Beloved Ministries hosts a night of womens' fellowship
Attendees nailed their sisters’ checklist of hardships to the Cross to symbolize surrendering their painful past experiences to Jesus.
Photo by Kenzie Jade, Staff Reporter
Last Friday, Beloved Ministries hosted “LOVE,” an event that involved an evening of worship, dance and an interactive message that welcomed women of all ages and backgrounds.
Director of Beloved Ministries and Professor of Psychology and Human Development Dr. Susan Ashcraft said the purpose of the event was to create a bridge between Beloved Ministries and the community.
“[Beloved] has grown so much. We don’t only have college students; we have graduate students, we have faculty, we have staff,” Ashcraft said. “[It consists of] all different ages of ladies that are pouring into one another at different points along the journey.”
The theme of the evening's night of fellowship was “Love hurts. Love helps. Love heals.”
Junior English major and Beloved member Kendyl Wadley said that she hoped attendees grasped the intended meaning of the event.
“This event focused on being able to rid that shame from your life and be free from it,” Wadley said. “My intention and hope was that ladies that showed up understood that shame is not a part of who they’re supposed to be and this event would help them see that.”
Women associated with Beloved Ministries welcomed attendees with a scroll and a pencil while instructing attendees to wait until Ashcraft asked them to open up the scroll.
Midway through the evening, Ashcraft asked attendees to unroll the sheets of paper, which contained checklists of different hardships, including suicidal thoughts, the feeling of not being enough or having experienced abuse of any kind.
Attendees marked each of the hardships they had personally experienced and passed their checklists around the room, until they were mixed in an anonymous fashion, and each attendee held the scroll of an unknown “sister.”
Ashcraft and life coach Sandi Kramer read out the responses and asked attendees to stand if their “sister” had a checkmark next to that statement.
Ashcraft said that the exercise was powerful and revealed that the girls were not alone in their experiences.
“I think that sometimes when we are in our pain and very wounded, we get isolated. I think that exercise shows that we’re not isolated; we have one another. We can help one another along the way,” Ashcraft said.
Freshman psychology major and attendee Aeris Almendarez said that the most impactful part of the event was the checklist exercise.
“I didn’t know how bad some people have had it here or still do have it here,” Almendarez said. “I’ve always tried to be nice to everybody because you never know someone’s situation, but after seeing how many people just in that group were so affected, [I was] enlightened.”
Almendarez explained that after the event she wanted to know and understand more people's stories and believes those stories need to be brought to light.
Ashcraft said she hopes that more women join Beloved ministries.
“Girls don’t feel worth; they don’t feel valued, and I think it’s very meaningful for another woman to look and say, ‘Hey, I’ve been there too, and this is how I walked my path. Come along with me; let me hold your hand,’” Ashcraft said.
Ashcraft further explained she hopes Beloved Ministries starts a bigger movement in the community.
“I just want to wrap my arms around all these women and let them know that God sees them, God loves them and God cares about them,” Ashcraft said.
For those interested in Beloved Ministries, Ashcraft hosts a women's meeting every Thursday night at her home.
For more details, contact Ashcraft at sashcraft@leeuniversity.edu.
