I felt as if my heart were seconds away from beating out of my chest as I locked eyes with my college professor and heard those five words escape her mouth: “Let’s hear from you now.”  If my trembling hands and hunched shoulders weren’t telling enough, my quivering voice would be the telltale sign alerting all my classmates to my sheer panic. As I stood before my peers, each word I managed to string together was punctuated with a slight tremor as I talked breathlessly through the presentation I had been prepping for the past three months. Was this a college intro-level speech class or my ultimate version of public torture? The next day, the headlines would read, “Casualties: 1. Cause of death: 20 sets of classmates’ eyes landed on her face.”  

If medals had been awarded that afternoon, I would have placed first in the race back to the safety of my seat. As class dismissed and a wave of relief rushed over me, knowing the worst was now over, a classmate approached with some feedback on my presentation. I braced for the worst. To my pure dismay, she didn’t question the validity of every point I made. She didn’t even mention my shaky hands. 

She spoke a word of encouragement over me, citing specific parts of the presentation that stood out to her and commending me on the creativity I chose. To this day, I cannot recall the encouragement spoken, but I will never forget the way those few words were used to shift the narrative in my mind and transform my moment of torment. She saw something. She said something. And it was used to nudge me onto a path towards living out the God-given purposes for my life. This is the power of one person’s encouragement. 

Picture the face of someone who has genuinely encouraged you. Not someone who has said a kind word or bolstered your confidence in a passing moment, but someone who has shifted the narrative and built you up in strength. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 captures this mandate for believers as it says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” and in this sense, we are building up the Church (NIV). Genuine encouragement fortifies the spiritual backbone, and this is the work we are called to do.

Dig Deeper:

Choose one person. Now, lean in and listen to the Spirit. What is Jesus doing in their life that you could bless with a word of encouragement? Point them to Jesus with an affirmation of their gifts and remind them of God’s work you see in their life. 

Prayer:

Father, forgive me for times when I have let opportunities to bless others pass me by. You have called me to do more, and I don’t want to settle for what is easy anymore. Stir my spirit to pause, to view others through your eyes, and speak Jesus over their lives.

Daily Readings

This article was originally titled “Shift the Narrative” in the May 2025 issue of Peer Magazine.