They all have related to the importance of our story.
Last week, as I was reading over them, I kept thinking how awesome it would be to have these words on a shirt to make a declaration of what He's done in our lives through our journey and testimony.
So I sat down and came up with some designs, got super excited and then sent a text to my village. When I sent them the screenshots they were just as excited as I was.
I'm offering them through a campaign because it was such an easy process for everyone when I did the nomakeup tshirts.
Order your shirt here!
EMPOWERMENT-
Unveil Your Ashes, Reveal His Beauty:
Behind The Makeup is your story.
That story you have allowed to define who you are. It defines where you go. How you walk. How you talk. How you interact. The story that doesn't feel like bondage but you are bound by its contents. It keeps you fearful, broken, lonely and anxious. You wonder how everyone else is able to walk into their purpose, unbothered by their "stuff" but you don't see their surrender.
My junior year in college God specifically told me to share my junk with those who need to hear it so that they can discover Him in the process. I remember how broken and angry at God and the church I was, not that many years ago. My glass was half empty and my vision was fixated on my mess. I felt rejected, abandoned and misunderstood. But something that kept being said around me was "He will give you beauty for ashes."
What does that even mean?! Because there's nothing useful about my JUNK; these embarrassing ashes that I have to carry around because I'm ashamed and alone. One day, overflowing with emotion and exhaustion, I took my mess to the altar and left it there. It was ugly, it wasn't perfect, it was dead weight: The powdery residue of matter that remains after burning.
I want us all to walk into where He has called us to be -- in the home, the community, the stage, the grocery store, our jobs etc-- without carrying the feelings of regret with us into every new season. It's time to unveil your ashes in order to reveal His beauty, through your story. These shirts can be the conversation starters to sharing your testimony and "But God" encounters with someone who needs to meet another person who has traveled the same journey and received His grace in spite of...
Be Light Enough to Share His Light:
Behind The Makeup is your weight.
Back during the Neo-Soul musical "revolution" Erykah Badu released a song entitled Bag Lady that resonated with many women. One line in particular that always echoes in my mind is, "pack light."
His light that lives within you needs to SHINE! But you have to let some stuff go so that when people hear you speak and when you enter a room they feel His spirit. Hebrews 12:1 says lets us throw off everything that hinders! Verse 3 says Consider Him so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Let that stuff go. Put it down. Throw it off: grudges, jealousy, coveting, envy, gossip, greed...
Be light enough to share His light because someone needs to have an encounter with Him, through you!
Battleground Poetry T-Shirt:
Behind the Makeup is (y)Our battle.
Our great grandparents were siblings.
Pieces of you flow through me.
And although we never met, I feel like I've known you. before you discovered who you could become
because the greatest fight we race to embrace, the love we capture, the joy we tend to fake,
rests within the footprints we strive to make.
An earth rotating on a crooked axis,
spinning backwards with each life that is hash tagged more than it matters;
you pressed on
into a rallying call to action.
I carry you in my spirit, see your heartbeat within the movement many might make a mission to minimize its importance.
But
it matters.
They matter.
Our community matters.
Your fight matters.
Your struggles matter.
Your victories matter.
Your loses matter.
Your silent roar mattered.
Your loud heartaches mattered.
You.
Marshawn.
Matter.
Just as much as the lives you fought for...
Remembering those who fight in the battle without exposing who else they are fighting in the battle.
©Caneeka Elleanor Miller
These shirts are a declaration of His grace, His redemption, His restoration, freedom, healing, conversation starters with those who are struggling with thoughts of suicide, shame and grief. Get one for your friend or family member because we all have a story that we might not be proud of but He wants us to lay aside that weight, keep pressing into who He is and receive His peace and love.
Behind The Makeup: Unveiled
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