Home Sweet Home

When I was in Fifth grade we sold our house in hopes of building a home closer to town, which never worked out. Since that day I have not lived in house but I grew up in amazing home. For the longest time all I ever wanted was a permanent building that my family could call our home. Then we joined the carnival and a travel trailer that moved from fair to fair became our house. It was not my ideal situation and I swore that when I graduated I was going to move out into my own house. I just wanted a place to call my own, hold ALL of my stuff, and be my home. Well God most definitely had a different idea right after High School I did YWAM (youth with a mission) and that was far from normal and for 6 months I travelled between LA, Arizona and multiple cities in Chile. Then during the summer I started traveling with an Alaskan carnival. It was also far from normal. The next year I staffed a skateboarding school and I figured I would be in one spot for a bit however that school decided they wanted to be a traveling school so pretty much I lived out of my car for a few months. Then I got to settle down for a solid 3 months at the YWAM base but then summer came and I was traveling with the carnival again. I finally have been able to settle down in an apartment for 7 months and it feels amazing, however its not because I have an apartment like a "normal" person. It is because God has shown me that "home" is not a place it is a state of mind. I feel at home now because I have learned how to be content no matter where I am actually living. In Matthew it talks about how a wise man builds his house on the Rock and when the storm comes it can stay solid. Jesus is teaching me how to build my house, my heart in reality, on the Rock so that no matter what "house" I am living in, my home is on the solid foundation of contentment and that it has Jesus to support it. In Proverbs it also talks about working the fields before settle down at home. I feel right now God has me out working the fields and its not time for me to settle in my home yet and I don't plan on coming out of the fields until He calls me home to heaven because the most important thing while I am here on earth is not to store up material things like a house and furniture but it is took gather souls to come to heaven with me. By all means I am not saying that I will never own a house, that is still a great desire I have, but I don't want my "home" to mean that I am comfortable just sitting around and being normal. I know God has called me to tell people all around in every field that I encounter of His great love. If that means never having a house or having a giant house where I can host events I know that I will be "home" because He has been teaching how to have a content heart no matter the living space. Paul writes:

Philippians 4:11-12

11 ...I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

That is my goal. I want to be content like Paul learned to be. He went through so much and no matter what his circumstances he was content. I have a long ways to go and it will definitely be a struggle sometimes, but realizing that my home is in my heart is a good first step for me and I can not wait to see what He shows me next. 

Peace, Prayer and Fashion!

So just this past week I was a volunteer for Style Fashion Week in downtown LA. This was my 5th season volunteering, however it was held at a new venue this year so it was a totally different experience. Since the beginning we have openly claimed our true reason for being there which was to share the love of Christ. The head people have really appreciated our group so much that we have been put in higher position.

This past week Jessica (my leader) was put as co producer for stage two Shannon (another girl from our group) was also put in that position too. Our team of girls was all put under there supervision and they worked directly below the stage two producer, Hosue. We weren't to sure how everything would play out or even if Hosue would like us. However we just went about doing our work as for the Lord. We prayed as a group and openly shared about Jesus. Hosue definitely noticed and he loved it. He would find us and ask us to prayer for situations. He would join in on our prayers and really appreciated everything we did. He loved Shannon and Jess and formed a friendship. He really liked every girl in our group and was so thankful for us. It was really cool to see our friendship grow with him. 

The unity in our group and with Hosue really made stage two run very smoothly. We all helped each other and Jess and Shannon were so good at keeping things organized that it created a stress free environment. Even when things were going very wrong we would all huddle together and pray and by the grace of God the problems would smooth over.  Stage one volunteers noticed the overall atmosphere of stage two and they would come over and comment on how peaceful this side of backstage was. It was such an open door to share Christ with the other volunteers. One really neat story was I got to share the gospel with a Muslim dresser. She was going through a separation and also trying to pursue a modeling career. She was struggling with hurt from the Christian church that she experienced in the past and also having a hard time with her body image. I got to talk with her for a very long time and another Christian dresser (not part of our group) also joined the conversation. It was really neat I got to invite them both to Models For Christ (MFC) but the really awesome thing was that Hosue came over to me and asked me to prayer for a stressful situation so I gathered some members of our group and we began to pray the Muslim dresser and other Christian dresser joined us and they were able to see the power of prayer because peace very quickly replaced the stress in the room and we were able to totally accredit it to God. Peace was such a testimony of God's presence this past week. 

Prayer is always a huge part of Fashion Week for our group. Every moment that is convenient to pray as a group we take gratefully. We also pray all throughout the night. We pray with the dressers. We pray with the staff. We pray with the models. We go outside for a moment and pray alone. We cover every night in prayer. Throughout the whole year with lift this event up in prayer. We should not be in the position that we are in. We are above people who have gone to fashion school and have degrees yet God has entrusted us with this amazing opportunity so we do not take it for granted and prayer over every decision. Throughout this week I was able to personally pray with models before they walked the runway. Each one was so grateful. Through these experiences I have really realized the power of prayer. It is such a strong tool God has given us to use. I feel if we did nit rely on God and pray to Him continually through this time we would be able to do nothing. 

Philippians 4:13

"I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

This verse has a whole new meaning to me because I am not qualified to do these things. I do not have the skill level or education as the other volunteers but through Christ I can do all things and all the glory goes directly to Him. 

It's amazing to see God work through us so much in this one week. He has done so many miraculous things that it just blows my mind to think about them. I wish I could blog every single story but it would be really long so throughout my blog I will just add some here and there. Hope you enjoy and see how God is moving so incredibly in the fashion and entertainment industry. 

A Blog About My Blog!

Hey Everyone,

So blogging has not always been super appealing to me, but lately God has really been laying it on my heart and with a little encouragement from friend I decided to give it a shot. So I kind of thought I would just start out by giving everyone a little history lesson on my life and what I see for my blog.

So my name is Alissa. I come from an incredible family that I love dearly. They all live in Arizona and as for me I do not know exactly where to pin point my home. I am blessed to have many homes, I live in Alaska for 4 months of the year and the rest of the year I am temporarily living in California however my off time and holidays are spent in the lovely desert of Arizona. You may ask why in the world do you go to Alaska? Well let me tell you, I have an amazing job there in the summer as an airbrush face painter and I absolutely love it! I work for an incredibly family who displays Godly business characteristics every day in and out of the work place. Now you may wonder why don't I just stay in the beautiful state of Alaska? Well its not just because the winters are extremely harsh and cold it is mainly because I have an amazing opportunity to volunteer with a ministry called Beauty Arise. My passion is to see girls find their true identity and value in Christ and this is exactly what Beauty Arise is created to do and they are located in the sunny state of California and I am able to volunteer their from September to May each year! I know its pretty much living the dream, I get to be in a gorgeous state in summer but then I get to escape the coldness and soak of the California winter and its so close to my home state that I can just drive over whenever needed and the best part yet is that my incredible boyfriend goes to school in California right by me and to top it all off he is part of the amazing family I work with in Alaska! I know God is so awesome to me!!

Well there you have a little about me and through my blog you will learn more. So that brings me to the point of this blog. Its main goal is to encourage YOU! I have had my ups and downs and have learned and am still learning a lot on this grand adventure. So on here I would like to share my struggles and some of the life lessons God has taught me through some amazing experiences and people. Some posts will be current and some I will dig out the old journals to share with you. I want this blog to be real and raw and just be a way to help some of you with what you are going through too. So I hope that you wont just enjoy reading it be you will be inspired and want to apply God's truths to your life.

Love,
A Daughter of the Most High

Some Beauty Arise Staff

My amazing Boyfriend and I in Alaska