It was fairly easy to personally encourage someone today because it was my birthday.  I thanked a few different friends for their friendship.  They were so sweet to me today, surprising me over and over again.  This has been a great day.  Seeing the look of gratitude and excitement on my friends' faces when I encouraged them brought yet another smile to my face.  I love being encouraged as well, and my friends definitely encouraged me today.

Ali: Oh, goodness.  Well, I encouraged one of my friends before she took a quiz that she was going to do good.  Unfortunately, the quiz was really hard and so even though I really did believe that she was going to do good and really did mean the encouragement, the quiz did not turn out so good, but then the teacher changed the quiz.  So in the end, she didn't get the bad grade!

Me: How did she respond to your encouragement?

Ali: She was nervous, but grateful, I guess.

Me: Did it make you feel good to encourage her?

Ali: Well, I was hoping, you know, that by encouraging her, it would give her something, and then she'd be like, "Yeah, I can do this!" and then she'd do good, but... Well, she did try her hardest.  The quiz was just hard.

How did you encourage a friend today?

Haven't heard of the 30 Days of Kindness?  Click here to find out more.  Just starting?  That's okay!  Feel free to start this challenge right in the middle.  You can make up the days you missed through November, if you like.

Today is my birthday, so share another kind gesture and wish me happy birthday!  I turn eighteen years old today, so it's a big'un.

Another big day for us challenge-accepters.  We've been going at this for two weeks now!  We're halfway through!  How has your experience been so far? 

Personally encourage a friend.  You may feel a little intimidated by this challenge, but don't let it get you down.  I want you to go to a friend who may be struggling or who needs an encouragement, and encourage them.  You don't need to carry on for an hour, but I want you to give more than a little compliment.

Perhaps you should pull aside your friend and say something to the affect of, "Hey, I know you've been struggling lately.  I just wanted to let you know that I've been praying for you to have courage lately.  I hope life has been getting better for you."  Speak sincerely.  Imagine how much your words will encourage your friend.  This will truly let him or her know that you care and that you've been thinking about them.

I want to hear your stories!  Leave me a comment and share what you did during today's challenge.  If you have a picture or two, feel free to send them to me.  If you're blogging about today, send me the link and I'll feature it on this blog.

Stay tuned until later today to see what my friends and I did for today's act of kindness.

TOMORROW: Take someone out for coffee/ice cream!