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On Saturday, January 31, one of my deepest desires and greatest dreams came true. It’s the day we took Circles Of Faith offline and had our first Live event. It was perfect!

I am filled to overflowing with the goodness of the Lord.

Last month, I talked a little here about the journey to and through CirclesOfFaith.org. At times it has been hard to persevere. Thankfully, I work with a team who holds one another up and gives and receives encouragement as the need arises.

A few months ago, Wodline joined our team. She’s a wedding and event planner. We knew we wanted to have live in-person events, so we were grateful to have her on board. And she was ready to jump in. We started meeting, planning, praying together. We scouted out a few locations, weighed our options for food, worked out timing, and put together our agenda. We came up with a name we liked too – Women of Influence.

Our vision for Circles of Faith – Women of Influence was to:

• Enjoy Fellowship
• Build Bridges
•  Share Stories
• Break Bread Together
• Grow
• Learn
• Share Our Faith, Our Lives with one another to influence others for Christ.

As we hit Send on the evite, we were excited, but we were also nervous.

What if no one responded?

We were prepared to launch a social media campaign with the usual suspects – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our site. But first, we sent an invitation to everyone on our mailing list to test the waters. Oh it was so much fun to watch one response, then another, and another, and another pop up in our email inbox…within four days, we were sold out!

Trust me when I tell you this is not what we anticipated. Just wild. We were so grateful!

That was back in early December.

January 31, was the big day. We were as prepared as we could be. There were a few minor snaffus…speaking notes disappearing off a computer, 13-degree weather, no printed name tags… Live and learn.

We began our time by praying with our amazing team – worship leaders, registration volunteers, speakers, Circles of Faith team members, photographer. We prayed that everyone who was supposed to come would be able to overcome any obstacles. You know, we have an enemy, and he certainly wanted to destroy this event. No such luck, devil!

We heard a few stories…

• The sister whose husband unexpectedly needed the car. Not to be stopped, she used public transportation.
• Another woman told me her friend called to say it was just too cold. No way, that would not stop her!

I’m sure there were others who had a moment’s hesitation.

However, as 9 a.m. neared and it was almost time to begin, the women came. Soon the room was full to capacity. I was out at the registration table checking on a few things and as I approached the conference room, I was blown away by the noise level.

Conversation flowed, laughter sailed through the air.

You would’ve thought everyone in the room had been longtime friends. In fact, many if not most of them had never met each other.

Oh I tell you…The room was brimming with love, fellowship, and joy.

Our agenda was simple – prayer, worship, Minutes to Mingle (kind of like speed dating), breakfast, sharing about Circles of Faith and the Power of Story, and a few prizes too.

We closed our time together by forming a huge circle around the room, holding hands, and praying thanks and blessing over all.

Jesus was there, right there in the center of our circle, in the center of our fellowship, in the center of our stories, in the center of our hearts. <====Click to Tweet

I left our event full and thankful. As is His way, God did more than we asked or imagined.

Our fervent prayers ensured that we were following His plan. And the result was perfect – His event. His guests. His Words flowing through our hearts and spilling out of our mouths. His love showered over all.

Thank you Lord…You are the One who makes our dreams come true. To you be all glory! <====Click to Tweet

I know sometimes our dreams can get very frustrating. It can seem like they will never come true. But if you sense God gently tugging you forward, obey. He will fulfill your dreams at the proper time, in the perfect way…and He will get all the glory.

Shared By: Elise Daly Parker