Encouragement.   What a difference it makes in our lives.  Every time I go to see my daughter in Edmond, (Oklahoma) I stop at Edmond's Antiques to see Pam.  ( It's one of those places that makes you feel good when you walk in the door.)  She said she had been reading my blog and that she wanted me to know how much it meant to her.  She said she was praying for Ken and me.  My soul was encouraged.  I sit here in my house writing, wondering if anyone gets anything out of this.  I just keep writing.  It's nice to hear encouraging words.

I have been thinking about the 11th chapter of Hebrews and how almost everyone calls it the "Faith Chapter of the Bible"--but I can't help think that it is really a chapter on encouragement.  It is a "keep on keeping on" chapter reminding us of those great men and women who remained faithful to God.

The writer of Hebrews gives us the names of those who have gone before in the faith.  But the words are really written to encourage us by examining their faith.  To see that their lives had meaning because of their faith.  And that God honored their faith.

Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sara, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the harlot Rahab,  Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthae, David, Samuel and all the prophets.  The writer says in verse 13a, "All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them…"   Faith.  In what God promised.   Heb. 10; 36 "For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise."

The promise of eternal life.  The promise of the Messiah. The promise that our sins would be forgiven.  In the Old Testament, they looked forward to the coming of Christ.  We look back.  But all of us, then and now, believe that God does what He says He will do.  We have faith in Him.

And we are encouraged by faith in the lives of others.