by Julie Sibert – Intimacy In Marriage
As someone who blogs about sexual intimacy in marriage, I know how discouraging it can be to think my blog isn’t getting the visibility I was hoping it would.
It’s not that you aren’t passionate, because you are. It’s just that the feeling starts to creep in that possibly you are pouring all your wisdom into a huge empty internet chasm. You pound away alone at your keyboard, hit publish and are left there to wonder. “Is anyone listening? Is the internet just too noisy for anyone to notice?”
In desperation, you may even think, “Why am I even doing this?!”
I want to encourage you, because I’ve had to remind myself that what we do as Christian marriage bloggers does matter. Don’t underestimate the difference you are making – and remember that the people you are impacting may never take the time to actually tell you.
How many of us have read something on a blog that really was beneficial to our lives, yet we didn’t take the time (or have the time) to send a note or make a comment? All of us, right?
Well, the same is true of your blog. People will stumble across it or they will send it to a friend they believe needs the hope you are offering. Or maybe they will receive it from someone else. Countless people read blog posts, benefit from them and never say a word to the person who actually wrote them.
Take heart that God sees and knows all. And if you feel He has called you to encourage others in their marriages via your blog, then your obedience in that direction is great reward.
Yes, it’s nice when someone comments on our blogs or takes a moment to send a personal email or shares the post through social networks. Even more gratifying, though, is simply knowing you are speaking God’s truth and tenderness into what could be someone’s desperate marital situation.
Truth be told, they may be at a really broken place and not even have the emotional energy to reach out. Yet what you typed as you were sitting at your keyboard, alone in your home office or curled up on the couch with your laptop computer – those words revolutionize their life. Those words help them muster the courage to nurture their marriage.
If you feel led to write your blog, then by all means – please keep writing! The world needs more bloggers proclaiming God’s sacred plan for marriage.
Thanks for the encouragement! I have sometimes wondered if I was making an impact, wondered if anyone was hearing God’s words I was communicating. And thank you, and the CMBA for issuing the challenge. I have stumbled across so many “voices in the[digital] wilderness I may have never heard otherwise.
God bless!
Great Reminder Julie. I encourage myself by remembering that if I even help one person it was worth it,and once in a while the only person might be me.
Remembering that we are performing for an audience of one (God) also helps.
That was a beautiful and encouraging message, Julie. Thanks for taking the time to share your heart. If we are called by God to write, then we should be most concerned about writing to our audience of One. The Lord will affirm and encourage us in His own timing. (It’s keeps our pride from growing in our hearts!)
Thanks! I needed to hear this!
Thanks Julie!
When Jesus HEALED leaper, only one in ten came back to say thank you. Why would we expect any more than that, even if we give life changing wisdom?
I totally agree with this. I remind myself that there is also a fine balance between pride and ministering to others-in my mind. I have to be careful. A lot of people have told me they like my writing, or I should write a book. That’s all well and good, and it makes me feel great…but when I start to think that it is ME doing any of it, I have to bring myself back down to earth and remember that it is God who blessed me with the ability to write and it is God who gets the glory for any benefit that someone else receives from what I write. I’ll admit it…I love the comments. I love hearing how something I wrote has blessed someone. But at the end of the day, what really matters is that I am being obedient to God (through using the gift of writing he has given me), and giving him the glory, not seeking the praise of man. It’s a fine line to walk and sometimes I have to catch myself before it slips into pride. It’s all because of Jesus!
Amen!!! Thanks for this encouraging post!! Every time I feel like this, God shows me that I should continue. It’s awesome to receive feedback. That one reader who lets me know they’re touched by what I shared also motivates me to keep pushing through:)