If you’re a Facebook friend of Shelley Greer Hebert, you’ve seen “A Little Encouragement from Casa Hebert,” her frequent, uplifting video posts. She and her husband Paul are worship ministers at Purpose Church Ministries in Broussard, and she has caused a sensation among the FB community with these vignettes. 

Shelley sits on her “Cracker Barrel” porch, in front of Casa Hebert, a house she and Paul just recently built and moved into, relaxed and serene. She speaks enthusiastically and with resolve. She is a child of God, a woman of faith, and God has called her to give her testimony of positive thoughts and prayers posted on Facebook twice a week, Monday and Thursday night.

“It all started in January 2020, when my Father died. He fell ill Jan. 1, we had to get him to the hospital, he had A-fib, and spent more than a week in the hospital, and went home with hospice. He passed away Jan. 17,” she said.  

Shelley’s beloved father, Dr. Bill Greer, was half of the inspiration for her life and her faith; the other half, her mom, Cherie Greer, passed away eight years ago. “She was an inspiration to me, so full of joy and love. She was always singing, a little songbird. In her Irish family, they sang and played violin and other musical instruments,” she said.

“After Daddy died, Paul and I got COVID. This was February, before the big lockdown, before they had testing, before they were calling it a pandemic. But it knocked us out. We had no energy, couldn’t shake the cough, we just were miserable,” she added. “Right when we were getting well, everything shut down. And I said to Paul, ‘There’s something that has been on my heart, something I’ve been kicking around. What if there are other people out there who feel the same as I do? I would like us to reach out to them, maybe sing a song and worship with them, encourage them.’”

And so, recording on her phone, seated at the piano, Shelley and Paul began offering brief remarks and songs they posted on Facebook once a week. After two sessions, Paul bowed out, feeling as though it was Shelley’s place to continue. “He said to me, ‘You are called to reach out to people, to show them you care.’” 

She began to get what she called “amazing response” from her video posts. “People would message me, text me, call me, with good comments, with prayer intentions, even song requests,” she said. “I realized just how much need for prayer there is out there, especially now, after what we’ve all been through this past year.

“I heard from a 20-year-old woman, a stranger, daughter of a friend of a Facebook friend. She told me her mother would cast my little posts onto their TV, and she would watch. Her story was so raw and real — she told me in the last six months, she’d lost her job, her boyfriend had left her, she’d been in a terrible place, even with thoughts of suicide. 

“Of course, right then, I turned into full-fledged momma mode. I let her know how much she was loved, and we talked about the ripples of grief her suicide would cause in her loved ones. You just never know what words people need to hear to be inspired. I feel like God gives me the mission to speak life and encourage people on a daily basis,” she added.

Shelley says she doesn’t plan too far ahead what she will feature in her posts, but always seems to be inspired, either by people she interacts with with intentions, a song heard during her day, or a seemingly random incident. “Sometimes, God wakes me up at 2 or 3 a.m. I usually pray for a little while, play the piano, sort through the thoughts in my head,” she said.

“I sit at the piano, sip my Earl Grey tea, and share thoughts, prayers and songs. It’s become a ministry people really look forward to, and I feel blessed to channel this positivity. I always say, I don’t do it, God does.” She tries to keep her video posts short, 10 or 15 minutes tops, she says. “I think 17 minutes was my longest, I don’t want to get to that 20-minute mark.”

Take the time that God inspires you to take, Shelley. Those moments of encouragement might make all the difference in someone’s life.