At the end of an exhausting day, I FINALLY collapsed into a chair around 11pm and tried to catch up on the hundreds of emails in my inbox.

We were scheduled to speak EARLY the next morning, but I was determined to try and answer as MANY emails as I could in the short time before bed.

Unfortunately, I ended up opening an email that contained some UGLY, unjust words that really HURT my feelings.

Instead of closing it and forgetting about it, I read it to David. Now HIS feelings were hurt, too.

Sleepless in St. Louis
GREAT! Now we’re BOTH discouraged. Nice move Nicole.

Sometime after midnight, we FINALLY stopped talking about it and TRIED to fall asleep.

It’s funny how DISCOURAGEMENT can come in a moment and end up consuming our whole day, if we LET it.

We knew we had to get the despair out of OUR hearts so we could wake up in the morning with the strength to encourage OTHERS.

I didn’t sleep much at all, and was up before the alarm. All I could think of was, “I NEED some encouragement!”

So I went straight for my BIBLE (and a cup of coffee)!!!

A Hidden Treasure
Then, as I was making coffee and opening my Bible, a little card FELL out. It was a personal note with a check inside.

Suddenly, I remembered! The night before, a woman had handed me an envelope and told me to slip it in my Bible for LATER.

In her card, she talked about how we had totally IMPACTED her life and really TOUCHED her family.

They were SO excited to be a part of our church…and enclosed was their FIRST tithe check to the church in Florida! Wow!!!

I cried.

Timing Is Everything
That was JUST what I needed to walk out into a bright world and start reaching people for Jesus again!

It was God’s perfect TIMING of encouragement.

• The fact that, she told me to put the card in my BIBLE, instead of my purse.

• The fact that, the hurtful email had arrived that SAME evening.

• The fact that, when I needed encouragement I went to my Bible, and there it was just WAITING for me! That’s so cool!

God Is In The Details!
I walked to the bedroom and handed David coffee and the card and said, ‘You have to read this RIGHT NOW.’ When he read it, tears welled up in his eyes, too.

God really DOES order our steps and work ALL things together for our good!

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Psalm 37:23 (NLT)

I think GOD knew we would need lifting up that morning and prearranged the sequence of events as a delightful SHOT of ENCOURAGEMENT that He knew we would need right then!

He does the same for YOU!
I wanted to share this today to remind you, that NO MATTER what kind of rocks people throw at us, no matter how people may try to DISCOURAGE us, God is ON OUR SIDE ready to breathe life back into us at every moment.

God is good. God is on the throne and He’s lining things up, right now, to bring ENCOURAGEMENT into our lives!