Alena is an actress, singer, and author. Her newest book, “God Is,” is an illustrated devotional that helps teens and young women navigate questions of identity. 

PEER: How did you come to know Jesus? Did growing up in a Christian family help with that?

ALENA PITTS FRANKLIN: I like to say that there’s not a day that I didn’t know Jesus. I’ve always known Him. I come from a family that loved Him really well and displayed His character really beautifully and made God very attractive from a very young age. I always was drawn to this God that they shared about all the time and really lived out and practiced what He taught. I always remember knowing God and loving Him. 

I’d say the first time that I felt the Holy Spirit and was overwhelmed by the fact that God sent His son to die for me — like understood the gospel — was probably around 11 years old. I was sitting in worship and was overwhelmed with the truth of the gospel, which is that He saved me and didn’t have to. I think from then on out, my faith was real to me. It was no longer something that I did because my family did it or because it was the right thing to do. But I really fell in love with Jesus.

P: How did your grief over losing your mom challenge your faith? Did it inspire you to write this book?

APF: Absolutely. I’d say grief completely 180s your faith. If you’re experiencing it for the first time, I think it’s impossible for it to not to. All of a sudden, all these things that you believed about God are no longer true in your mind. Like my circumstances don’t say that I’m good anymore — I’m confused on how that’s possible. It was probably a very guttural, hard wrestle with God within the past seven years, honestly. I’d say in the past three years, I’ve just responded to His call. The beautiful thing about wrestling with God is that He doesn’t walk away because we can’t figure Him out. He actually continues to pursue us. I’ve gotten to gently be pursued by Him regardless of my feelings towards Him. He’s alluding me back to Him just with love, grace, and mercy.

Through that, I’ve discovered who He actually is. I’ve learned that His character stands regardless of circumstance. Our circumstances are purely because of the fact that we live in a fallen world. And God, because He is good, uses everything. I believe that at the heart of God’s character is love, and love is good.

I’d say that understanding that and really leaning into God’s character and who He has definitely led to this devotional that I just wrote called “God Is.” My whole journey to learning who God is began because of grief. It’s another way that He’s making beauty from ashes. This grief journey that I’ve had resulted in me knowing Him on a deeper level, which is all that I could ask for here on earth.

P: What inspired you to write this book? 

APF: I’m naturally a creative person. I wouldn’t say that I’m naturally ambitious, but I’m not paving the way for myself in the way that a lot of like go-getters are. I really listen for God and when He tells me to do something, I do it. And so, this was a clear call that He gave me and I said, okay, and I decided to step into it. I realized how daunting and overwhelming of a task it is to write about the character of God as soon as I started. But yeah, the book is, it just was an invitation from Him and I just said, okay, let’s do this.

P: It focuses on identity and God’s character. How was this devotional a reflection of your own journey on discovering your identity and connecting that to understanding who God is? 

APF: One, I think every person comes to a point in life where like the identity question becomes large. I think for specifically teenage and college-age girls, it’s a very prevalent topic — Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? We spend a lot of time thinking about ourselves and why, who we are and what God has us doing here. And then you add that stage of my life — on top of grief and losing my mom and no longer having that female voice to encourage me in what God had made me to be and who He had created me as. Those things together, I think, resulted in an identity crisis. But what I realized was: It wasn’t actually about me — it was about my lack of understanding of God. I think we start to focus on who we are and what we can do and we lose sight of who He is, because at the end of the day, He’s doing it all. He calls us to remain in Him. He is the vine. We are branches. We are instruments of — there’s a song that I was just listening to — I’m an instrument of exaltation. The only reason I’m here is because I’m an instrument of praise to God.

All I’m here to do is praise God, so what am I missing about who God is that’s causing me to be so worried about me? I’d say that in the identity crisis that I think we all experience, we’re trying to figure out who we are and what we can do. If we would just look up at our Maker, I think the answer to all of those questions become really, really small and really, really simple. We’re here to praise Him. It would do us good to study who He is and from that, we’re made in His image, we learn a bit about ourselves.

P: When you were writing the book, did you learn anything new about who God is? What about after writing as well?

APF: Absolutely. The whole book was a discovery for me. I started this thing excited to learn about who God is and then share it with the world. Simple things that I thought I understood. We know that God is good, and we know that God is loving. We know that God is merciful. We know God is just and righteous. But what does that actually mean? My life didn’t line up with believing that. If I believed that God is all of these things, I wouldn’t walk around with shame. I wouldn’t walk around with self-pity or fear. I discovered the holes of what I believed about Him through writing the book.

Then after the book, I’ve gotten to be reminded of all the things that are written in there about God’s power. I’ve witnessed Him do things that I couldn’t possibly fathom or do. All glory to Him. I’ve watched His power on display in my life and through this book. I love how all day, He’s reiterating who He is to us. We’re always confused and wondering who He is and all day, He’s just showing us. I think it’s really kind of Him. 

P: What message do you hope that readers take away from this book?

APF: I hope that it’s the beginning of a lifelong love story. That sounds weird, but I hope that by reading the book, women fall in love with God again, like fall in love with their first love. When I read this book, I’m reminded of my first love, who was just God. I’m married now, but like at the end of the day, it’s me and God. I hope that feels like an invitation that this book is just the beginning of a journey of relearning who God is because I think so many of us need to do that. Like we need to relearn. There have been things that we’ve been taught that aren’t necessarily biblical. There have been life experiences that have shaped the way that we view Him that aren’t true. We have decided to believe lies about who He is.

I also hope that women find the Bible much more approachable. I think one of the reasons we don’t open our Bibles is because it has so many words and it can be daunting. It’s a large book and it’s got a lot of deep things. But I think it’s actually the beginning to understanding who God is by getting in our word and studying God. Not just for the sake of studying but because He’s actually worth getting to know. We become all the better because of it. I hope women feel an invitation to open their Bible and to approach God with childlike faith. I wanted to break down the Bible in a very approachable way in the book.

P: What advice do you have for teens and young adults on how to make their faith their own? 

APF: I think you got to start by being honest about where you’re actually at with God. Not where He’s at with you, but where you’re at with Him. Where are you on the scale of interest in Him, love for Him, adoration for Him? Be honest about that. I think He already knows the truth. We can be honest with ourselves and with Him and say, you know what, God? I’m actually really far from you because I don’t really like you right now. Or you know what, God? I’m sorry, I haven’t been talking to you because I just got distracted by other things. Like being honest about where we’re actually at, I think, is the beginning of relationship. Then from there, I think God gets so excited in our honesty. He’s so excited that we came to Him and that we’re being real with Him finally, like telling Him what He already knows. I think He invites us on a journey to get to know Him more. 

My advice would just be to be honest about where you’re at and carry no shame about that. I think God is inviting us always. The first step to accepting that invitation is to be honest with Him.

P: What advice do you have for teens and young adults on how to get out of a slump and step into their God-given identity?

APF: I’m currently in this because it’s 30 degrees outside and it’s just miserable. What I found is just to tap into those things that make my heart come alive. I think we all have things that we just forget about — like we love cooking, drawing, walking, or running. We love playing with dogs. Like, there are things that may make our heart come alive. That’s not just a casual detail. God has created us in those ways on purpose. Like, there’s a reason that we find joy in specific things.

I think the first step to getting out of a slump is to start tapping back into those things that bring you joy. What makes your heart come alive? What’s exciting? Lean into that because I think that God is in that. I say that to myself, looking at all the paints and things that I need to just pull out, you know, to get out of my own winter slump.

P: How do you practice self-care?

APF: I remember the things that I love. One of the things that I love is walking. It’s a little difficult in the winter, so I’ll just go to the gym and walk. But that’s a huge part of self-care for me — just exercising within my body. I think it’s critical that we move our bodies. I think it’s really good for us. Another way that I do self-care — I love a spa. I love a day of just pampering. I think that is so fun. My mom taught me that that’s just so important. If you can, I think that’s a very fun way to take care of yourself. And even if you can’t, there are ways to do that at home.

P: What are you currently listening to?

APF: I listen to a lot of different things. I tend to listen to podcasts more than music. I like to listen to a lot of health-based podcasts and Christian podcasts. I love combining the two so body and mind go together in spirit. 

P: What’s a Bible verse that’s been on your heart recently?

APF: I think of John 15. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5). I’ve been sitting with that verse. I think a lot of times we think that we’re the vine and that we can make things happen and we think that if we just work hard enough or do enough, then things will come together. God reminds us, “I’m actually the source of everything.” It’s a good reminder, especially in the winter season, which slowing down and just resting and sitting with Him is just as important as chasing the thing and doing the thing. I think we find true peace and purpose when we allow Him to be the vine. 

Follow Alena on Instagram @thealenafranklin. Buy her newest devotional “God Is” at bookstores today.