Scroll back through the pages of your memory. Can you recall an instance when encouraging words lifted your head and touched your heart? Motivated you to continue along a challenging path?

I vividly remember one of my very first meetings on the field. Other meetings have come and gone, but this one stands out in my memory. A global worker I'd admired stood and spoke to our assembled group. He'd been in the country longer than most of us, and I couldn't wait to hear his words.

"I've started three church plants, and all of them have failed."

Okay, that wasn't the encouraging story I expected to hear.

This worker humbly shared his story about the failure of his church plants. He outlined lessons he had learned in each situation and how God had given him the strength to persevere. His honesty about his struggles and challenges encouraged each of us.

As women living overseas, we must share our stories of how Jesus is helping us through our everyday lives. This sharing allows us to be "mutually encouraged by each other's faith." We each have a story to tell of how Jesus is real to us in the here and now, in big and small ways.

Sometimes, that story includes feelings of incompetence, loneliness, struggle, and failure. My heart is grieved when I visit with women who are holding deep hurts buried in their hearts, hidden from others. How can we encourage one another if we don't share our genuine and unfiltered stories—even the hard ones?

Paul's words in Hebrews 10:24-25 speak of the importance of encouragement.

"Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

It is incredible how a small word of encouragement can lift our spirits and inspire us to keep going. Sometimes, we need to embrace vulnerability as a pathway to encouragement.

Let's share our stories, the good and the bad, and encourage one another on this journey.