This is a short video of the DTS program I will be doing at YWAM Denver.

Washed by the Waters

          As I continue to seek the Lord, a reocurring theme has made a home for itself in my head. I am no longer satisfied with remaining idle in my walk, I desire to reach new levels of my faith, I thirst to be made more thirsty still. With all this being said, the Lord desired for me to take a neccessary step in my pursuit. He wanted me to get baptized. This realization was brought to my attention when one of my best friends prophesied over me. The thought had previously crossed my mind, but my flesh just swept it away, and then one day..not long after I had this thought, I received a text from my friend just simply stating, "I think you should get baptized, pray about it." There was no doubt in my mind this was the Lord, but my resoponse revealed a hint of doubt. "I dont belong to a home church, and all of the churches I looked up, wont be holding baptisms until the fall." Her response(God's response), "Make your own." There it was. A simple command from my Father, giving me a gift that I asked for..to go deeper.
        
           Now if you know me, you know that I love being surrounded by people, I am comfortable in large crowds, and if challenged, I could probably create a 20 minute conversation out of any word you throw at me. But, ironically..I HATE being the center of attention. Words flow through my mind every second, but when put on the spot, I scramble to find one syllable. Weird I know. I love how the Lord honored this by orchestrating my baptism the way He did. He allowed me to be baptized in a setting that suited the person I am, the way He created me.
      
           So on Saturday evening my sweet little family, my sweet beloved friend Linda, and I all hiked down a quaint little trail off of Red Top Mountain, and found a secluded spot right by the lake. This was where I was baptized. Yep, in Lake Allatoona, flesh eating bacteria & all. This moment was so beautiful. My brother baptized me as my Dad prayed over me, and when I went into that murky water I felt nothing but a sound peace and I felt my heavenly Father say to my heart, "It is well." When I submerged from the water I just looked up at those sweet smiling faces and just tried to absorb this sacred moment. I tried to absorb what this represented. This representation was a proclomation of my salvation. This sweet salvation that I did NOTHING to deserve. Those murky waters represent the blood of Christ that completely washed away my former life. Those murky waters represent a declaration of freedom. Those murky waters represent a new pursuit, a pursuit of purity & holiness. . Those murky waters represent a preperation of becoming Christ's bride. Those murky waters represent grace. I just pray that the Lord continues to shatter the doubt that clouds my pursuit and to believe that He is going to take me deeper, and that He will design these opportuinites for me to do so. It is just up to me to listen with an obedient heart, and to act on it.

 Lamentations 3:25 "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him."

Love you all, Lys.

My first post, nothing fancy.

I want to preface this blog with a solid statement. I have been keeping journals since I was in sixth grade. At the age of twelve I learned that my soul equates with the method of pouring my thoughts, emotions, heart aches, victories, stories, poems, prayers, cries, etc. onto multiple pieces of paper, finishing that last cogent statement, over dramatically puncuating that last sentence, and then closing that journal, binding all of these personal details into a secret place. This simple craft became an outlet for me. An escape. A safe haven. An art. So I am stamping this blog with a huge disclaimer. I am taking my pages and molding them into a story. A story of my heart. This blog is going to be real. Real messy, real honest, and real vulnerable. Dont say I didnt warn ya.












With that said, here's a little bit about me for those who do not know me, and those who think they do;) Name's Alyssa, close friends call me Lys, and a select few call me Lyssy(secretly my fav). I would deem myself an old soul, I enjoy things that are timeless and rare. I am an avid thrifter, and until a year ago I thought Michael Kors was a Japanese basketball player. I am a closet neat-freak (for those of you who have known me for years...yes its new) My goal is to have hair that is referred to as "like that of a mermaid",I have terrible hand writing, and I secretly cry at the holiday publix commercials. I thrive off of fellowship and good listeners, you know..the ones who you can tell are literally fostering every verbal word and empathizing with your situation, man those people are too good for my soul. My brother is one of those people. Speaking of, my brother takes up a huge chunk of my heart, he is the greatest human being I will ever meet, and he is my best friend, although that term really doesnt even give our relationship justice, it'll do for now until my vocabulary is upgraded. Though all of these little quirks make up this little ginge, my true irrevocable identity is found in the one whom my heart delights in. Jesus Christ. My journey thus far to find this identity has been painful, unconventional, clumsy, incompetant, uncoordinated, messy, unexpected, graceful, ravishing, perplexing, and oh so beautiful. These past few years have been an all out fight. A teeth clentching, white knuckled, all out fight. But my Savior never stopped fighting, never stopped looking at me with compassion, never stopped loving. When I did finally accept His grace in full, my eyes were opened to something that I had never seen before. You wanna know what that was? Life. Yes, plain and simple..life. In my 22 years, I had never really lived..I had never really experienced real joy...I had never had clarity..I had never lived in truth. Today I live, today I am joyful, today I see clearly, and today I know in my heart that HIS truth triumphs any minor detail that comes my way. Today I walk hand in hand with Jesus. He delivered me.



Last thing, I promise. Some of you may know that the Lord has undeservingly blessed me with an opportunity that has been on my heart for a little over a year now. He is allowing me get on a plane with two suit cases and my brother and fly to Arvada, Colorado where I will be going to a Discipleship Training School. After training, He is sending my team and I on an outreach, where we will live for a period of time and just manifest the Lords goodness, mercy, and love in the lives of others, therefore being enriched ourselves. This entire experience will be six months. After the six months is up, I am really unsure how much time I will have before my phase II or secondary school will start, so I really do not know the next time I will be home once I leave. So yes I am fearful, yes I am nervous, and YES I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I AM GETTING MYSELF INTO!! But...and thats a big BUT..what I do know is that this kind of journey REQUIRES me to have FAITH in my GOD. I am clenching onto what is true. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Philippians 2:12-13 says, "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed..not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence. Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." What these two passages are telling me is to forget my stupid plans, those are just the blueprints of life in the flesh, My God has instilled in me a desire to live in the Spirit, and to satisfy and fulfill this spirit, I must continue to ask God to rid me of my selfish plans, and continue to seek His plan, and walk in His obedience. The other passage seriously puts a big fat smile on my face. Its actually sort of funny how we search for this unforseen intelectual answer as to how to get over our fears and to press forward. We study, we pray, we analyze, we dissect. But God's word provides an answer that is quite simple. Do it afraid. Yep that's it. He is saying, if you are afraid..do it afraid..He is saying watch what I can do, watch how I am going to use you, and when it is all said and done, we are able to look right at God and say, We did it. So with that being said, please continue to be in prayer with me friends. This is nothing of my doing, this is just what the Lord has mapped out for my life. I cannot wait to see where He is going to take me on this beautiful journey.

Blessings, Lys.