Encouragment is good!

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.
>Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered anyway, it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.             At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried
>horribly.             Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel
loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at
what he saw. With everys hovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was
doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the
farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would
shake it off and take a step up.P retty soon, everyone was amazed as the
donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!         Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The
trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.
Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of
the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and
take a step up!

 

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. And he was given a slingshot to play without in the woods. he practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. And getting a little discouraged; he headed back to dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch that day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes." But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today, didn't you Johnny?" And then she whispered to him, "Remember, the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes. Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing, and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper." But Sally smiled and said, "Well, that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help." And she whispered again, "Remember, the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he killed the duck. She knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because I love you, I forgave you. But I was just wondering how long would you let Sally make a slave of you."
I don't know what's in your past. I don't know what one sin the enemy keeps throwing up in your face. But whatever it is, I want you to know something. Jesus Christ was standing at the window. And He saw the whole thing. But because He loves you, He has forgiven you. Perhaps He's wondering how long you'll let the enemy make a slave out of you. The great thing about God is that He not only forgives, but He forgets!!!

 

Mountain Moving Faith

Author Unknown

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A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies
built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by
a church member. Ten days before the new church was to
open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that
the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building.
Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they
would not be able to use the new sanctuary.
Unfortunately, the church with its undersized parking lot
had used every inch of their land except for the mountain
against which it had been built. In order to build more
parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain
out of the back yard.
Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning
that he would meet that evening with all members who had
"mountain-moving faith". They would hold a prayer session
asking God to remove the mountain from the back yard and to
somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted
before the scheduled opening dedication service the following
week.
At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation's 300 members
assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours.
At ten o'clock the pastor said the final "Amen". "We'll open
next Sunday as scheduled," he assured everyone. "God has never
let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this
time too."
The next morning as he was working in his study there came a
loud knock at his door. When he called "come in", a rough
looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat
as he entered.
"Excuse me, Reverend. I'm from Acme Construction Company over
in the next county. We're building a huge new shopping mall
over there and we need some fill dirt. Would you be willing
to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We'll
pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area
free of charge, if we can have it right away. We can't do
anything else until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle
properly."
The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally
planned and there were far more members with "mountain-moving
faith" on opening Sunday than there had been the previous week!