"Boxes are for cereal...not people" - How I learned to be comfortable living outside of the box

Recently a friend of mine tagged me in a post on Facebook. The post included pictures of a t-shirt line that was created by one of her friends. When I saw the t-shirts I immediately let out a "yassss" because it felt like somebody had summed up my life and put it in t-shirt form lol. One of the shirts featured the slogan "Fine & Favored" and the other said "Saved & Sexy". 

Now if you know anything about me then you know that I have always considered myself to be a card carrying member of #TeamSexySaints lol. Now while this may cause the church mothers to clutch their saved and sanctified pearls, I am just keeping it real. I was hot when my husband met me and I plan on staying that way. The only difference between then and now, is back then I didn't know that there was a different between being dressing "sexy" and "sexual". Now I know that I can be covered from head to toe and still turn heads as I have learned how to present myself in a way that is still fashionable without showing all of my goodies. 

Still, I know there are some that might not approve of my being a #SexySaint or me period. What I have come to realize though is that my witness is not the same as everyone else's. I'm not what most would consider to be your stereotypical "Christian" (whatever that is). Now don't get me wrong, I Luh God *inmyEricaCampbellvoice* but I believe that he called me to live outside of the box. For example, I listen to MaryMary, but I also listen to Mary J. Blige...I know all the words to "The Battle is Not Yours" and "The Boy is Mine"...my YouTube playlist may consist of Juanita Bynum and Beyonce'...I made a whole video on the Blessing of getting new bundles for pete's sake... I'm just this big ol' mashup of favor and fabulousness!

As comfortable as I am in the skin that I am in, there was a time when I wasn't always comfortable with who I was. I felt like I didn't quite fit into the church world where I was raised, but I also didn't completely blend into the "secular" world either. I didn't know how God could possibly use someone like me, but I still had this feeling like there was some type of calling on my life. Then I began to realize that God has a history of using "unconventional" people to get the job done. 

There's Queen Esther, a young Jewish girl whose bravery saved the Jewish people. We can't forget the fact though that when Esther entered the kingdom she was instructed to hide her Jewish background. It wasn't until later that she revealed her nationality to the king. This leads me to believe that Esther didn't "look" like the typical Jewish girl of the time. Even still, God used her to not only save her own life but the life of her people. Then there were Rahab and Ruth, two women who didn't even come from Jewish backgrounds (not to mention that Rahab was also a prostitute), but who both are in the lineage of Jesus.

So yea, I may not look like your average church girl...but neither did Esther...and I may not have always acted like your typical church girl...but neither did Rahab...but I believe that just like he used these ladies he can use me. So I refuse to allow others to put me in a "box" and I'm excited to see how he is going to use me next!

Please check out  https://www.authenticdnaapparel.com if you want to purchase these and other awesome shirts!!!

SN: if you want to learn to love the skin you're in, visit The LEAH - Heal Project!!! We are all about building women up and look forward to our launch event in January 2018!!!!