Hello all! I am back from my travels up north and will be staying in Colorado until I spend the holidays with my family in Ohio for the remainder of the year. It was absolutely amazing to be with my family and friends that I hadn’t seen in so long, and be able to laugh and sometimes even cry with them. Everyone was such a blessing, and I want to give a short tribute about two folks who have helped me grow in my faith so much over the years.
Here I am, two year old Alisha sitting on a swing. I have no recollection of this event but my sister never lets me forget it. She always talks about how I asked to be pushed, and she how she thought I was this adorable little girl. She wasn’t wrong about me being adorable (of course I had throw this in here), but I don’t think she knew how important she would later become. That following Sunday I saw her in church and she recognized me from the park. I do remember this because my Dad was carrying me after I had woken up from a nap, and I remember waving to her. Now here we are 20 years later, still so much apart of one another lives.
She and I instantly became sisters. I remember telling everyone in my class I had an older sister and how excited I was. That excitement still rings true in my life today and it always will. I’m overjoyed to tell others about my sister, and how amazing and driven she is. I think I’ve always been so eager to share it because if they can’t meet her I want them to meet someone like her. I don’t want to be the only one who experiences her love and commitment, I want others to experience it as well.
Being in Seattle with her and her husband for only 4 days, gave me so much joy and a fresh reminder of how good it feels to be loved. We all laughed until we cried, and talked about life, growing up, and I felt like what I was saying was valued. I was being fully seen, fully heard, and fully loved. It was an amazing feeling and I’m so thankful the Lord placed my sister with the amazing husband she has. They are 100% relationship goals, and I find myself saying, ” I wanna be like them when I grow up.” They have so much fun together, and when you’re with them all you feel is love. Everything in their lives point to Christ and it was so incredible to see that, and be apart of it. They have helped me grow so much in my faith, and always help me to remember that Jesus created smiles, laughter, funny stories, and warm hugs. I think I recently got away from that. Often I found myself saying “Lord I’m frustrated, or Lord this is annoying me,” and that is fine to bring that to Him, but I was forgetting all the joy and wonder he has given me to take hold of. I think in those 4 days he was saying to me, “Do you see all I’ve given you? I love you even more than this.”
I want to thank my sister Stephanie, and her husband DeVandis, for showing me once again how awesome the God we serve is. I want to thank them for always being apart of my life and teaching me to meet others in love. I hope this could encourage you today and I love you all!
Best,
Alisha Allen
