A Warm Welcome

Encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

I’d arrived for the meeting early, the new girl in a collaboration of amazing women of God. The leader’s gentle rap on my driver’s-side window revealed the secret I was hoping to keep: me, hunched over the steering wheel, furiously scrawling last-minute notes in purple ink as I rechecked my typed pages and the Bible app on my phone.

I wanted so desperately to do a good job that I was using every last moment to cram for the meeting, not trusting the hours of work I’d already put into the project, not trusting what God had laid on my heart.

Her gentle smile and kind greeting as I sheepishly rolled down the window told me that she knew exactly what I was doing and why. And the welcome extended by everyone else as I entered the conference room had me silently saying a prayer of gratitude for women who received nervous newbies with warmth and encouragement.

After we exchanged introductions and started our meeting, a stray comment by another participant revealed that she, too, was slightly intimidated by those gathered at the table. So later in a quiet moment, I leaned toward her, whispering a thank-you for an exceptionally wise insight she’d shared.

If you’ve ever been made to feel like you weren’t enough or didn’t belong, I’m so sorry. It is incredibly difficult to be the new person in a classroom, organization, or team. The people who warmly welcome and reassure us are an answered prayer and a gift from God. And once we understand how precious that gift is, we can become that gift to others, extending the truth to anxious newcomers around us, letting them know that they are enough and they are welcome.

Julie

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Think of a time someone intentionally encouraged you, reminding you that you are enough. Look for an opportunity to pay that forward to someone else.