"The sea starts raging, I'm quickly fading as I take my eyes off you. Reality kicks in, fear rises within my soul and all of my faith is gone."
- Sarah Reeves
Sometimes, I can so relate to Peter. I can relate to his issues with fear of man, well fear in general, and I long to be the person he became in Acts. Far too often though, I seem to be stuck in the early version of Peter instead of moving forward to the Jesus talking, Holy spirit moving version of Peter.
I have felt like the early version of Peter a few times with this World Race journey. (Read Matthew 14: 22-33 if you need to know what I am talking about)
"Is that you Jesus? If it is You, tell me to follow you"
"It is Me, come follow."
And so I did.
It's not the heading out I have problems with, because my eyes are still fixed on Jesus. I long to follow Jesus wherever He leads me, because I love Him! I want to be brave and head out even if it's into impossible situations. My problem isn't the getting out of the boat. Like Peter, I get distracted by fear once I am out of the boat, in the thick of things if you will.
Fear is the opposite of faith, fear is something I have known often in my life. As a little girl, I knew what fear felt like. I knew what panic attacks felt like, the kind where you can't even cry because you can't breath. The feelings of being alone and rejected because fear of what others think has consumed my thoughts. But in the midst of the fear storm of my young life, I also learned the power of the word of God over fear. My mom taught me to quote 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind", in the middle of my worst moments of fear.
I used this verse a lot growing up, I relied on it to remind me that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). This reminder got me through a lot, it helped me know Jesus in a more powerful way as a young person.
Even though I don't deal with the heavy fear attacks like I used to, there are still moments when I sink back down into that raging sea of fear and doubt. One of those days was just a week or so ago. As I was laying in bed, I started being bombarded with the worries of the spending a year away from friends and family. "What if I'm not liked by my teammates? What if ministry isn't anything like what I am hoping it to be? What if a year away is too much for me to handle? What if I miss my family and friends too much? What if I'm not as strong as I think I am?" Oh the worries and fear starting rising, I had completely turned my eyes off of Jesus in that moment.
I had forgotten that He was the one that was calling me out here. But all that stopped when I felt a rush of remembrance, the story of Peter and how he began to sink when he lost sight of Jesus and started focusing on the waves and wind instead. But the BEST part of the story, is when Jesus reached His hand out and pulled Peter back up, and that's what I felt like He did to me last week. In bed, on the edge of tears, I felt him pull me back up to Himself with the reminder that His hand is enough for me to hold onto and be safe.
He has called me onto this sea called the World Race, there is so much unknown in it. But, I am choosing to not focus on all that I can't control and instead fix my eyes on Him.
I wonder what kind of an adventure Peter would have had with Jesus if He had kept his focus on Him? Just a thought of course. I kind of what to find out for myself what lies in store for those who choose to leave fear behind, hold His hand and head out all the way.
I am very very close to being 50% funded!!! This is amazing! It is all thanks to God my provider first of all, and secondly to all you of who have listened and given as the Lord has lead. I can't say thank you enough!
Dependent: Contingent on another. Relying on or requiring the aid of another for support.
If you know me very well, please try to remain calm after my next statement. Please stay in your chairs, take deep breaths because what is about to come out of my "mouth" is not something you hear from me very often. So, here we go, I am admitting to the world that
I. Need. Help.
I cannot do this on my own.
I have come to the realization that I can't do this whole fundraising thing on my own. I need some backup, so that is why I am writing this little blog. I have four ways you can help me raise the 11,000 I still need to go on the World Race.
1. Pray for me
2. Donate (Click "Support Me")
3.Help me spread the word
4. Sell bracelets
On the first subject, let me just say THANK YOU to everyone who has helped me raise 4,000 so far! I can't express my gratitude enough!
If you haven't given, it is easy. Simply pray, ask the Lord if you are supposed to give and how much, then click the link on the left that says "Support Me!". You will be in the right spot. Every single dollar makes a difference!
On the second subject, I need to get the word out about my World Race and you can be a huge help with this! I have printed prayer cards with my blog address on them, if you would like to carry some around with you to hand out as the Lord leads, please contact me! I would love to give you some! The more people who know and are praying, the better.
I am also looking for speaking opportunities. If you go to a church, youth group, prayer meeting or any other group with missions minded folks and have an in for me to share my story, I would love to talk with you! In speaking, I would be sharing what the World Race is, how I was called to it and what I will be doing on it. The more people that hear the better! To contact me, you can click the "Hit Me Up" button to your left, or use any other common communication method i.e.. cell phone, email or facebook.
Last, I am looking for a few individuals who would be willing to sell Threads Of Hope bracelets in their schools, workplaces or small groups. Threads of Hope is an awesome fundraiser that I have been using at the dance school I teach with. Each bracelet sells for two dollars, one dollar goes to me and the other goes back to the women in the Philippine who make them for a living. Win win! If you would be willing to sell them for me, spreading the word about my Race as you do or if you want to buy some for yourself, I would love to talk to you!
I am so thankful for the awesome support team that I already have in place with each of you. Thank you for being in my life and thank you to everyone who is willing to help!
Many people have been asking me, "What exactly are you going to be doing on the World Race?".
To be honest, I don't really know.
I don't know any details about what type of ministry we will be doing in each location or what part of the countries we will be working in or what kind of housing we will have. I don't know what churches or ministries we will be partnering with or if I will have running water and electricity or if we will be in the cities or rural areas because those aren't the most important things about this trip.
I only know the most important things about what I will be doing on the Race, and I would be glad to share them with you.
I know that I will bring identity to the fatherless.
(In India, the Dalit, or "untouchables", are considered the lowest of the low in the caste system. Dalits are considered worthless and useless, they are often illegally discriminated against. There are roughly 166 million Dalits living oppressed in India today.)
I know that I will bring truth to deception.
(When it comes to religion, the people of Nepal are 80% Hindu, 10% Buddhist, 5% Muslim and only 1% Christian.)
I know that I will bring freedom to the chained.
( In Thailand, it's estimated that 2 million women and children are living as forced prostitutes in the sex industry.)
I know that I will bring life where death has reigned.
(1.5 million people died at the hands of Pol Pot in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge of the 1970's. The emotional scars are still evident throughout the country.)
I know I will bring love to the broken.
(Vietnam is still a socialist nation after it's fall to communism in 1975. The people are restricted and oppression against Christians is present)
I know I will bring peace to turmoil.
(Rwanda has suffered many government changes and unrest within the ethic groups for generations. The last government control change brought death to 800,000 people in the genocide of 1994)
I know I will bring joy to sadness.
(Northern Uganda has suffered violence from the LRA for years. The Invisible Children are the children who have been abducted to work for the LRA, some 30,000 being from Uganda.)
I know I will bring healing to the sick.
( HIV/AIDS is the number one cause of death in Kenya.)
I know I will bring hope to the hopeless.
( Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in the entire world.)
I know that I will be bringing all these things, because I know Jesus will be with me. Jesus brings identity, truth, freedom, life, love, peace, joy, healing and hope wherever He goes.
Where I go, the spirit of God goes because he lives inside me. He will be the one doing all these things because He is the one who is sending me.
Will you be a part of what He is doing in all the world? To help send me on the World Race and at the same time send the love of God to the corners of the earth, click "Support Me" on the left hand side of this page. Thank you so much to those who have already given!
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life,
Last Thursday marked the beginning of the holiday season and for me, the beginning of one thought that keeps popping up in my mind. That thought is pretty simply, I won’t be here next year.
I won’t be working hard to prepare the perfect turkey. I won’t be sitting down with family to watch the Green Bay game with a piece of pumpkin pie. I won’t be drinking egg nog or peppermint lattes or going to the mall to fight the crowds for that perfect gift. No Nutcracker, no lights on the house and no snow. A thought like this can change you.
All these things have marked my holidays for many years and to read my list, it may seem that a bleak year is ahead, and that I am dreading it. This is partially true, I will miss many things about the holidays, but my thought of not being here is surrounded by an air of excitement and adventure. The excitement of the unknown and the adventure that lies within. Yes, I will miss my family and yes I will miss my friends. But these very people are part of the reason I am going because they have always encouraged me to follow close to my Savior, and he is leading me away from home. Away from comfort, away from routine, away from tradition.
Being lead away can be frightening, but I know whom I serve and I know he has big plans for my life. I am expecting that this trip will break me, so that Christ will be what holds me together. I am expecting deep sins such as pride, fear and gossip to be routed out, painful but necessary. I am expecting a new level of faith to arise as I see Him provide, financial provision only being the start. I expect that the greatest culture shock of the year will be when I leave the Race and fly home.
On this eleven country mission trip/adventure, I want to be willing to change. I want to see and be a part of the greater things that Jesus talked about. I want the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk and even the dead to dance. I want to be nothing so He can be everything.
The journey ahead is a long and sometimes daunting one, filled with so many unknowns. But no matter how hard a journey this World Race will be, if I am being used as an instrument of His love to the least of these, it will be worth it.
If you know me, then hopefully you know about the passion I have to reach the lost. Since I was 9 years old, I knew that one day I would have a place on the missions field and that dream was fulfilled for me in the fall of 2009 in the country of Kenya. For three months I did everything from teaching school and ministering in hospitals, to working in orphanages and preaching in open air markets.
Many of you supported me on that trip and I am still so grateful for that. Since coming home, my passion for evangelism has only strengthened I have longed for the voice of my Heavenly Father to tell me when I can go back. Well, His voice has recently given me the confirmation that I will once again be returning to the foreign mission field.
The trip the Lord has called me on is called The World Race. It’s an eleven month, eleven country missions trip, reaching out to the least of these throughout the world. My particular Race will be going to India, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania! I will be leaving in July of 2012. The World Race is a trip that is focused on releasing the Kingdom of God throughout the World. It’s a missions trip that uses people who are willing to leave everything and go anywhere to share the Love of Jesus. I know this trip will be an incredibly challenging, life altering experience. It is my joy to return to the mission field with AIM, doing similar ministry to what I did in Kenya once again.
On a trip of this magnitude, it is vital that I have a strong support system. I am asking you to join me on this journey fulfilling the great commission, to go into all the world and preach the gospel. One way you can be supporting me, is through prayer. While on the Race, I will be blogging and sharing what God is doing in me and in the countries I will be in. I would love for you to follow this blog as a reminder to pray for me! T
Along with the necessity of a strong prayer support team, I need to raise $15,500 for the entire eleven month trip. Since being accepted, I began to pray for one hundred people to join me with a monthly gift of $10, $15 or $20 a month from now until I am fully funded. Would you prayerfully considering choosing a monthly gift that would work for your budget and become one of one hundred? My goal is to be completely funded by July when I leave.
If you would like to support me on this trip, please click the link to the left that says, "Support Me!". Anything you can do is so greatly appreciated!
I am so excited to see everything that the Lord will do in me and through me on this Race, I hope you will be a part of my journey!
-Alyssa
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’" - Mat 2:37-40
