OUR STORY
“So what’s the journey?” I asked. “What is their Aliyah?”
“Their lives,” said the teacher. “Your life. Your entire life is an Aliyah. Your life is a journey, but in God it is to be an upward journey… an ever higher ascending. How do you do that? The same way you ascended the mountain. Every day you will be given choices. Every choice will give you the chance to go lower, to stay the same, or to go higher. Choose the higher path, even if it’s harder, take the higher step… let each of your steps be higher than the step before it, each of your days be higher than the day before it. And you will end up walking on mountain heights… and your life will be an Aliyah.”
— Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries, ”Aliyah” Day 19
The Birth of a Ministry
At the end of 2020, I felt a stirring in my heart—a divine call to begin teaching a Sunday School class at First Baptist Church Winnsboro. I had no idea that this simple act of obedience would become the seed of something much greater. Looking back now, I never could have imagined that God would take someone like me, with all my flaws and past mistakes, and entrust me with something so extraordinary. As the class began to grow and take shape, I found myself drawing closer to God in new ways.
One morning, while sitting at my kitchen table journaling my daily scripture, I asked God what He was speaking to me in that moment. For weeks, I had been experiencing what felt like pregnancy symptoms—morning sickness, exhaustion, and the like. I couldn’t help but wonder what God was doing in me.
That day, I was reading The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn. On Day 229, the devotional was titled “The Way to the Mountaintop.” It spoke about striving to go higher with each step you take, and it introduced a word I had never encountered before: Aliyah. The word captivated me. I felt an overwhelming sense that God was revealing something special—so much so that I believed I was pregnant with a baby girl. I even wrote her name—Aliyah Lanea Caston—on a pink sticky note and began rehearsing it, as if she were already growing inside me.
But God had a different plan. As I continued journaling and reading scripture, the Holy Spirit began to reveal a deeper truth: I wasn’t carrying a child—I was carrying a ministry. On November 9th, 2021, Aliyah Ministry was born in my heart. From that moment forward, God began to bring it to life—leading me, equipping me, and opening doors I never thought possible.
A Journey of Growth and Grace
Since 2021, this journey has been anything but easy. As I’ve walked out my own Aliyah—my personal upward journey with the Lord—there have been many moments of failure and doubt. Yet through it all, God has remained faithful. What He began, He is committed to completing. This is His ministry, birthed by His Spirit, and sustained by His hand.
Over the past four years, the Lord has lovingly pruned and refined me. There were times my heart wanted to stay the same—times when fear took the lead and I was tempted to quit altogether. But even in my weakness, He was working. Through the process of building this ministry, God has also surrounded me with a team—each person handpicked by Him, chosen from the very foundation of this calling.
We are far from perfect, but by His grace, we are growing. Together, we’ve gone up and down the mountain, learning through failure, being shaped by challenge, and—most importantly—drawing closer to Him each step of the way.
This journey has never been about comfort or ease. It’s about transformation. And we are living proof that His love changes everything.
A New Chapter in 2025
Now in 2025, the Lord is leading Aliyah Ministry into a new and exciting season. In 2024, I felt a fresh stirring in my heart—a call to launch a new class at First Baptist Church Winnsboro. This class will be a transformative journey, designed to empower women to boldly take steps toward making their lives an Aliyah—an upward, daily walk with Christ.
Beginning this fall, the Aliyah Class will launch at FBC Winnsboro, with the hope that Christ’s transforming love will touch and change the lives of women in our church and community. It’s more than just a class—it’s a movement of hearts being called higher.
But the Lord isn’t stopping there. In this new season, God has also brought an incredible partnership between Aliyah Ministry and Called Ministries, led by Candace Crow. Called Ministries travels the globe sharing the Gospel with people from every walk of life.
Today, I remain in awe of His mysterious and beautiful plans. What started with a Sunday School class has grown into a calling I never anticipated—but one I embrace with full faith. Aliyah Ministry is a testament to God’s power to transform, to call, and to birth purpose in the most unexpected ways.