Girl's Bible study creates community
On a Tuesday morning, the girls in room 403 were preparing to surprise their secret sisters with an encouraging gift. Once the gifts were exchanged, the girls smiled at the notes of encouragement, as they were just the words they needed to hear.
Secret sisters is just one of the things in Anchored that contributes to bringing community together and building stronger relationships with God.
Through Anchored, many things are taught, including learning about community and strengthening your relationship with God. In this Soar, these girls are able to rely on each other by opening up about their own experiences. Due to this, trust between each other grows stronger. Juliana Hopeck, a senior, went on to say, “When you are vulnerable it makes others more comfortable and more willing to open up.” The girls open up with their own experiences to make others feel comfortable with their own situations. The leaders, Juliana Hopeck and Katherine Marshall, who are seniors, plan on being more uplifting. They also plan on Anchored being a place where these girls can talk about those things that hurt and burden them, although, their goal is to focus on finding light in bad situations. For these leaders, Anchored is an opportunity to lead girls in faith because of the gifts of leadership that God has given to them.
The community gives the ability to reflect on others' experiences. Kirsten Braunius, a sophomore, also mentioned how the community keeps her accountable and helps her grow. With the community, the girls are able to have a deeper connection with God due to others' encouragement. The questions that are asked also lead to more conversations that make people think deeply about more things. Skylar Kuiken, a freshmen, says, “EC gives the opportunity in Soars like this to make new friends and have friendships where the rock of our relationship is Christ and I think that's a really good thing.” Anchored allows the girls in Eastern Christian to center their friendships off of God. Kirsten Braunius mentioned, “God puts people in life for a reason and Anchored is in my life for a reason because these girls are going to help make a difference in my life and I can help make a difference in theirs.” With the community of Anchored, there is more opportunity to build deeper connections with people that you may not know. Anchored helps build relationships on a deeper, more spiritual level, in which God is at the center. Skylar continued to say, “It is good to be in a group with girls that are all striving for the same relationship with God.” Juliana continued to say that Anchored brings girls from all groups together. Meaning that no matter who your friends are, Anchored is a place where you can come and spend time deepening your relationship with God.
Due to Anchored, many of the girls have been able to strengthen their relationship with God. They are able to do this by reading scripture, having open discussions, and praying. Skylar says, “Anchored makes me think about my surroundings and see how God loves everyone.” Anchored provides a safe space that is focused on God and community. Kirsten Braunius also mentioned that, “Anchored helps God be at the center of my life during the course of the school year.” During the chaos of the school year and having busy schedules makes it difficult to have a time in which someone can focus completely on God. Although, this Soar gives us time to do this. As Juliana said, “this drives her to focus more on God.” Not only does this Soar give Juliana an opportunity to help other girls with their relationship with God, but it also helps hers. Juliana strives to set an example for these girls. Skylar said, “It’s just a bunch of girls who want the same thing, so when you just go in there and get to know people who also love God becomes a really positive impact on your relationship with Christ and yourself in general.”