Our vision is to inspire, empower, educate one another through ongoing community exchange. One of the ways we’re doing this is through our Friday Community column, in a monthly series called In Your Words. We reach out to our contributors and guest writers to ask them a question once a month.
Read what our contributors have to say and share your answer in the comments below.
Have you connected with someone on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or online elsewhere that you would now call your friend?
Susan Panzica www.susanpanzica.com
Yes. I connected with my friend Tanya through Facebook (although we had met briefly once). Through her post and my comment, we followed up on an issue close to my heart - human trafficking. We met to plan an awareness event. That led us to a collaboration that became our organization, Justice Network (www.justice-network.org).
Kristin Hill Taylor www.kristinhilltaylor.com
I used to laugh (at least on the inside) when people met online. I didn’t understand how real connections could be formed like that.
I take it back.
I’m sorry I laughed, even if nobody actually heard me. I’m sorry I doubted the authenticity of the relationship just because it deepened through emails and Facebook messages.
My perception changed because some of the best encouragement in my life comes through emails, texts, Voxes, Facebook messages, tweets, and comments on my blog post. These friends of mine have prayed for me. They’ve promoted my eBook and sent real cards and gifts to my front porch. We may have met online, but they’ve shown up in real life – even if there are still some of them I’ve yet to meet in-person. These friendships are the beauty of technology. {I shared about this recently on my blog}
Alecia Simersky www.aleciasimersky.com
If you told me several years ago that online friends would become real-life friends I would have told you, you were crazy. It's an amazing new opportunity to meet people that you can connect with at a heart level that you never would have otherwise. I'm so thankful for all my online friendships.
Elise Daly Parker www.ourstoriesgodsglory.com
Oh my goodness...I have been so blessed by Holley Gerth, because she introduced me to a big group of friends through her God-sized Dream team book launch group. Through Holley's Facebook group, I met 99 wonderful women. Many of them have become friends in real-life. And one is actually in my town…as well as a Contributor to Circles of Faith, Chelle! These 99 women are from all over the country. But I am certain God had in mind a wonderful local friendship between me and Chelle started through the World Wide Web!!
Chelle Wilson www.treatmetoafeast.com
Ha! How do you think I met Executive Circles of Faith Editor Elise? We participated together on a national book launch team, and realized we were literally neighbors. She introduced me to Kimberly, and the rest is history.
Kristin Smith www.therichesofhislove.com
As crazy as it sounds, some of my dearest friends now are women I met online. I have also had the blessing of meeting many of them in person! While these friendships are, to some, unconventional...to me they are a gift!
Micalagh Moritz https://micalagh.wordpress.com
I have a friend who connected with me through her social work dissertation via email, and we became Facebook friends. Since then (almost two years ago), we have collaborated on a few projects and I've enjoyed getting to know her, though we haven't met in person yet!
Kimberly Amici www.kimberlyamici.com
Two people immediately come to mine. Angele Tanyeri and Kimberly Coyle (both contributors her on our site.)
Angele was emceeing at a conference I attended a few years back. She mentioned that she was a little nervous, and that as a stay-at-home mom and was new to participating in conferences like the one we were at. I tweeted her some encouraging words and told her to keep up the good work. Later in the day she tracked me down and thanked me. We connected instantly and have since become friends.
I love the words of Kimberly Coyle and frequently read her blog. When I was relatively new to social media, I mustered up the courage to mention her and her blog post on Twitter. Apparently she looked at my profile, because not only did she thank me for the mention but let me know we had NJ in common. She was living abroad at the time and mentioned she was returning to the area that upcoming summer. Eventually we met for lunch at a writers conference we both attended and that kicked-off our real life friendship.