God, Glitter, and Glam
Funny fact that I have now learned since I began a relationship with Jesus is that He wants to use each part of how uniquely He created me, including my obsession with glitter and glam. It all starts back to an early age when I first discovered princesses and fairy dust. I dreamt of fairytales and what mine would look like one day. Some may call me cheesy, but the little girl below had no idea that loving Jesus alone in fact was one of the sweetest fairytales that our world dreams up through romantic novels and Disney movies.
What I didn’t realize back then was how difficult life can be at times in our fallen world. Honestly, after living for myself for a while, through my own desires and in my own path, things from the outside looked smooth and glamorous, but deep down I knew I couldn’t maintain the lifestyle I was choosing for long. I grew up in church but wasn’t much of a question asker. I feared asking the wrong questions which led me to not having a solid foundation to stand on with the Lord as I entered college. This led me to believe that to be a faithful follower of Jesus, I had to live life without sinning ever again. It seemed scary, overwhelming, and impossible. I knew God had created me and I never doubted that, but where I was haunted most was that I had to look and be a different way to be accepted by others and loved in our world.
I had many struggles with body image that I covered through laughs and sarcasm. I wanted everything to always be okay, so I worked to make myself believe that it was. A quote that is said often is, “it’s okay to not be okay, it’s just not okay to stay that way,” and that’s where my story with Jesus begins. After years of hearing lies planted in my head, I realized I couldn’t live that way anymore. The weird thing was besides a few instances, I wasn’t being talked down in by these lies through people all the time. They were assumptions I had believed from an enemy who truly hates every one of us. Because of the lack of relationship I had with our Heavenly Father and understanding of the word of God at the time, I couldn’t identify the truth vs. the lie.
In walking through my years of being a student (in which I am continuously a student) of God’s word, I discovered the need for more mentors in our world today. I discovered the need for people to walk through life alongside one another, to challenge each other through love, and the need for people who desire to study scripture with one another. It is because of this story (and many more details in between) that God has given me the passion I have to walk with others in their story.
I remember thinking that if I followed Jesus with everything that I am, I had to become less outspoken, couldn’t love glitter/glam, and had to really tone down my personality/who I was. It was such a lie from the enemy that prevented me for quite some time to discover the call God had for my life. My prayer is that 313 Ministries is a champion of women and propels them into a future with and in who God has already created them to be.
Today, I have had the privilege of traveling to Africa to speak with and encourage women, I’ve spoken at conferences/high schools in America, lead young and middle-aged women, and walk-through life weekly with women in the word of God. I still love glitter just as I did as a little girl and dream of and speak to God around fairytales through the pages of scripture.
This life is not always easy, but it is incredibly sweet to be God’s beloved bride.