Worthy Now returns with focus on healthy relationships

With shows like “The summer I turned pretty” depicting toxic relationships and social media cultivating unrealistic expectations, Thursday’s Worthy Now event will offer female students a time to focus on healthy relationships. 

This theme is in part a response to increased student interest in relationship counseling at Lee’s counseling center.

According to keynote speaker Briley Williams, lecturer of nursing, the event will explore how personal identity in Christ impacts relationships, particularly in a culture of comparison. 

“Comparison plays a huge role,” said Williams. “I remember even early in my marriage, I struggled with comparing my marriage to my friends’ marriages and to what I saw on Instagram. It’s not real life to compare your journey to somebody else’s.” 

Williams noted that social media often pressures women to meet unrealistic standards.

“We have this sense of jealousy, envy or just self-doubt—that we don’t have enough, that we’re not good enough,” she said.

Stacey York, chair of the Worthy Now committee and spiritual life events coordinator,  added comparison doesn’t stop at appearances or relationships.

“Even with spiritual gifts, women compare,” she said. “Like, ‘I wish I could sing. I wish I could pray for people the way you do. I wish I could speak as well as you do and write as well as you know how…But the reminders are great—that this is how God created them. And the gifts He’s put into you are good and meant for you.”

Other keynote speakers will be Ghalysa Swann-White, a staff counselor; and students Sadie Beth Eby and Sarah Beth Savell.

“I’m excited to share what I feel like the Lord has put on my heart,” said Eby. “It’s about healthy relationships and navigating how you walk with others—whether in friendships or romantic relationships.”

Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss the keynotes at roundtables with facility facilitators. The night will also include a panel discussion, worship, and dessert.

Worthy Now is a women’s ministry event centered on helping students understand their value in Christ. The event began in 2014 as a small meeting  and has grown into a large-scale campus ministry, according to York.

“It started as a small book club,” said York. “From there it became a movement of wanting other women on this campus to know their worth in Christ.”

York, along with committee members Mary Chrislin Gray, coordinator of events, and Rachel Pitts, assistant director of teacher education, oversee the planning of the event, which now operates under Lee’s Campus Ministries. The team organizes Worthy Now through both large conferences and roundtable discussions. 

Worthy Now is open to all female Lee students on Thursday, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the SMC Great Room.