During the last week of every January, Judson amends Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday class schedules to free up the 11 a.m. class period for three special worship services collectively called Christian Emphasis Week. This important tradition has existed here at Judson for just over seven decades.
As Alexis Whetstone, one of the student leaders for Judson’s weekly Revive service, stated, “Christian emphasis week is a time where we come together as a whole campus to focus on our faith in Christ. It is a week full of learning and spiritual growth that provides for both a grounding and enriching experience. It is also a beautiful reminder of how fortunate we are to go to a school that prioritises faith and allows for such opportunities of intentional fellowship together.”
This year, Judson invited Grace Thornton, a blogger and author, to be Christian Emphasis Week’s guest speaker. Thornton grew up in Mississippi where her mother, a Bible school teacher, brought her up in the church. After graduating from Mississippi College, Thornton moved to Alabama. During this year’s Christian Emphasis Week, Thornton spoke to the Judson community about how to let go of the burning desire to control our own lives and how to, instead, let God guide our lives. This is also the subject of Thornton’s book I Don’t Wait Anymore: Letting Go of Expectations and Grasping God’s Adventure for You.
Thornton explained that she wrote her book because the idea of waiting on God to give her the things she expected in life, including a husband, “was such a huge spiritual issue in my own life [symbolised by her purity ring]. I wrestled with God when the things I wanted didn’t work out, and it was at that place that God really came in and brought peace. I really wanted to write down, for friends and others, what He did for my own heart.” Completely and utterly content in God, Thornton is currently single.