Under the stars at Seven Palms, women from Azusa Pacific University, Loyola Marymount and Chapman University met for a Women’s Worship Night hosted by Live Salted on Thursday, Feb. 23.
Blankets and plush pillows were adorned on the grass to encourage guests that they were in an inviting and comfortable environment.
Students and friends wrapped themselves in warm clothes, booties and blankets on the cool night. Guests made themselves comfortable as possible to receive the message that Live Salted and APU students delivered.
Sophomore nursing major Kirstin Cuevas arrived early to the event with a friend saying that she was excited to surrounded by women empowering one another on women’s issues.
Speaker Krista Hengesh founded Live Salted on November 2015 with the mission to “inspire college and millennial women to discover their God-given calling and use their passions to mold culture and positively impact the world,” according to Live Salted’s mission statement.
Sophomores Dominique Razor, Kayla Suits, and friends went to a Live Salted event in October 2016 at Chapman University. After the initial introduction to Live Salted Ministries they knew they wanted to bring a similar event to the women on their own campus.
After three months of planning, the women succeeded in executing their vision. They facilitated a ministry lead event on campus to inspire college aged women.
The theme for the night of worship was comparison. Hengesh described comparison as a barrier that limits women’s ability to view other women as sisters. Comparison instead matches person against person. This was mentioned as a dangerous place. Hengesh said women need to stop viewing one another as competition. For this is not the way God wants us to look at each another or view ourselves. Instead, individuals should realize how much God loves them and build their firm foundation on this truth.
The crowd worshipped along with the Kaleo band. In the middle of singing the chorus to “Build my Life” by the Housefires, sophomore music and worship major Asytn Turrrentine revealed that she couldn’t stop singing the bridge, “And I will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation and I will put my trust in you alone and not retake it.”
Basing identity on the acknowledgment that God loves us greatly was the theme weaved through the three speaker’s messages.
Junior ministry major Jinnie Choi spoke her testimony about how the key to breaking comparison is being thankful.
“When you think about how you’re thankful for someone, text them, let them know.” Choi said.
Hengesh specified two exercises in which women could break the bonds of comparison.
The first exercise consisted of the following steps.
Step one: Grab a mirror and an erasable marker.
Step two: Take three to five minutes to write down all the lies believed about oneself onto the mirror.
Step three: Add an additional five more minutes to ask God what He thinks about you and write them on the mirror as well.
Step four: After the truths are written down in permanent, erase the lies.
Step five: Stand on the truth that remains.
“But to each of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it” (Ephesians 4:10).
Dominique Razor closed out the night with a prayer.
“Tonight was a really incredible way.. to break down those walls of comparison and those issues of bitterness to diminish that competition and invite the spirit into our friendships,” Razor said. “I think tonight it really cultivated that and I hope it continues here on campus.”