Wednesday night in the chapel undercroft, women from Calvin’s campus gathered for the From Her Heart series for a time to seek community and learn about what it means to discern the will of God.This was the second event of the From Her Heart series, which seeks to bring together women from all years and majors at Calvin to talk about faith and learn more about how people understand God in their lives.

At the event Emily Colledge, a Project Neighborhood mentor and Calvin Seminary student, spoke about her faith journey and the way that she has seen God’s will at work in her life.

Colledge focused her talk on John 1:5, which says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.” She spoke honestly about areas of darkness throughout her life and shared the importance of community as we each seek God’s will and work through our own darkness.

In addition to talking about her personal experiences, Colledge gave practical advice for how to discern God’s will. She shared her own story of the wide variety of jobs she’s had over the years — from being a resident director at Calvin to doing non-profit work, from living in Nashville for a few years to working in an ice cream shop last year. She shared her joy in never knowing where God might lead her next and not always having it all figured out.

The series began after juniors Enrika Sinkeviciute and Caitlin Wikkerink attended a women’s conference last year and decided they wanted to create a space at Calvin where women could talk about their faith and seek God together.

“We looked around Calvin and saw that there’s the January Series, the Sexuality series, UnLearn Week, but there was nothing that was just women gathering together,” said Wikkerink. From Her Heart was created out of the desire for a time when women at Calvin could learn and journey together. Sinkeviciute and Wikkerink wanted to be able to foster conversations about issues facing women while incorporating faith into that discussion.

Sinkeviciute explained, “This really started by asking, ‘What does God speak into our lives and how do we follow that?’”

At each event, the series invites women who have already graduated from college and asks them to answer the question, “How do you see God’s will in your life and what advice do you have for us to follow after God’s will?” This has provided the opportunity for college students to seek further the meaning of God’s will in their lives by talking to women who have experienced this in various ways.

Sophomore Ali Haberling, who attended the event on Wednesday, shared, “I think it’s important for women to come together as a community at Calvin and talk about the things that are going on in our lives and the things that we’re struggling with. It’s cool to have certain people set up to speak to us who know what we’re going through and be in a mentor position where we can learn from them.

From Her Heart will hold its next event on Tuesday, March 22.