Dreams DO Come True! (Women of Faith Conference)

I was fresh out of Bible college and the new associate pastor's wife when I brought my first group of women to a Women of Faith conference.  We'd never experienced anything like it before.  The high energy, the quality speakers, and the excellent music all came together to create a conference that was both encouraging and exciting. I brought a group or attended myself for several years to follow.

Then the economy took a nose dive.  The last couple of years our women's group has attended different conferences, sometimes for financial reasons.  Although last year's conference was also excellent, this year's left much to be desired. My women's ministry co-leader and I returned home from the latest conference a couple of weeks ago feeling exhausted and burnt out.  We talked about how much we love leading a group but how nice it would be to attend a conference sometime and just soak it all in on our own, without being concerned about a group. We knew the Hartford, CT Women of Faith conference was coming up in November and we talked about how nice it would be to attend, knowing these were only pipe dreams as neither of us could swing a second conference.

Yesterday, exactly a week after this conversation occurred, she and I were cleaning out my daughter's old bedroom when I happened to take a break to check the Crew forum.  One of my fellow bloggers was unable to attend the Hartford conference and was looking to transfer the TWO TICKETS she had received from Women of Faith to another blogger who would be able to attend and share their experience via blogging and Twitter. I immediately emailed her as I jumped up and down in excitement! Soon the arrangements had been made and my co-leader and I were squealing with joy. I still have goosebumps over how this all worked out and how this "pipe dream" request was answered so completely!

I am thrilled to be able to attend another Women of Faith conference and love that I have the opportunity to share the experience with you via blogging and Twitter.  I'm looking forward to the weekend of November 11-12, keep an eye on my Twitter feed at that time for updates, with a blog post to follow!

Have you attended one of these conferences? What did you think? Do you think it's important to have a time away to be recharged and encouraged?  And don't you think it's super cool how all of this worked out?!

*Disclosure: I will receive two tickets to the Hartford Women of Faith conference at no cost, in exchange for sharing my experience with my readers!*