A week ago, I was pleasantly surprised by the contents of my mailbox. I had received my first piece of #encouragemail, which included a short letter, a couple of inspiring Bible passages and two candy bracelets – because why not candy bracelets! It truly was just what I needed upon returning home from the slightly stressful, unexpectedly extended weekend trip we had just experienced.

#encouragemail is the brainchild of Kelly Rinehart at Purple Lemon Designs. It is, as the name suggests, encouraging mail. Not a Facebook message, not an Instagram direct message, or even a mere email – I mean you can do that too, but this is real mail filled with encouragement sent to your mailbox pen pal style. Pretty cool, right?

The #encouragemail project was something that Kelly had been mulling over for a few months before unveiling the idea via her social media properties just before Christmas.

“I have been praying about a new project for a few months now, and I am finally ready to share it with you! I was thinking a few months ago about all of the women I have been blessed to know through Instagram, and other social media channels and how I would like to get to know them on a deeper level. I was also thinking about how blessed I have been by all of the encouragement you have sent my way.

I want to match women up with an encouragement pen pal. I will match you up with a woman you can share scripture with, write encouraging notes, and send encouraging packages to each month.

To be part of this project, all you have to do is to commit to send one letter or package a month for a year to the woman you are matched up with. That’s it! If you and your partner would like to do more than that, great! If you can only send one letter per month that is great too! You can email back and forth as well, but please do commit to send one letter through snail-mail per month. My thought right now is to match you with a new pen pal each year (of course you can still write to each other after the year is over too!).

My hope and prayer for this project is that we will begin lifelong friendships with others, bless each other and, of course, encourage each other!” – paraphrased from @purplelemondesigns on Instagram

I mean really, how neat is that? What a fantastic way to recieve a monthly dose of encouragement, and better yet, give encouragement and spread positivity. In case you were wondering – I signed up immediately and just after the New Year, I received an email revealing my encouragement pen pal.

Much to my delight, my person was none other than the creator of #encouragemail herself – Kelly. We are only one month in, but I can totally see this blossoming into a beautiful friendship full of encouragement, scripture, real mail, and probably more candy.

*If you are interested in taking part in the #encouragemail project, please contact Kelly by clicking here.