I just wanted to update you all on where I am at the moment and to catch you guys up to date. I am currently living in Ratchaburi, Thailand and will be here for the next 6 weeks or so. We are doing all types of ministry here including spending a week in a village teaching English classes and sharing the Lord with them, working with a women’s juvenile detention center, speaking at a radio center where we share our experiences and relationship with the Lord to others, teach at a summer english camp, etc. All of these ministry sites are going to be different and stretch me in ways I have not been stretched before. I am nervous, but also so excited and ready to further my relationship with Him.
Today I shared a little part of my testimony with a Christian Thai church and that message was this:
“I grew up with two loving parents, two older sisters, and a younger brother. While my childhood as a whole was fun and adventurous and full of laughter, there was something missing. That something was my own identity. I did not really feel like I was my own person. I was constantly compared to my sisters and brothers. I felt like my name growing up was the little sister. It was the let down. It was the dumb child. I felt like I was a disappointment to my family and friends. I did not have my own identity because people gave me a different identity for myself. I did not have room to tell them differently. I did not get to speak up. I did not get to defend myself. I struggled with that my whole life. Feeling like I just wasn’t enough. Coming on this trip I have learned so much already about myself through the Lord. I am enough. I am loved. I do not have to change for others who do not accept the real me. God is showing me my identity in Him and no one else. I am a daughter. I am His daughter. All He wants from me is to be my friend. He wants to get to know me and hear my heart. He wants to have real conversations as though He is sitting next to me.”
This is what I spoke to the church today and it was a dear piece of myself and my heart that I am learning to love. I am forgiving myself and others for putting that false identity on my heart and my body and my mind. I am learning each day to love different parts of myself whether that is my image, my personality, features I have that others do not, or even just my obnoxious laugh that I now love.
I wanted to share with you in this blog that He wants this kind of relationship with you as well. He wants to be your friend. He wants to know you and your heart. He wants to be your father. You are His children. Brothers and sisters alike and that is enough for Him. Just talk to Him. Get to know Him because He just wants a relationship with you.
Thank you to everyone who keeps my team and I in your prayers. Thank you to all my supporters and the kind words you continue to shower me with because I would not be here today without you all!
With love,
Alyse xo
