Let’s meet Elisa Gary and find out how she
helps other get the permission they need to succeed. Elisa is the director of
The 1st Ministry Initiative, and organizer of The Complete Woman
Fellowship (T.C.W.F). The 1st
Ministry Initiative is a non profit ministry which seeks to encourage and
strengthen families. They serve as an
information portal, providing valuable resources and information to assist individuals
and families; They strive to be a source of inspiration and support. Through
The Complete Woman Fellowship, they provide weekly conference calls and meet ups,
prayer, mentoring, counseling and outreach to women of all ages.
How much research did you do before
you made your move?
I really did not do any research. The
project stemmed from my own personal issues; questions I petitioned the Lord
for. I wanted to be able to apply the gospel to my life, but sometimes got lost
in the Thee’s and Thou’s of written scripture. I wanted to be able to apply the
word to my daily living in a tangible and practical way. Hence, The Complete Woman Fellowship was
born. I would analyze problems that I faced in my own life and devour the bible
seeking practical advice on how to deal with these problems. I am not a
technical person, so I did have to do some research on how to organize a
conference call, promote the call, create a website and organize the content,
but through prayer and perseverance I was able to succeed.
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| New book by Elisa Gary |
What did your friends say when you told them about your dream?
I shared my idea of the weekly call with a
few people while it was in the development phase, must of whom thought it was a
good idea. However, some I could tell did not buy into the idea. I guess they
did not see how attending the call, or how my facilitating the call would be
beneficial to their own lives, let alone to others. I saw this in the lack of
enthusiasm when discussing T.C.W.F and lack of attendance on the calls by some
of my closest friends and family.
Did you have any people who did not
believe in you?
I am sure that there were people in my life
who did not think the call was valuable, or would be a success. They may have
looked at it as just another one of my projects, but no one every said this to
me directly.
Describe a life-defining moment of
change?
I
did have a very notable experience however, with a church member asking me if I
was trying to start a church of my own.
Surprisingly this jolted me. I never perceived my actions or
facilitating the weekly calls would portray me as trying to be a pastor. I
simply was trying to find answers to hard question. Seeking to be transparent
and tackle hard situation by listening to the authentic voice of God. This one
statement completely changed my outlook of the weekly calls. I then understood
that whether people joined in on the calls or not, my messages were powerful,
and life changing to those that heard them.
Did you have moments of doubts about
what you wanted to do, and how did you overcome it?
There were weeks when I simply did not want
to do the call. I felt like no one cared what I had to say, or if anyone was
even listening. There was actually a 3
week span where I would get on the call, stay 15 minutes and if no one joined,
I would hang up. This to me was being obedient. I felt like if I was there and
no one dialed in I had done my part. I would say to myself “see God I was here,
it’s not my fault no one called in”. However, I quickly realized that even in
this, I was being selfish and disobedient to my calling. I had to get out of my
flesh and rise above my pride and do the call anyway. So I started recording
the calls and posting them as an mp3 online. To my surprise people were
listening and had lots to say about the impact the lessons had on them and
their outlook on their situations.
What did you do to stay motivated
through the process?
To stay motivate I had to endure a
complete paradigm shift. I had to realize that the calls were not about how
many people joined in, but about the message from the lesson being released
into the atmosphere. I forced myself to
commit to completing the lessons each week and then carrying out the call as if
it was jam packed.
Did you ever get down on yourself
because you felt like you were not making progress?
Absolutely,
even after revamping my attitude towards the call and refocusing my
energy I still had times where I questioned if God was still calling me to complete
this task or not.
What advice would you give the person
who is reading this blog and has been hesitant about granting themselves the
permission to succeed?
Listen to that still quiet voice inside of
you. Ask yourself these questions. What is it that has been kicking in your
belly? What thing have you played with in your mind of doing, but may seem
silly or farfetched? What one thing
would you do if you knew your couldn’t fail? More importantly get quiet,
retract from the hustle and bustle of life, seek solace in knowing that God has
purposed you for much and will order your path if you allow him to be the
Master Planner of your life.
Five years from now what’s your
dream? Five years ago where did you want to be and are you closer or have you
achieved your dream?
Five years from now I believe that
The Complete Woman Fellowship will be an international organization; a global
union of women, walking in their purpose, healing each other through
encouragement, and love. I hope to be
traveling and speaking at many gatherings, pouring into women the message that
they are valuable and needed. Helping them realize their worth despite their
current circumstances. I want to empower them, challenge them to make their
mess their message and become complete even if they feel they are broken.
What advice or motivation would you like to
leave the readers about giving yourself permission to succeed?
Don’t base your start off of predefined
failure. This means, don’t make your
idea of success a prerequisite of getting started. Sometimes, what we envision
as success is not the creators’ definition by far. We must simply began to do
the work and let the chips fall where they may.
Below is a great offer and links to
reach Elisa Gary
To connect with Elisa and receive a
complimentary 30 minute one on one self-work session with me text Iamcomplete (all one word)
to 90210.
Email info@thecompletewomanfellowship.com
face book http://www.facebook.com/#!/CompleteWomen
Twitter http://twitter.com/1stMinistry
1st Ministry Blog http://www.thecompletewomanfellowship.com/
This is such an interesting article. I am part of the group on Facebook, but I did not realize the magnitude of what you do. Now I am even more excited and want to find time to increase my participation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with my blog. if you have a business you would like to speak about please let me know..thanks.
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