I’ve found that one of the most powerful words that anyone can hear follow along the lines of “I see you” and “You are not alone” and “I’m on your side.”

I can think back to high school days and the huge difference between feeling alone and having that one friend. To someone with lots of friends, it may not seem like much at all, but to the one with no friends, one can be the difference between giving up and persevering.

You can value someone even when you don’t agree on everything. You can support someone without endorsing all of their habits and actions. You can make someone feel welcome even if you’re the only one. You can love someone because you have known what it was to be loved — we love because God first loved us.

You can be the friend to the lonely person that you wish you could have had back when you were lonely. You can treat the other person with kindness like you received kindness at that moment when you needed it most but deserved it least.

You earn the right to speak the gospel into other peoples’ lives by making time for them and genuinely listening to them and loving them like Jesus loved you, forgiving them and seeking to bring out God’s best in them.