I laughed like a fool

Hi Mrs Cris,

I went to this trip to Israel with you this month.

I was the one who tried to talk to you in front of the bus on the last day, don’t know if you remember, I was rehearsing what I would say, and for awhile I could not say what I wanted… And then when we said our goodbyes, in midst of so many people, I was so shy, I laughed like a fool. This always happens when I’m a little nervous.

But I wanted to say so many things…

How your first book ‘Better than a New Pair of Shoes’ helped me so much. I remember that whenever I felt weak, I’d randomly open it to read and amazingly, it’d fit to the situation I was going through.

How much I love this blog, here I learn things no one has ever taught me… Sometimes I find myself facing a difficult decision and I wonder what you’d do in my place… even in what you’d wear LOL.

How much the Sisterhood has helped me just as a Pledge said once “Jesus changed my life and the Sisterhood is changing my story”. I have never been able to open to anyone, never found the strength to ask for help…

I was raised as an assistant at the age of 14 but was not born of God then… I only found that out later and found myself alone… that position in the church was everything I had… without God, I had nothing and so He led me to your blog, which was the reason why I didn’t give up on my faith. A pastor at my church helped me a lot too and after one year, I was born of God and baptized with the Holy Spirit. But I still had many insecurities… I did everything to please people, I cared too much about what they thought of me.

Earlier this year I joined the Sisterhood and then I gave myself unreservedly. I said ALL that I kept for years, I was honest in every detail, and from then on, my life changed.

I asked God why He had chosen me among so many other Pledges to go to Israel. I’m not that helpful, I’m not as mature as some others, I’m not bold or even that pleasant. But on Friday, our last meeting together in Israel, I discovered why… God wanted me to learn. Sure I learned with a lot of places and with our guide Salo too. I’m organizing everything I learned, it will take me awhile to put it all together… But beyond that I learned with you and the Big Sisters…

What I learned from watching you is for a whole lifetime. I totally changed my way of seeing things. I want to thank you very much for that. And I will prove my appreciation with my gratitude to God. I came back asking God how to bear more fruits, this desire is burning inside of me, I know God will use me somehow.

Mrs Cristiane, I’m sorry for my inexperience and immaturity that sometimes blinds me and make me seem ungrateful and insensitive.

With great affection and admiration,

Vitoria, Sao Paulo

I loved knowing Vitoria too. She’s such a sweet person. I don’t even think she was that shy, I can remember the time she got up at our meeting and told everyone present about the changes in her life. Then later, she came to hug me and though she didn’t speak much, the little she did made me feel like a real mother… oh how I love to feel that way! She, along with many other spiritual children, is part of the fulfillment of a dream that I presented to my God which He was faithful to fulfill.

I believe that the Sisterhood has been around for many years, although it was not a group made of rules. Few women let themselves be shaped by other more experienced ones, which is why this group really works. But I can’t stop thinking of that Biblical passage that says:

“But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”

Titus 2:2-5

God had asked that of us older women a long time ago, except that sometimes, what we say is not taken into account by the younger generation, who normally thinks they need to make their own mistakes in order to learn. That’s why many older women stopped helping the younger ones… and that’s sad.

So I think that one doesn’t necessarily needs to be part of the Sisterhood for their life to change. All they need to do is behave as if they were already part of the Sisterhood. Look for more experienced women, who can serve as Big Sisters to help you. And if you can’t find them, pray that God sends them. God is faithful to those who want to please Him, it’ll be a pleasure to answer this kind of prayer.

Isaiah 15,16