Since the day I was born, I have been called Alissa Joy.  Yet, during the first forty years of my life, I personified the exact opposite of joy.  From a young age, my heart was committed to loving and serving my Heavenly Father, but I felt unworthy of His love. This love deficiency trapped me in a prison cell of anxiety, depression, feelings of worthlessness, and suicidal thoughts.  I couldn't find a way to escape my pain until I walked in the sand of profound loss and disappointment.  This journey became a boardwalk, leading me to the loving embrace of my Heavenly Father. His perfect love offered me true joy and freedom, producing life in and around me.  I now know our Heavenly Father is much closer than we realize. My passion is to help others connect heart-to-heart with their Heavenly Father, empowering them to embody love and release life full of hope and joy.

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My journey began at the young age of seven when I heard the call to forgo comforts and embrace the life of a missionary on the continent of Africa. I said a very affirmative "Yes!" and agreed to devote my life to serving my Heavenly Father.

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His call breathed life and passion into my heart, but I related to God through my relationship with my earthly father.  My missionary calling soon led me down a fearful cycle of striving to earn God's favor.  In my adolescent years, anxiety and depression engulfed me and suffocated any joy in my heart.

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As I entered adulthood, my love for orphaned children led me to study elementary education, where I earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Education.  I experienced many personal challenges in those years, including a divorce at 26. This crisis led to darker times, and I struggled with severe depression and entertained thoughts of suicide.

 

However, God had other plans. He reminded me of his calling when he whispered in my heart, “If you die, the children in Africa will die.” His forceful reminder breathed new life and hope into me. I once again committed myself to God’s journey and mission.

 

At 29, I established a non-profit organization called Heart for Uganda to help malnourished and vulnerable children.  I also married a Ugandan man who had a ministry in Uganda in a rural community called Kyenjojo.  Within ten years, we established a sponsorship program for over 200 children, built a children’s home for more than 100 children, founded a school for more than 500 children, and constructed a medical center.  In addition, we initiated several other community projects, such as repairing and building water wells, creating homes, and encouraging sustainable farming and animal rearing.

 

After ten years of ministry work in Africa, my marriage and mission collapsed. In that desert of dried-up hopes and dreams, I encountered an oasis of love and faithfulness from a father whom I had never known.  I found indescribable peace and joy through my intimate connection with the true joy giver.   My new awareness of being chosen and loved as a daughter of Heaven breathed new life into me.  I began to live, love, and minister from the heart of my Heavenly Father instead of my broken heart.

 

I am passionate about helping royal sons and daughters of the Kingdom come home, so their hearts can be loved, protected, cared for, and healed. Out of that place of receiving perfect divine love, sons and daughters will transform their world and bring peace on earth.        

 

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