Encourage One Another

I received this email from a dear friend today. I was brought to tears by her creative way of gathering together friends from across the country to support a struggling friend. It's really difficult to discern the best way to support a grieving friend - especially when they live several states away. I'm grateful for a new way to tell my friend that I love her, even if it's not through a real-life hug!

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"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up..." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Hello, friends. As many of you know, Mark and Jennie are expecting a little boy sometime around February 11. Some of you may not know that this precious little boy has received the diagnosis of Down Syndrome (by way of an amniocentesis). As you can imagine, this news has been very difficult for our friends to bear.

Will you join me in encouraging them up until and beyond the birth of this precious little one? I was thinking that one or two people could commit to "showering" them every week in whatever way they feel led. Some ideas are: sending e-mails or snail-mails, care-packages, phone-calls, praying for them, praying with them, showering them with scripture, taking them a meal (take note, Jennie loves peppermint ice cream), helping to clean their house, taking care of Nathan (possibly allowing Mark and Jennie to get away overnight before the baby comes), setting up a pedicure for Jen, buying something from one of their registries, or whatever other creative ideas that you can come up with!

Please let me know if you are interested and I will get back to you soon with your assigned week. Let us together "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." (Romans 12:12)