What our HS students had to say about last week

Last week, Eastern Christian High School completed its third Spiritual Emphasis Week in recent history. The event took place during SOAR time, and featured something different each day, ranging from pastor Q&A panels, to featured speakers, to worship, to prayer, to student testimonies.

An event like this requires the help of many. We are grateful for the eleven pastors who gave their time, the parents in prayer team who prayed for and then with our students, the staff members who planned, served on worship and prayer teams, talked with students, and moderated sessions, the students who were willing to share their testimonies, and especially our Project Lead students, a group of amazing young people who have been working behind the scenes during Thursday SOARs to make this a reality. Behind all of these human efforts was a faithful God who put our loaves and fishes together for his glory.

At the end of the week, we asked students in an anonymous form: “How has the Lord worked in you this week?” and “In reflecting on the week of sessions, is there anything in particular that you are grateful for or moved by?”

We were hoping the answers would be enough to merit a celebration blog, and they certainly were–so much so we had to edit back to only highlights. As you read student responses, may you be encouraged that the Lord is answering many prayers and we hope you’ll be emboldened to pray even more over this generation. He is faithful to a thousand generations of those who are in Christ Jesus!

How has the Lord worked in you this week?

• He has worked through all the people that have supported me. He made me understand that the situations I’m in are only so that He can form me into His image.
• The worship was amazing this week. I’ve never felt more one with the worship and the people I was worshiping with.
• I was holding back tears, trying to pretend I was okay during the chapel. Then, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I released all the pain I had held in for months. I cried as I hugged my friends and they prayed for me. It was the comfort I had needed for a long time.
• The Lord has told me to fast my phone because it is a distraction. I feel more at peace and my mind is more still and able to hear His voice. I’ve also been prayed over and prayed for friends going through deliverance this week. PRAISE GOD He is so good and working in the place.
• Through the pastor panel, I have grown to appreciate that guilt is not from the Lord but that conviction is. It is very encouraging in my faith to have my peers open up about their faith.
• There were certain things I was struggling with personally–seeing how important I am to God as a Christian. Hearing the different testimonies and sermons, I felt God speaking to me personally because it was exactly what I needed to hear in that place and time.
• I took prayer especially this week more seriously.
• This week the Lord has worked in me through telling me that the only answer is Him, no matter how many times I turn Him away.
• The Lord has shown me how powerful and loving he can be through His word.
• I have grown stronger in my faith throughout this week…This week has helped me discover who I am as a child of God and reaffirmed that God loves me unconditionally.
• This week I have made the realization that I truly want and need to surrender my life to Jesus. I think it is so important to lift our eyes upon Jesus and not on earthly things as we go through high school. The Lord has been putting a lot of things on my heart recently, and this week has helped me fully surrender to God and trust in His plans for my life.
• For me, Spiritual Emphasis Week has been a great time to think deeper about my faith and be able to share that experience with others.
• I feel like a new person and I feel happy and hopeful. The Lord has truly turned my life around.

In reflecting on the week of sessions, is there anything in particular that you are grateful for or moved by?

• The amount of pastors and speakers that came to EC during this time is something to be more than grateful for.
• I am so grateful for some of the EC moms and staff who came and prayed for me. I had not planned for that to happen but I felt the Lord calling me. I had never met or talked to some of them but I feel so grateful for them and I feel like I have known them for years.
• The amount of bravery shown by the people that stepped out of their comfort zones really moved me.
• When I felt God call me to receive prayer, I felt God in my heart more than ever.
• The student testimonials were very moving…and also some of the conversations that I had with people were both eye opening and moving.
• I was moved by how our EC community really came together to spend intentional time with the Lord and to see how God was moving in the room and in each of the student’s hearts.
• The indescribable feeling of all the students opening up and coming together for prayer.
• I am grateful for this Christian community fueling me for when I am out of a Christian community and have to demonstrate my Christian independence.
• I am always grateful for the pastor panels we have. I appreciate the format to talk about faith outside of a regular chapel setting.
• I’m grateful that the Lord is so beautiful and revealing Himself to this school. And He will use this school in mighty ways for the good of His kingdom.
• Spiritual Emphasis Week is a life changing event and I pray that the school will continue to have these and even more weeks like it. The Lord is truly doing something in this school.
• I love EC!