Natural Born Cheerleaders

So while innocently surfing the Internet today, I stumbled across a group of women whose sole purpose is to encourage one another in their writing and blogging.

You might need to re-read that. I’ll wait.

I admit to blinking at it a few times and wondering if I had fallen asleep somewhere and was now dreaming. I quickly checked my chin for drool and, discovering none, determined I was actually awake.

Could it be that there are women in the world who are excited for one another instead of competitive?  Could this be real, genuine and actually have a shot at being encouraging? I gotta tell you, the skeptic in me is…well, skeptical.

I want to believe it, I really do. In fact, on my list of spiritual gifts, encouraging is number one. There is nothing I love more than encouraging women.  I am their biggest cheerleader! I was BORN to encourage women.  (I can connect some God Dots here by noting that I was a cheerleader for real in middle and high school.)

But here’s the thing. I have very rarely met other women who share this level of enthusiasm for other women. In fact, I often have women tell me how much they hate women because of all the drama.  Let me just say…whatever, man.

Let her who has never been dramatic ever in her life cast the first stone. No one? Ok. Moving on.

So now that we’ve settled that let’s get back to women don’t typically encourage other women.  For me personally, I need encouragement like I need coffee but coffee is much easier to acquire.  I like to think that I work really hard; I’m dependable and even fun. Yet, when I am dealing with a dose of insecurity, I am hard-pressed to find many cheerleaders near by.

Is it so off base to want someone to tell you that you are doing a good job? Or, that you are especially good at something? Or even that they personally really just like (insert the thing you are thinking about here.)

Is it a CRIME to want a little encouragement? If it is, go ahead and lock me up.

That is why it’s so refreshing to run across this group of women. Within just a few hours of asking about their group I had an in-box full of encouragement, welcome and fun.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 

1 Thessalonians 5:11

We are commanded, really, to encourage one another. The bible never says “Compete with one another until one person wins and one person loses.” As far as I can tell wanting a little encouragement is the farthest thing from a crime.

So if you find yourself needing a little encouragement today, may I jump in with my virtual pom poms and cheer for you? Ok, maybe that’s weird because we don’t know each other yet and I don’t want to be disingenuous.  Regardless, if you are a new writer, a ministry leader, a stay-at-home-mom, a grandmother, or you don’t yet know what you want to be when you grow up, please stick with it. There IS a community of women who are FOR you, who will cheer you on, who are thrilled to see you succeed.

If you would like to meet some of these amazing women, jump on to your social media and look for #RaRaLinkUp. Enjoy all of the amazing blog posts you find there and if you really like it, would you please leave a word of encouragement on their posts? What a gift that would be!

It’s time that we all got in touch with our inner cheerleaders. Wanting a little encouragement is not a crime. Giving it is a gift.