Stories help overcome discouragement and will provide a lot of opportunities for encouragement too.
My son really enjoys his coffee. He can go on for hours talking about different types of coffee beans and how to roast them. I’ve learned a lot about coffee grinders too. Then there are all the different methods to extract the flavor from the coffee beans. Recently, when he was home for a visit, I was excited to take him to a coffee shop I discovered that serves a special kind of cold brew called Nitro. He had introduced me to Nitro when I went to visit him and it was a long search to find it when I returned. As you can guess from the name, Nitro has A LOT of caffeine. And because of the way it is served it causes the caffeine to enter your system in less than half the time too. Great way to get your eyes open in the morning. Not a good idea to drink it before bed!
The coffee that morning was great. The conversation was even better. Coffee time provided the perfect opportunity for just the two of us to get caught up on all of life’s happenings. Story after story opened up his world and invited me to step into it for a brief moment. His stories helped me see things he was learning. His stories helped me picture people he was working side by side with. His stories helped me hear how much he cares about the people in his community. His stories allowed me to feel the excitement of the many adventures life was bringing his way.
In Luke 9:1-11 it tells about Jesus sending out his disciples to preach, teach and care for others. After they went their different directions they all got back together to give a report on their experience. It was a time of sharing encouraging stories. Which I’m sure encouraged the group. There were discouraging stories. Which I’m sure they could relate too as well. It was a chance to process what had happened. It was an opportunity for more learning.
Life stories are able to accomplish a lot in our daily walk with Jesus. Life stories can impact our community of brothers and sisters in Christ too. As I wrap up my thoughts for today I want to encourage you to have some intentional Coffee Talks this week. Set up times to share what God is doing in your life. Take time to hear what God is doing in your community of believers. It will help overcome discouragement and will provide a lot of opportunities for encouragement too. The coffee will be good, but the conversations will be better!
