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Proverbs 12:25 says  “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”

Have you ever found this statement to be true in your own life? I don’t think we realize as women how great an impact a “good word” can have on our fellow sisters in Christ. We don’t grasp how an encouraging word can change someone’s perspective, give them hope, and even calm anxiety.

In my last year of college, a combination of circumstances—friends graduating, a shrinking campus ministry, increased involvement in other communities—resulted in my shifting from having mostly Christian friends to a place where I was spending almost all my time with nonbelievers. 

On one hand, the change was wonderful! I’d been praying for years for more opportunities to build relationships with nonbelievers that would allow me to share the gospel through friendship, and there’s no doubt that this was an answer to that prayer.

“Preach the gospel to yourself daily.” 

If you’ve attended Covenant Fellowship for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard a variation of this statement. It’s certainly a thread running through the fabric of my life as a member of this church. Sadly, even the most wonderful of statements can lose impact if I’m not careful.

When my husband and I first got married and we started to make plans to grow our family, I didn’t know that my journey of motherhood would be ridden with loneliness, anger, jealousy, sorrow, guilt, and shame. Infertility is not uncommon, and yet it is something that is rarely spoken about. I myself knew nothing about it and was completely surprised when after having had no problems getting pregnant with our first son, I found…

I thank God for the blessing of being part of a church that is more than a gathering of individuals for weekly events. Our church is a community in which the sense of belonging to the Body of Christ is tangible. We feel it when we worship the Lord together in singing, when we all listen to the preaching of God’s Word, and when we rejoice with someone’s public testimony of how God’s grace has changed them.