This week on Real Talk with Rachael I'm speaking with Karen Ehman about her new book Make Their Day: 101 Simple, Powerful Ways to Love Others Well. Karen is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker with Proverbs 31 Ministries, and a writer for Encouragement for Today, an online devotional that reaches over four million women daily. She has authored 15 books and has been featured on numerous media outlets including FoxNews.com, TODAY Parenting, Redbook.com, Crosswalk.com, and HomeLife Magazine.

Key points from our conversation:

• The inspiration for Karen's latest book came from her mom who was always looking for practical, inexpensive ways to bless others.
• The book is broken into 8 categories such as family, friends, co-workers, strangers, etc. so you can start reading anywhere. It also has recipe cards, gift tags, and certificates in the back that can be used for many of the ideas in the book. 
• If you're feeling discouraged about your life, get your eyes off yourself and serve others in need. 
• When we get caught up in comparing our lives to others, we begin to come apart at the seems - "Their kids 'seem' so perfect!" or "They 'seem' to have the perfect marriage."

Ideas to make someone else's day:

For friends - throw a favorite things party. Find something affordable that you love ($5 or $10) and buy a few of them (depending on how much you want to spend) for friends. At the party, each person will talk about the item they love, then pull names and give away their items to those friends. Make a playlist or a phone lock screen to brighten their day. Write them an old-fashioned handwritten letter.

For husbands - make a poster board card love letter with candy in place of the words. "I love you to (Reese's) Pieces!" "You're such a SweetTart!"

For strangers - look for necessary people in your life like mailmen, teachers, nail techs, clerks and give them a gift card, baked goodies, or just a kind word for their hard work. At the store, ask for a manager and let them know what a great job their employee is doing. 

For teachers - write them a note (or have your child write it) and give them a gift card or just tell them thank you on a random day

Let's get real practical:

Here are two prompts to take action on today: ask God to highlight a stranger that you can give a sincere compliment to and be intentional in showing love to one of your friends or family members.

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