If you are feeling down, one of the best things that you can count on is encouragement from others. But, in order to get that, you are most likely in a place to draw from a well that you yourself are a regular visitor of. Meaning that if you are known as an encourager, then others will often approach you with a smile automatically because they know what they are going to get. We do this with each other without even considering it consciously.
What if you have never been much of an encourager but you are feeling down now and really need a boost? Even worse, what if you are a discourager and just a toad for others who are required to engage with you regularly? You are not likely going to get bubbles from those around you now when you have given them nothing but croaking.
America, and therefore most Americans, find themselves in a rather challenging time currently. Our time is compressed because we have so much on our plate. Inflation has, for the first time in decades, caused the middle-class (heartbeat of America) to really consider their monthly budget and discretionary expenses. Many are struggling to keep up, make it to work, put food on the table, keep up with repairs, and just to stay afloat physically and mentally.
The prospects of the near future do not lend any encouragement to the plight of conscious Americans currently, because short of our trust and faith in God, there is seemingly nothing good happening in America. That is not actually the case but that is the sense that most Americans live with on a daily basis during this time. At times, I would add, this is like nothing that we have ever experienced.
The southern border is seemingly wide open with 3 million illegal migrants crossing each year. Congress is printing and sending more money to Ukraine than the entire annual budgets of most states. Sadly, much of this money is a boomerang for globalist leftists who seek to fill their coffers along with those of their families and those they owe favors. It is truly the “10% for the big guy” factor.
An illegitimate administration is driving what can only be described as a purposeful energy crisis to (among many other effects) drive up inflation while they encourage the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to increase interest rates which normally has a chilling effect on inflation. But, the insane leftists are spending money like rabid dogs, having the opposite generally desired effect on inflation.
Crime is on the rise both in terms of the quantity but also the brazen acts that some are willing and, in many cases, even encouraging each other to take. Police were vilified for years as funding for their work was cut while anyone with three rocks in their box could figure out that such actions would lead to an increase in crime. Much of America is now a scary place as leftists focus on creating “safe-spaces,”whatever that even means.
Our own DOJ has targeted politicians, private citizens, people that believe in America, and, parents. Parents who disagree with curriculum that supports destructive ideas such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) which is fundamentally racist, historical revisionism such as the 1619 Project or that God makes regular mistakes by hanging a penis on a physical body that He knits together while mistakenly giving that same body the mind and soul of a girl. These parents along with any conservatives are targeted by the DOJ and surveilled by the leftist controlled big technology giants.
Do you feel the cloud covering collecting over your life yet? I think that many do and the results are devastating. No longer do we have a thriving middle class that is busting their butts each day to get all the boxes checked including a massive small-business front that literally puts America up on step like a 25hp outboard!
We could commiserate over drinks for hours and make no ground towards actually encouraging one another. As you can tell, I could blather on for pages about all that is causing us stress and giving us reason to be hopeless right now. But instead, I would like to list a few things that, in my experience, can provide some much-needed relief.
These suggestions are all actually really easy to do and I am not listing them in order of the most powerful (although the first one is) but in terms of the things that are the easiest to implement.
Try just one today and start to make a habit of it. Then, as the days stack upon each other this week, add others.
PRAY
Do not get hung up on what prayer is. God made it for us. His joy is not based in our ability to say the right words or any words at all. Listen and sing along to a great worship song. Make your requests known, ask forgiveness, complain, whine, cry, swear, whatever. Just do it. There are few rules and I believe the most authentic a prayer is, the more powerful it is. I’m always annoyed at the people that write out prayers for public consumption. Just be yourself. God already knows you.
Note: God created us with a habitual nature. We are to be habitually engaged in worship of Him! So, don’t be surprised when you see yourself and everyone around you making habits of all sorts of things that are not necessarily good. Read “The Power of Habit” and see how even you are habitual, and not always in good ways. Seek to learn how you can turn your habits into worship because that is why God made us to be habitual.
ENCOURAGE
As mentioned above, being known to be an encourager is the best way to ensure that it returns to you. But, even if that has not been who you allowed yourself to be, just start today. Say as many kind things as you can to as many people as possible. Start with just smiling at people. It really makes a huge difference and the only path I know of to getting encouragement, with one exception, is to be an encourager.
LEARNING
When you learn, your mind grows and expands. Smart endorphins fill you up and you feel great! Grab a book, listen to something positive that encourages you instead of wasting time on social media or non-stop news. Writing this article is a vent for me because I feel like my years of experience and wisdom will potentially help others. Thank you for reading it. Now, you go find something that you want to learn.
RELATIONAL UNITY & SEX
God gave us marriage to help us understand our relationship with Him. Our marriage is unique from any other relationship in our lives just as our relationship with our creator God is different from any other relationship in life. There is nothing much more emotionally rewarding than the unity that we can experience in the bonds of a Godly marriage. If you have brokenness then confess it lovingly and with respect and commit to regular check-ins with real progress. Usually there are offenses on both sides but your role is to find yours and own it humbly. Just starting that sort of conversation leads to an intense amount of unity. Read “How We Love” and take their online quiz if you want to start a multi-year marriage-improvement adventure. As for sex, we can see it as gross or our gift. God gave us sex for a married couple to experience a unique level of unity that does bring peace. Whenever you feel alone, you will likely feel more fearful and worried. Unity is an antidote for that. Sex is one of the special ways we can experience that peaceful oneness.
Note: Are you single and feel like this does not apply? Ok, I would suggest that you write down everything that you hope and dream of in a spouse. Even draw a picture of that person, if you like, in your mind if nothing else. Now, take all that info and ask yourself on a clean sheet of paper what that person is going to want in a spouse. Now, find the delta between who you are today and start closing the gaps.
If you are suffering from the all-to-common mental illness of thinking you are in the wrong body then repent, fix your diet, pray, seek some Godly counseling and start to clean up your brain so you can see yourself as God sees you.
SLOW DOWN
One of the easy things you can do today is to take a few minutes to just breathe deeply, sit, close your eyes, think, etc. Reflect on anything that comes to mind. I enjoy writing things that do come up because it allows me to move on to the next thing. Once I write down all the things that are bothering me, I don’t need to try to remember them all and I can then sit with some sense of peace and silence. It is during this time that I can sit silently and just listen to God speak. None of this needs to take a long time. Statistically, we spend approximately 7 hours per day on a screen. You can carve out 10 minutes for some reflection.
Invest
Putting our treasure somewhere specific can help us to experience more peace. For city folk, moving to rural America and leaving ALL of the city life behind is an amazing investment. There is nothing like a country road on an early morning or just about anytime. I’ve even learned to enjoy Country Music through my mature years living in the country! There may be other investments that bring you peace. If you have significant assets and you are worried about them then maybe you need to purchase some real estate. Or, maybe you need to sell a company and invest in something less stressful. It is funny because I spent a lot of my life working towards what I thought I wanted to do, or be,instead of living out who God made me to be AND doing what I am good at even if it is unpopular or not as profitable as other options.
JOURNAL
This one is old and I hate it and love it. I hate it because my mom always told me to journal and she set a great example. My memory as a kid therefore is to hate it but in truth, I love it because it allows me to express myself in a unique and special way. Journaling is not like any other writing. In college I learned how to write technically and that was quite different from my creative writing works. Similarly, journaling is a totally different form of expression because it is never intended to be read by anyone else. I think in our minds, we always think that our grandkids may read it but they never will. It is a form of expression for us, and putting our thoughts to words can be quite freeing. Do it.
“Have you written in your journal this week?” -Jerrod’s mom
VOLUNTEER
Every person around you needs help. I used to dream of having a job where I was paid by 100 friends just a small portion of their salary each month to just be a go to person for them and their family. When they needed someone that could do anything, I wanted to be that guy. I never really tried to get paid for it but I have lived my life helping others constantly. I am now called to political leadership in America and I can say that nothing is more encouraging than the passionate friends that have rallied around me to help me with the endless list of needs that I have no chance of accomplishing on my own. I have given up every other endeavor in life to fight for America and I simply could not do it without a lot of help. Go help someone today. A friend used to say he slept better when he got to help someone fix something each day.
PREPARE
If some or all of your concern is about the trajectory of our lives, our country, and our world then I have good news! You can prepare. You can buy some books on gardening and stock up on some seeds. You can get a place in rural America where you will be more safe. You can engage with others that are also preparing. You can arm yourself and you can stock up on some things that may be useful. Being prepared will help subside some of the fears but the biggest subsidy is that you will find yourself inside of a group of like-minded people that give you a broader community, which will also give you hope and joy.
SHORTCUT TO ENCOURAGEMENT
Of course you want to know what the shortcut is to getting more encouragement from others. The short cut costs you some relational equity because you likely do not deserve what you will get but because of the love people have for you, you can get a boost anytime you want. All you have to do is to ask those close to you to provide some encouragement because you are feeling the weight of life and you really would appreciate hearing from them.
I am limiting my list to 10. Tomorrow I may want to switch up the list a bit but I would probably land on no more than 25 different things that we really can do to find more peace, hope, and, joy. Ultimately, God wants us to trust Him regardless of our circumstances. Philippians 1:21 tells us that we will suffer and serve because that is what Jesus did (“to live is as Christ”) but that there are also many wildly more exciting things to look forward to (“to die is gain”).
Find your peace today. Start to create habit paths for how you get there and visit there often. Help others do the same.
Shouting YES to America!
– Jerrod Sessler
Web: www.jerrodsessler.com
Truth Social: @jerrodsessler
Twitter: @sessler
Christian, Husband, Father, Veteran, Engineer, Rancher/Farmer, FMR Congressional Candidate, FMR NASCAR Driver, America 1st, Constitutionalist (1a, 2a…), XY+XX, Natural Rights come from God and we should be sharing that truth with the world!