How have your trials made you stronger? I think I’ve discovered I’m a lot stronger than I anticipated I was. In this last season of my life, I’ve been learning about what it looks like to be persistent in trials rather than, running away from them, even though that’s the easiest response for me as an enneagram 7.
How do you encourage other women to be strong? To surround themselves with people who are moving in the same direction they are. Show me your 5 closest friends and I’ll show you who you’ll be 5 years from now. If your hope is to be strong in your faith, surround yourself with others that are also pursuing this.
What advice would you give to the next generation of strong women? Don’t be intimidated by your projections of a situation. There were so many times when I backed away from difficulty because I lived from a worst-case-scenario perspective. The only way to get stronger is to go through hard things!
Alissa’s Intentional Act of Kindness
How did you use the $100? I used my $100 for two separate blessing endeavors. My friend and I were at a local cidery around Easter and we noticed a sign that said “Easter Baskets” that included a cider paired with chocolate. The bar manager mentioned the baskets hadn’t been as popular as they hoped so they were prepared to take a pretty large financial hit, not selling the chocolate they anticipated reselling. I work at a church and our church had a ministry house down the street filled with young twenty somethings focused on living in an intentional discipleship community. I asked the bar manager if he’d be willing to sell us his chocolate for the night so that we could deliver it to our ministry house up the street! It felt like such an easy nab, two birds with one stone, blessing moment.
With the other $50, I anonymously purchased the Wendy’s run my youth students take every Wednesday night after youth group. One student typically gets saddled with all the extra expenses, so I pulled him aside and let him know an anonymous donor wanted to sponsor that night’s Wendy’s run for the 10 kiddos that normally go.
I wanted to see how far I could get the $100 to stretch! All I thought was, “wow, there are so many different ways for this to be used and to create an impact so Lord, help me to be creative! Who do you want to bless?” So I waited on the Lord for his timing and urgings and then acted when I felt prompted to move/act/bless.
What was the 'Intentional Act of Kindness' process like for you? So rewarding- gift giving is one of my love languages , so being asked to be a part of a project that is all about blessing and giving filled me with so much life.