“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” Mark 16:15

I was fortunate to have spent the entirety of my youth in a realm of fairy tales and made-up stories, nonsensical to the average individual, but perfectly sensible to me. I wrote tales of adventures set in wild and outlandish places, with characters who bore the mark of a fearlessness I could only ever dream of obtaining one day. I operated in the abstract, painting portraits of myself in unrecognizable strokes on a canvas and writing songs with words indecipherable to all but myself.     

And as I began to step out of my beautiful, handmade tale of pure fiction, stepping into the dark complexities of reality, I found Jesus waiting for me there. It took time to connect the wonders of my childhood to the wonders of the world He had crafted. It took effort to interpret the colors my mind had invented as an arrow pointing towards a future I never could have dreamt of in my wildest, most outrageous dreams. But when I finally saw Him in the middle of my storybook tales, when I finally heard Him in the midst of my indecipherable songs, when I finally felt Him in the strokes of my paintbrush on canvas, I realized that the fearless adventures I’d dreamt of were dreams He’d gifted me.                   

And now, as I embark upon a journey so grand and greatly pivotal in my walk with Christ, I am undeniably thrilled to have an opportunity to view Jesus’ beauty, grace, and love through the eyes of a stranger from a land far from my own. To venture into the unknown, to shed the skin of daily vanities and materialism, to embrace community surrounded by God’s undeniable presence will be the epitome of every adventure in every story book I could have ever read or written.                                                                 

Thank you for joining me in prayer, in faith, and in support as I work towards building God’s Kingdom here on Earth.

You Are Loved,

Aliseya