Encouragement for Your Discouragement

Discouragement. I am the first to admit that, when things get too busy at work or at home, or when my best prepared plans go awry, it can be easy to let discouragement colour my thoughts - especially if I let it get the best of me.   

When you are preparing for Sunday morning to serve in Kid’s Ministry, you might be thinking about how you’ll teach the Bible story that week. Are there props or visuals you can use? Do you have a great craft or activity idea you think would be the perfect fit? What questions could you ask to help keep kids engaged with meaningful discussions? I love coming up with fresh ideas for the kids and often get excited preparing for Sunday, thinking ‘the kids are going to love this object lesson’ or ‘this is really going to produce a big impact on our kids hearts for Jesus’. But then Sunday comes, and due to a number of circumstances (often out of my control), it feels like a total flop. Maybe the class was too big, and it was hard to manage, maybe the activity got out of control or the craft took too long, or maybe kids were just not engaged. If you’re a Ministry Director or the person who manages the teaching schedule, you might have had a preschool teacher call in sick last minute and either you find a sub or you need to step in to teach for the 4th Sunday in a row (or the 8th!). Maybe your nursery room has been overwhelmed with crying babies week after week and it’s getting stressful on the leaders and the kids. You can’t always fix the issues that seem to come up – and often, it all seems to happen at the same time. Does that happen to you? Do you feel discouraged? Yes.  

Something I have learned about myself when this happens is I start to disconnect. From those around me but especially from God. I’ve unintentionally started pulling away when I put my head down to get stuff done. If things go wrong in those moments, my discouragement thrives. Discouragement is a barrier to our relationship with God and our faith suffers as a real result. And how many of you not only suffer from discouragement, but also hardship? Health, finances, relationships all can contribute to our discouragement.  

So where do we go from here? 

Our verse for AKC 2025 is from Joshua 1:9. It says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

See what it says there? “Do not be discouraged.” Hmm, ok sure. I’ll try… but I’m not feeling optimistic on my ability to do that… Does that sound familiar? Now read the rest of that verse. “For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” There we go. God promises to be with us always. Even when we might disconnect from Him and even when we’ve strayed so far into discouragement that we’re bumping up against _______. You fill in that blank. 

Let’s remind ourselves of God’s promises.

1 Peter 5:7 “He cares for you”

Deuteronomy 31:6 “He will never leave you or forsake you.”

Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

When I finally throw up my hands at God and cry out to him for help, He isn’t surprised. In fact, He is already there, ready to meet me in my need and He provides and strengthens me.

“I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”  Philippians 4:13

So when you are discouraged and can’t see a way out, let me ENCOURAGE you to read these verses again and again. Practice gratitude and look for the many ways that God has provided for you each day and in each moment. Pray continuously and ask Him who is sovereign over all things to give you the strength that you need.  

We are teaching the next generation of leaders, and they are looking to us for guidance and God’s love. I made a goodbye card for one of my leaders who was moving away and had their grade 4 class sign it. The leader had no idea one of her new kids had been struggling to connect and had been feeling down. She wrote how grateful she was for that leader and how she always made her feel welcome and loved at church. That girl has also moved away now, but I think of her sometimes and how she will grow up with that memory of how God cared for her when she was struggling and that how that leader made a difference in her faith journey.

Sometimes God uses the moments that we never dreamed were significant. Sometimes God uses the hard moments too. Do not think for one moment that you are not important to Him and making a different for His Kingdom. We may not know in this lifetime the fruit of our labour, but God knows.    For all that you do, God sees you. He is working through you. Thank you for helping this next generation learn about and love Jesus.

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.”  1 Corinthians 15:58