouragement? (Hint: Everyone)

I have found myself feeling like I would like to encourage someone, but wondered, “How do I know if they need it?’. 

I read this quote recently, and it really challenged me:

“How do you identify someone who needs encouragement? That person is breathing.” Truest Cathey 

Everyone you meet can probably use some encouragement in their life. We have all been there with our doubtful thoughts, that stop us from using the power of our words to do good in the world. 

But there are so many people in your life – whether you know them or not – who need what you have within you right now: Life giving words of encouragement.

So why don’t we do this more often?

We’re busy.
We’re distracted.
We assume someone else will say it.
We overthink how it will be received.
Or we hold back because we’re afraid of getting it wrong.

But while we hesitate, there are people all around us quietly carrying discouragement we cannot see.

Encouragement Led by the Holy Spirit

Encouraging people in your own strength will still make a difference in someone’s life. But imagine how much greater the impact, if you were intentional in asking the Holy Spirit to show you HOW to encourage that person. What if you said a silent prayer over that person as you part ways? Powerful.

You, my friend, have the potential to do so much good in the world around you, but alongside the power of the Holy Spirit… it will be boundless.

Let’s talk for a moment about what encouragement looks like and how we go about it. 

To encourage someone is to: 

• Remind them (remind them of the truth or their true identity in Christ)
• Call out the gold in someone
• Speak life into a person 
• Affirm who they are
• Strengthen them in the Lord
• Help them to find courage
• Point out the good in them
• Speak to their potential

If you think about it for a moment, you may remember a time where you received some much needed encouragement. Can you still remember how that made you feel and the impact that moment held for you?

This is why we’re instructed to do it.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24–25

We are told to encourage one another as followers of Jesus, for the work we are called to as we partner with the Lord in building his Kingdom. We need those around us who ‘put courage into’ us, who speak words of life into the depths of who we are.

“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life…” Proverbs 10:11

Let your mouth be a fountain of life, so that through your words and the prompting of the Lord, you will call forth hidden potential and buried gifts in those around you, that they may do the good works they were created for. 

What happens in us when we encourage others?

Something within us shifts.

Our focus moves off ourselves and onto others. We begin to notice people more carefully, listening for what they might need. As we speak truth over someone else, it ends up reinforcing that truth in our own hearts.

We become people who build, rather than people who criticise. Words of encouragement bring healing to places that life has knocked down.
We choose to be those who call out the gold in someone, rather than overlook it.

And over time, encouragement stops being something we do occasionally, and starts becoming part of who we are as God’s people.

We are called to walk the narrow road as followers of Jesus, and that is not an easy path to walk. We live in a way that doesn’t conform to the world we live in, and going against the grain is difficult and painful. And that is why we have community within the family of God.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

There is great strength in someone who feels encouraged. 

Studies have shown that people can endure significantly more discomfort when they feel encouraged and supported.

That’s the kind of strength we can offer one another, not by removing the difficulty (which is beyond our control), but by helping someone to keep moving through it.

If you are ready to be more intentional with encouraging others, but you feel a little uncertain, let me help you with some practical things to keep in mind. 

Just be you. You don’t need to be just like that super-encouraging friend you have, you can be yourself in it.

Start small. Use simple words of encouragement. Remember, this isn’t flattery, it’s speaking truth that hits deeply than a compliment.

Here are some prompts to help you begin to encourage those in your life:

• I love the way you ….
• You are so great at …
• That gift the Lord has given you has the potential to …
• You are fearfully and wonderfully made …
• I recognise so much potential in you, that you haven’t even tapped into yet.
• Let me tell you the gold I see in you …
• The Lord will give you all you need to do this, you just need to take the first faith-filled step. You are not alone…
• I can see God at work in your life in these areas…
• I recognise these God-given gifts in your life:

Encouragement for strangers

• You are doing such a great job…
• Thank you for serving me so well
• I can see that you are a diligent person – keep doing a great job…
• Well done for being such a wonderful parent…
• I see the way you….
• You are a joy to be around…

You have no idea what someone might be carrying today.

But you do have something to give that can make their burdens feel lighter.A few quietly spoken words. A reminder.
A moment of courage placed into someone else’s heart.

So, over the coming days, I want you to ask the Lord to show you who needs encouragement, and then don’t hold back.

Say what encouragement comes to mind.
Send the message to that friend. Call out the potential you see.

Because your words, spoken in faith and love, might be the very thing that helps someone take their next step.

And that’s how lives are changed.
Quietly. Powerfully. One word at a time. It can start with you. Today.

Let me leave you with these encouraging words from John Wesley;

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”

Go and change the world friend, one encouragement at a time.

Sending you love for the journey, 

Carrie x

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