10 Gifts to Encourage Others in a Time of Hardship

Have someone in your life that is going through something difficult? It can be hard to know what to say so I’ve rounded up 10 gifts to encourage others.

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NEEDING SOME ENCOURAGEMENT

My personal love language is “Words of Affirmation” meaning I feel loved most when others write me a text, note, pull me aside to tell me something kind, or say things like thank you. One of the biggest encouragements when I was bedridden, were all of the cards I received from friends and family.

Here’s a Facebook post I found from 2017:

Filling up my room with mementos from those who love me and encourage me. Letters from friends, flowers from Luke, drawings from Henry, photos that remind me I will be back to myself one day, presents from friends, books and funny movies, and drawers filled with cards. Feeling the love 😘

Here are a few other ways that friends and family supported me during that time from another Facebook post I wrote:

Some days are full of confidence, others full of brokenness. The past few days have been really hard. Today was good. Thanks to Ali for giving me a makeover and baking me goodies to take home today, love you 😘 and Tammi, my bestie/on call nurse across the street 😂 and of course my parents who basically moved in with us and are awesome 🏠 and Luke for your love and support and help with everything 💏 Our small group has also been such a blessing this year especially. Luke’s work, our families, our church family, you guys are each special to me in so many ways ❤️

10 GIFTS TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS

We all know someone at some point in our lives who could use a little encouragement. Here are a few ideas of how to comfort others going through a hard time based on their love language:

Words of Affirmation: send a note, text or call them to tell them you’re proud of them, that they have what it takes, that they’re not alone
Receiving Gifts: send a bouquet of flowers, have children draw pictures, buy them a necklace or bracelet with encouraging words
Acts of Service: bring them a meal, sit with them, babysit their kids, clean their house
Physical Touch: hold their hand, give them a hug, rub their back, sit next to them
Quality Time: stop by to visit, bring over a game to play, sit and watch their favorite show together

Not sure what their love language is? That’s ok! People don’t need you to figure out the perfect words to say, they need to know that you’re there for them and you care about them. A simple way to do that is to bring or mail them a gift. Here are 10 of my favorite gifts of encouragement: