Next time you don’t know how to cheer up your friend, offer a simple, kind word.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada. And if you’re like me, you often find yourself wondering how to encourage an anxious friend. Maybe it’s with a neighbor over a cup of coffee or talking with a friend in the church parking lot. They share their worries, you listen, and you wish you knew exactly what to do. Well, Proverbs 12 says, “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.” I don’t always feel like I know how to help, but I can do what Proverbs 12 says: I can give my friend a kind word. And you don’t have to have a PhD in counseling to do that; you don’t have to have a degree in psychology or understand the person’s problems inside and out. You don’t have to be an expert. The Bible simply tells you to give a kind word. And we all can do that! So, friend, next time you find yourself trying to resolve a friend’s problem, cheer him up with a simple, kind word.
© Joni and Friends