Category: Prayer

Leaving Shortly….

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Buna Dimineata! Good Morning!
Thank you for all of your support over the past few years, while learning, serving, working & growing in Romania. You have been part of this from the beginning, some of you even since my brother was first adopted from Romania back in 1992! Well once again, myself & 5 others (including my brother), will be traveling to Romania to work with Gypsies, Un-wed mothers, Elderly & Street Children.
Many things here have seemed to keep us from going back, but finally God miraculously lined everything up for us to GO. Since my brother’s adoption, the Romanian people have laid heavy on my heart, and being able to bring other people into what God is already doing there is wonderful. Even YOU are being brought into this ministry, serving with prayer, encouragement & some of you by giving.
These are things we would ask prayer for—
–Open hearts: May OUR hearts be open to seeing God already at work in Romania, and how He would work through us to share HIS love.
–Flexibility: Things in Romania have a tendency to change…pray that we’ll “go with it” and follow where God takes us.
–Teamwork: Pray that we can complement each other and use each of our individual gifts to support one another.
–Rest: We will be working in extremely draining emotional situations, pray that we are able to find physical as well as mental rest so we can operate with full steam!
–Compassion: Some of the people we’ll be serving are hardened people, we need to have compassionate hearts to persevere & have persistent love.


I have been miraculously blessed to have raised all of the financial support that I need, however some of my team members are still a few hundred short. We are leaving August 26th and will be in Romania for 10 days. If you would like to help financially at all, please write a check to Northridge Fellowship-Romanian Mission & mail to Northridge Fellowship, P. O. Box 544 Rogers, MN 55374.

I would love to talk with any of you about this further, either over coffee or a meal. There are so many ways to get involved, so please remember each of us as you pray during our time in Romania. You will surely be doing battle for us!
Thank you for partnering and God bless!
—Alissa

Purpose

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You know, I’ve been told to grow where you’re planted….find out why God has you wherever you are…just go with it. And I’m trying, I really am. It’s hard though, when some days you yearn for so much more. You see a window opening, and when you try to go through, you find out it’s just REALLY clean glass…it’s not open for you. Sorry. Finding purpose in where you are, is so difficult. Why am I here, and not there. Why is this person my friend instead of someone else? Where can I feel so needed in some place, and such a good fit, and then not be allowed in?

I know that God’s purposes are so much greater & better than any that I could come up with….but greater & better also might suggest that they’re more complicated & intricate, meaning they have more possibilities of being not just GOOD but also DIFFICULT. Interweaving desires, gifts, locations, social community & situations….they all come together in some great purpose that I don’t understand. It probably won’t make sense to me either….until it’s done.

But sometimes, it’s like…you pray for something, and then when that prayer is answered, but not the way you wanted it to be, it’s like DARN! I didn’t want THAT. …like when in NY I prayed for humility….and left in a really bad way, that made me say…. “yep, I don’t always know what’s right.” And now, I’m praying for God to use me….and then get a door shut in one area, and realize that He probably saying… “I want to use you HERE, not THERE.” Sick. It makes me sad, …and I think that’s okay. I can be sad for a bit, as long as I hold on to the understanding that I can’t give up. Now, it just means that I need to renew my focus of trying to bless people in every situation….whether the circumstances are happy or sad. Nothing can be better than what God has for us…yet there are probably some things that would be more fun. Until then…I’ll just keep trusting that I’m here for a purpose….

To wrap up, here’s a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

Battlestations

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If you’ve seen my status the last few days, you may have wondered what my battlestations I was manning. Well, let me tell you a little bit of history, and then what recently I was fighting so strongly against.

A few years ago, living in NY, I was awakened to the human trafficking & underground prostitution happening right on my streets & in my community. Someone I met through church, actually lived in the same building as a brothel. I started having dreams of seeing women crying out for help, and when I’d go to get others to come help me save them, no one would come. I would then (in my dream) get frustrated & just go to help them myself. Over the next few months & year, I was drawn to books telling of the horrors of human trafficking & prostitution, and the plight of young women who are captured into this trade. There was even a small child who I had met in Romania, who suddenly was in the grasp of being sold into mob prostitution at the age of 4! God saved her from this, but the fact that it was the intent of people in power to do this to such an innocent child broke my heart.

Last fall, I was introduced to a group in Saint Paul, that go directly to women who are stuck on the streets, surviving in this trade, and gives them hope of a rescue. They provide housing, counseling, rehab & discipleship. The men who solicit these services also are taught the affect their activity has on the woman’s life & soul. It’s a comprehensive, in-depth ministry.

Last week, they let us know that a club in Minneapolis, Karma, was hosting a “Cross County Pimpin Bash”. You probably won’t believe what I’m about to say, but they actually planned to show training videos to guys, on how to control women, how to dress them, how to get them into the business, etc. **insert shocked silence** ….yeah, for real. This was also going to be a recruiting night to try & get girls into prostitution. Can we say illegal? So, they had a protest, outside the club (you know I’m always looking to be out loud about stuff), and I went with some friends. There was probably about 40 people there, and we just talked to people on the street, held signs & did some loud shouting, and lots of praying…it was an experience. I think in the two hours that we were there, only four people still decided to go in! Wow. Even the bouncers were telling people that they might as well not come in, because it wasn’t worth it, no one was there!

We also saw the pimps who were putting this on, and who had made the videos…and they were videotaping US! I was a little unnerved by this…who knows what they’ll use it for. We did get a few opportunities to talk to them though, and also to some of the bouncers working the door. They, as well as many other cab drivers, locals & various others, were taking the time to read our signs, ask questions & think about what was going on. God really used this as an opportunity to tell people what is really going on in our communities!

This is real people, don’t be naive & think that this stuff only happens in the BIG cities like Las Vegas, LA & New York…it’s big HERE, and whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, it’s a huge problem, and cuff that is holding our city captive. We must pray that Satan would loose his grip on the women & men that have been trapped in this lie.

When I can’t feel You…

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I haven’t been writing recently, due to many things, but mainly it’s because I really only write when I feel God trying to teach me something, or if there’s a big revelation that has taken off some blinds.  There has been this wall that felt to me like it was growing wider & wider, keeping me from something, anything that had life in it.  I’ve been seeking this life, but it felt so distant, far away & unreachable.  Things kept coming at me that would make me to feel it, cut to my core & make me uncomfortable in where I was…unsatisfied.  Some of this unsatisfaction is a good thing, a good reminder that my life cannot be about me but about other people & helping others who can’t help themselves.  Yet those twinges of sickness, about the depravity of abandoned children or sickened friends, came in highs & quickly would depart from my mind.  This is something that I noticed, and it seems that if loving is a lifestyle, there shouldn’t be such drastic desires & then thoughts of nothing….right?  Anyway, I’ve been really loose in my quiet times with God, really not making it a priority, though in my mind it really is….yet actions say more than my thoughts ever will.  Once again, He has spoken to me through voices that surround me daily, friends who continually speak into my life….more than they may ever know.  Also, a song has given me the words I’ve forgotten to sing.

It says “There’s a distance in the air and I cannot make it leave, I wave my arms’ round about me and blow with all my might. I cannot sense you close, though I know you’re always here, but the comfort of you near is what I long for. When I can’t feel you, I have learned to reach out just the same, when I can’t hear you, I know you still hear every word I pray. And I want you more than I want to live another day, and as I wait for you maybe I’m made more faithful.”
You see, I haven’t been faithful….to this amazing Father that has given me everlasting life & abundant joy, I have been the one to leave the way, to stray & forget that these relationships take lots of work.  Even when I get busy, there’s gotta be time that is set apart to dwell in the goodness of Christ, his grace & peace.  Without seeing Him all around, I lose vision, passion & direction.  It’s like driving in the dark, without lights….how will you learn to drive, let alone get anywhere without looking for the light?  
God, I need you now more than ever….Thank you for being the faithful God that you are, ever present & willing to hold me when I come back crying out for your mercy.  

Finding–

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So today, I being “thoughtful.” No, I don’t mean to be praising myself for being so nice to people around me, I’m probably being really bad at that today. But I mean I’m thinking about a lot of things. And when that happens, the smallest of those things can send me into a thought clear across the universe, with emotions that can feel out of this world. I was writing on Julie’s wall today, and I saw on “wall-to-wall” that I had laughed about how we knew each other. I couldn’t find where that information was, and so I thought….maybe if I search for her like a random friend search, it’ll say that! Well, when I tried to do that, it said there was no Julie Steiskal. I tried again, spelled it different, it wouldn’t let me find her. Even in MY friends, I couldn’t pull up her name! I got a little panicked….and yes, i still can’t find her that way, but I’m not panicked anymore.

So it got me thinking about searching for God. I really need Him now more than ever. Particularly today. Something is working in me, and I feel so close to the edge. You know when you’re driving on a road where the tar is about 6″ higher than the gravel curb, and when you get close to the edge you can feel your car being pulled over. You struggle to keep it on, and when you’re right on the edge it’s like “come on, come on…don’t go over.” Well, I feel like that. I feel like I’m right on the edge & I could go over, but I’m still holding on…by God’s grace, I’m still holding on.

God says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) I am trying to seek with my heart, but some days I don’t know how. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26) This is what I’m trusting in….that the Spirit will take my unconscious prayers to the throne of God. “You said, ‘Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’ ” (Jeremiah 45:3) Sometimes this is how I think, and I don’t want to think this way, so I pray “May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” (Psalm 33:22)

Just a few things to search for…a renewed strength, a fresh mind, a conscious faith & passionate soul.