Whether you’re on the lookout for a therapist or just a home-assignment friend, it can feel hard to find someone who “gets it.” Y’know. Who understands your overseas man-if-my-friends-could-see-me-now moments (not the good kind).

Where your two-year-old joins you on a motorcycle taxi. Or you lob pebbles at the monkey that won’t leave your garden alone. Or, in an attempt to flatter you, a local friend calls you “fat.”

What encouragement do you wish you could hear from someone right now—who gets it?

Maybe it’s something like—Yeah, you’re a stay-at-home mom in an environment with no stroller-friendly sidewalks, no library storytime, and the need for malaria quick-tests at every fever. You are right where you need to be for the Kingdom of God.

Or—Muslim contexts are so challenging for evangelism. But think about a forest—and what great things grow from small seeds.

Or—Friend, speaking the gospel to yourself—that you are not what you do for God—helps you speak a pure gospel to all those people out there. How can we make rest happen for you?

Is there a chance God, right now, as your loving Father, and according to Scripture, longs to give you that encouragement?

I’m convicted by the words of John 12:43. Jesus seems to imply not just that we’ll hear a single, hard-won “Well done, good and faithful servant!” at the end of time—but that like any good Father, God has life-specific encouragement and praise for us. John 5:41 and 44 seem to give the same idea: that there is glory, and presumably encouragement, to be had from God—the same God who tells us to encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

No, we can’t imply our desires are the same as God’s. Yet if anything, I tend to underestimate His love for me.

If God wanted to give you courage right now—and he might be—what might his Holy Spirit say?