Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Sisterhood

Do you ever question why you blog? I know I do. There have been many times that I've thought of packing it up. My husband encourages me to keep writing. He enjoys reading each and every comment that you all leave (as do I!)

Blogging has helped me to connect to so many wonderful women. Women who are raising families just like me. Women who like to cook, sew, etc. Women who are living out their faith daily; sharing scripture and prayer requests with one another. And still I wonder, 'Do I make a difference?'

I received the sweetest email from a woman in Brazil this weekend. Her words touched my very core. I want to share them with you, not to build myself up, but to build each of you. Taking time to write is rare in this day and age. I believe that we are making a difference, and that even though we may not realize it, someone else may be encouraged by what we have to say.

Hi Tracy,
I visited your blog yesterday, and today I felt that I shouldn't leave it without sharing my impressions.
I'm a Brazilian music teacher, and I don't know if you can track exactly the places from where your blog was visited, but it's quite far from where you are, in southern Brazil, in a city named Curitiba, in Paraná. Maybe the Iguaçu falls are a reference - they're in the same state.
But I'm not writing to share geographical data with you. I just want to thank you. After a rough day at work, facing personal problems with nasty colleagues, I put my kids in bed and went on a hunt for ideas of self made gift for their teachers. In Brazil, October 15th is teacher's day. Once they are tiny (3 and 6), there's quite a lot of people around them, teachers, assistants, hygiene aids, etc. I thought that making a gift for each of these people, who help me take care of my babies while I'm teaching my classes would be much better than spending a lot of money and buying gifts that in the end wouldn't be so meaningful.
Hunting for ideas, I decided that making some personalized totes, with each teacher's name embroidered on it would be a charming gift for teacher's day. But I don't sew...
Searching for templates or patterns that would suit both, my expectations and my skills, I ended up finding your blog. I went up and down through it, fascinated by every little detail you placed there. I even read (almost all of) the 100 facts about you. And every time I scrolled down the page, my eyes caught a glance of those eternally true words: "Be still and know that I am God." Every time I read them, I was touched by those words, and scrolling my way through your blog, each touch was like a balm for my sore heart. I didn't need to read or to hear more than those 8 words. That's the beauty of God's word: it's so simple, and so powerful. And still, people have a hard time believing it can be true.
Let me try to come to an end: I just wanted you to know that your posts are a precious testimony of your faith. Through it, you are telling people the good news of God's love. Softly and gently, between recipes and news about your kids. Your posts are reaching out farther then you might have expected.
May God bless you and your wonderful family, which I know a little bit now. I'll visit you every now and then.
In the love of Jesus,
Marilene (Mah-ree-lay-nay)

PS. I attached a picture of our family, for you to get to know us, too.
PS.II The recipe attached goes to Autumn - for Jon. These are very traditional Brazilian sweets - no party without them, and everyone goes crazy about them. When my nephew got married in Nashville, my sister and I made this recipe (times 100) to serve with the cake. I'll try to make my mini-tutorial almost as good as yours...




15 comments:

randi said...

Wow! What a neat encouragement!

Anonymous said...

Your blog encourages me every time I read it.

~~Deby said...

TRACY---
WOW....women who love the Lord, sharing HIS love all around the WORLD, this is exciting...and like you, MANY times I have thought...STOP...give it up...but when I think of the many blogs that have ministered to me to include, my need of SALVATION...well dear friend..we PRESS ON....keep blogging as the Lord leads...that email to me is waiting for a FRAME !!! A reminder...
GOD is GOOD...HE is coming soon.
Blessings ...a great and encouraging post.
Thank you,
Deby

Anonymous said...

What a lovely e-mail you received, thank you for sharing it with us. And it's true, you never know who we might be encouraging with our blogs. I've been blogging for 2 1/2 years now and have been thinking about stopping.--Maybe I need to rethink things. (o:

~Tammy~ said...

Is that not the sweetest?!

I wish I had pictures of all my blog pals!

Kristy said...

What a neat testimony of how the Lord works through us to reach out to others! I do not blog- don't really know why- but I have been blessed by yours. I stumbled upon your blog one day and called my mom to tell her all about it. Now I stop by a couple times a week and am blessed by the encouragement you write. Thank you!

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

Tracy,

Thank you for sharing that. I agree with your post - the joy of finding other likeminded women from all over the world is such a joy! May God be glorified as we use our words to build each other up and not tear down!

Have a wonderful day!
Deanna

Sheri said...

Oh Tracy, what a special, special note... thank you for sharing it with us, your blog sisters.

I too wonder at times about this hobby and continue to praise the Lord for godly friends and mentors, like you, whom I've been blessed to know by blogging.

*Hugs*

Anonymous said...

I'm very glad that your dh encourages you to continue writing-your blog is the one I've read for the longest on a consistant basis. I don't comment all the time, but I always stop by to read-especially now that I've figured out how to use a feeder. :-)
I've read other blogs off and on for nearly as long as yours, but I found you first and always enjoy what you share.
The letter from Marilene is really neat-I hope that you and Autumn decide to make the recipe and will share it with the rest of us.
Please know that you would be greatly missed if you chose to stop blogging-I can understand that you don't always have time to write posts and sometimes need to take a break, but that's not the same as stopping completely-I sure hope you won't do that. :-)

Amanda said...

I, too, have been enjoying this blog. I stumbled upon it a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoy your posts, reading about your family, life, and the goodness of God poured out over your lives...

I live in Australia. Our beautiful shores are far away from yours. This is one of the blessings of modern technology: God connecting people, for HIS glory.

All too often I hear of horrific stories of child p*rn etc, (we all know how the enemy operates, without going into detail) via the use of modern technology. What a beautiful blog post, to remind us that the enemy doesn't have the monolopy in this area.

I don't have a blog, but to those of you beautiful Christian women who do, I say, you are the Light shining in this oftentimes dark world. Keep it up! God bless you...

Mrs. Anna T said...

It's always lovely to get encouragement. I know that's what keeps me going!

Abounding Treasures said...

What a wonderful encouragement Tracy!

Thanks for sharing Marilene's words with all of us and even if you don't have time to blog as often as you've done in the past, please don't stop altogether as you'd be missed :o)

Blessings,
Dallas

Anonymous said...

i've been so blessed since discovering the blogging world to read about so many women - yourself included - who make homemaking such a priority. My mother stayed at home and made it happy and beautiful for us, but I never knew anyone else.
i'm just pre-making my own home, and have started blogging too, about what I learn about the Lord, and how my desires for the home are growing.
Drop by if you fancy a potter around!
in Christ
Ruth

Dianne said...

Doesn't it thrill your heart to know that your blog has lifted someones spirit heavenward and that you have had such an impact on someone else's life? Keep up the good work, Tracy and just keep posting those blogs which tell about you, your family, your gifts but also about the God you serve!

That was a wonderful letter that you received and you do have a wonderful, meaningful blog and it is an encouragement to me when I can get over here to read it.

Love,
Dianne

Julieann said...

Tracy, that was so sweet:)

..and to answer your question--No Way...LOL---I write, because I enjoy it:)

Julieann