Community Highlights: Meet Brandi McAlister of Pray the Impossible

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi McAlister.

Hi Brandi, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I believe my story really began in 2016, when I realized that part of my purpose was to help people. At the time, I didn’t fully understand what that would look like or how it would unfold. I recognized the purpose, but I wasn’t walking in it yet.

In 2017, I was baptized, and later that year I received a prophetic word that I would write books, help women through workshops, and go back to school. I had no idea what would become of that word, but I was excited and was later led to write.

Then, in 2018, I prayed a simple prayer and asked God to use me. I had no idea what saying those words would entail. Looking back, that prayer became one of the defining moments of my life. God began ending relationships, separating me from people and isolating me in ways I didn’t understand at the time. What felt uncomfortable was actually creating the space I needed to discover who I was, deepen my relationship with God, and begin walking in my purpose.

During that season, I was writing and shared with one of my best friends that I wanted to contribute devotionals to another website. Her response changed the trajectory of everything. She told me, “There’s too much of God in you to do something so small.” She encouraged me to create my own website, build a following, and share my devotionals while I continued writing my book. I loved the idea, but I needed a name. One day, I was reading a devotional that included the phrase, “Prayer invades the impossible.” Immediately, I had a revelation: Pray the Impossible.

On June 5, 2018, Pray the Impossible was officially launched. Around that same time, two of my friends asked me to be their spiritual advisor. Being the creative person I am, “spiritual advisor” wasn’t enough—I needed something catchy! That’s when I coined the term Spiritual Friendvisor: a friend who gives advice based on godly wisdom.
The name actually described something I had been doing long before I had a title for it. I was often the friend who would experience something first, learn from it, and then share what I had learned to help or encourage someone else. I began to understand that even some of the things I had gone through weren’t solely about me. My experiences could become tools to help someone else navigate theirs.

What started with writing devotionals continued to evolve. I became a three-time author and later a Certified Life Coach, Certified Spiritual Coach, and Certified Grief Coach. Pray the Impossible grew from an idea and a website into a platform through which I could encourage, coach, write, speak, and help people navigate some of life’s most difficult seasons.

That same desire to help people eventually expanded into my work with young people through Navigate the Impossible, where I help youth build confidence, self-worth, emotional intelligence, communication and leadership skills, while giving them practical tools to navigate life.

Today, eight years after launching Pray the Impossible, I can see the connection between so many moments that didn’t necessarily make sense while I was living them. The purpose I recognized in 2016, the prophetic word I received in 2017, and the prayer I prayed in 2018 were all pieces of a much bigger story.

And I’m still living that story. I don’t believe purpose is a destination you simply arrive at. It continues to evolve as you do. I’m still growing, learning, creating, serving, and allowing God to reveal what’s next. But through every evolution, the heart of my work has remained the same: impacting lives one conversation at a time.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that walking in your purpose doesn’t exempt you from challenges. In many ways, some of my greatest growth has come through the very things I would have preferred not to experience.

One of the biggest turning points came during COVID when I was laid off from my job. It was the third layoff I had experienced throughout my career, and this time something shifted in me. I decided I was no longer going to give someone else the power to determine when I had a job or when I didn’t.

At the time, I was already in the process of becoming a Certified Spiritual Coach and Certified Life Coach, so I made the decision to take a leap of faith into full-time entrepreneurship. My mindset was simple: if it doesn’t work out, I can always look for another full-time job. Instead of allowing fear of failure to keep me from trying, I gave myself permission to see what could happen.

Entrepreneurship brought its own set of challenges. There are seasons when opportunities are plentiful and seasons when they aren’t. There are ideas that work and others that don’t. I’ve had to learn how to keep going when the results don’t immediately reflect the amount of work, prayer, time, and energy I’ve invested. I’ve also had to learn how to evolve, pivot, and recognize when something that worked in one season may not be what I’m called to do in the next.

Grief has also played a significant role in my journey. Losing my father changed me and eventually became part of what led me to become a Certified Grief Coach. That experience taught me that grief isn’t something you simply “get over.” You learn how to carry it differently, and it gave me an even greater level of compassion for people navigating loss and major life transitions.

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges has been learning that I am often called to live the message before I can share it. Many of the things I encourage others through—waiting, disappointment, grief, uncertainty, faith, letting go, starting over, and trusting God—are things I’ve had to experience myself. There have been times when I was encouraging someone else to have faith while having to fight to hold on to my own.

Looking back, I wouldn’t describe the road as smooth, but I would describe it as purposeful. The struggles have shaped my character, strengthened my faith, and given me experiences that allow me to connect with people from a genuine place. What I’ve learned is that sometimes what feels like a setback can actually become the catalyst for your next chapter.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Pray the Impossible is a faith-based platform created to encourage, inspire, and empower people to navigate life’s challenges through faith, hope, and practical guidance. What began as a space for me to share devotionals has evolved over the past eight years into coaching, books, inspirational content, speaking, workshops, and resources designed to help people navigate different seasons of life.

I am a Certified Life Coach, Certified Spiritual Coach, and Certified Grief Coach, and I approach my work from what I call the Spiritual Friendvisor perspective—a friend who gives advice based on godly wisdom. I believe that’s one of the things that sets Pray the Impossible apart. I don’t want people to feel like I’m speaking at them; I want them to feel like we’re having a conversation. My approach combines faith, lived experience, transparency, encouragement, and practical tools people can actually apply to their lives.

I’m also a three-time author, and writing continues to be an important part of how I fulfill the mission of Pray the Impossible. Whether it’s through a book, devotional, social media post, coaching conversation, workshop, or speaking engagement, the goal is always to meet people where they are while encouraging them not to remain there.

One of the things I’m most proud of is that Pray the Impossible has never been limited to one particular way of helping people. As I’ve evolved, the brand has evolved with me. My experiences with faith, relationships, grief, personal growth, entrepreneurship, and life’s unexpected transitions have all influenced the conversations I’m able to have with others.

That mission has also expanded through Navigate the Impossible, my youth empowerment program. I work with young people on areas such as confidence, self-worth, emotional intelligence, communication, leadership, goal setting, and navigating life’s challenges. While the audience and approach may be different, the foundation is the same: equipping people with tools that help them move forward.

More than anything, I want people to know that Pray the Impossible isn’t about pretending that difficult circumstances don’t exist. It’s about believing that your current circumstances don’t have to be the end of your story. My work is rooted in helping people navigate what they’re experiencing, recognize what they can learn from it, and continue moving forward with faith and intention.

At the heart of everything I do is a simple mission: impacting lives one conversation at a time.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I believe the qualities that have been most important to my success are perseverance, transparency, authenticity, and relatability.

Perseverance has allowed me to keep going even when moving forward looked different from what I originally envisioned. I’ve learned that perseverance isn’t always about continuing to do the same thing until it works. Sometimes it means pivoting, starting over, letting go of what is no longer working, and trusting God enough to take another step even when I can’t see the entire path ahead.

Throughout my journey, I’ve experienced setbacks, disappointment, grief, closed doors, career transitions, and moments when things simply didn’t happen the way I thought they would. But I’ve always tried to take something from those experiences and keep moving forward. I’ve learned to ask, “What am I supposed to learn from this?” instead of only asking, “Why is this happening to me?”

Transparency, authenticity, and relatability are equally important to the way I connect with people. I’ve never wanted to present myself as someone who has everything figured out simply because I’m a coach, author, or person of faith. I believe people connect with me because I’m willing to be transparent about my own experiences and share the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I’m not afraid to say, “I’ve been there too.”

I believe authenticity creates connection, transparency builds trust, and relatability reminds people that they aren’t alone in what they’re experiencing. That’s also the heart of my Spiritual Friendvisor approach. I want people to feel like they’re having a real conversation with someone who can encourage them, challenge them, and offer godly wisdom without judgment.

Success, for me, isn’t defined solely by accomplishments, titles, or how much I’ve achieved. It’s also about the lives I’ve been able to impact because I was willing to share my story, remain true to who I am, and keep going through every season.

My journey hasn’t been a straight line, and I don’t expect it to be. But through it all, I’ve learned to persevere without losing my authenticity and to use my experiences to create genuine connections with others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.praytheimpossible.com
• Instagram: @praytheimpossible
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/PraytheImpossible
• LinkedIn: Brandi Mcalister, MS, CSC, CLC, CGC
• Other: TikTok @praytheimpossible