If you read my previous post, you know how excited I was to get to attend Declare Conference for the first time. Well, I was not disappointed.
It was an amazingly awesome, sweet time of fellowship with God and with so many of His precious daughters.
It was also inspiring, encouraging, refreshing, convicting, educational, worshipful, joyful, heart-wrenching, beautiful, enlightening, fun and delightful … and every moment was full of God’s grace.
I got SO much from this weekend, that I plan to write a series of blog posts, highlighting some of the amazing women I met and nuggets of truth that I gleaned. But, I wanted to start out by giving an overview or summary of the conference. (I think they just call it a “conference” because there is not an adequate word to describe the experience. It was like no other conference I have ever been to.)
First of all, everyone—from the speakers to the sponsors to the attendees— was so sincerely nice and so friendly. I’m an introvert and, although God has delivered me from timidity, I still have a very quiet personality. But never once, the entire weekend did I ever feel ignored or left out or like I was not good enough to be in this crowd. I hope that noone else felt that way either. I tried to get out of my comfort zone and initiate conversations with strangers who soon became friends.
Secondly, the presence of God was so tangible… so sweet, so beautiful! I cannot imagine how many hours of prayer proceeded the conference, but I know it must have been a TON!
Every speaker spoke right to my heart… from the first one to the last. In fact, God spoke so clearly to me through the first speaker… bringing such conviction to my heart, but doing it so sweetly… that as we were walking back to our rooms that night, I told my roommates, “Even if there was nothing else, if tonight was it, it was totally worth it…” worth all the hard work it took to get here… worth every penny… worth every spiritual battle I fought to get here.
But that was NOT all God had for us. There was so much more. I will let these pictures tell the rest of the story.
(photos by Courtney of Coco Paige Photography)
Looks amazing! Can’t wait to read more of your posts about it. Loved that it was so clear that you were to be there. Sweet moments for sure.
So nice to meet you and eat dinner together at Declare!
Sounds like an amazing time Joditt. We should all attend a conference of some kind.