Luxury is what you define it as... create luxury in your life, however you see fit
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Luxury is what you define it as... create luxury in your life, however you see fit 〰️
FAITH | FASHION + THE FIGHT: A JOURNEY THROUGH CANCER
A Fight With Cancer Will Give You Perspective And Push You To Your Purpose…
FAITH • GOD. Power. Belief. Confidence. Trust - Complete Trust.
FASHION • Style. Creation. Mode. Outlet - My Outlet.
FIGHT • Brawl. Battle. War. Attack. Resist - Will to Resist.
These are a few words that stand out when I think about faith, fashion + the fight. For me, the fight is c a n c e r - which means a fight for joy, a fight for strength, a fight for peace. A fight that I personally do not want to partake in. Nonetheless, I am here, I am in it & I am fighting back… fighting back with faith, with family, with friends, with love, with perseverance, with resistance, with healing, with God… and with fashion.
Faith. Wow. What a tiny, but powerful word. Tiny, but powerful. At 5’2 and what use to be a solid 130 lbs. [pre-cancer], the word “faith” reminds me of myself - tiny, but powerful. Petite, but fierce. Or as my fellow Jamaicans would say, “likkle, but tallawah.” Although small in stature, faith is powerful. As I recall Pastor Michael Todd stating, “There is BIG POWER in SMALL FAITH.” Or, as the bible reminds us: all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed. Matthew 17:20. I say this to say that the power of faith is what has gotten me through this fight and what continues to get me through it. Yes, the fashion is amazing and picks me up from moping around. However, fashion is the external. Faith is the internal. It is my internal reliance on God and my internal strength to trust and believe in Him. Faith [through God] picks me up when I am down. It fills me up when I am empty. It waters my roots when I am dry. It fills me up with hope, with courage, with peace and with understanding. The understanding that God will not give me more than I can handle. The understanding and the knowledge that He will not leave me, nor forsake me. The understanding and faith in knowing that I can conquer all things, this thing, through Christ who strengthens me. Faith is my superpower. The superpower that gets me through my thoughts, my what-ifs, my depression, my tears and my fears. Throughout this journey, I have been reminded to replace fear with faith. FAITH OVER FEAR is the motto. Of course, this is all easier said than done and some days my faith is the size of a dust mite, but other days it’s the size of the sun exploding with color and warmth to brighten up my day and remind me that I can and I will fight through this & Here I am to remind you that you can too. Whatever your fight may be. You can fight through it with faith.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
/ˈfaSHən/. Fashion has always been a source for me. A source of confidence, a source of beauty, a source of creativity, and now a source of strength. In a sense, fashion has been my outlet. An outlet for me to express myself to the world through my style, my shoes, my accessories, my layers and my mix of fabrics & patterns. It allows me to smile without smiling. To show up. To create. To stand out & to add color to this canvas we call life. Although fulfilling, sometimes fashion has left me feeling empty. Despite the compliments and the urges to work in fashion, to be a stylist, or create a brand, etc… etc… — I’ve never truly felt a divine connection to my creativity in fashion. I’ve never felt a purpose behind my style — more specifically, my purpose. However, a fight with cancer will give you perspective and push you to your purpose. So now, I feel compelled to use my fashion as a message to fight. To fight with strength, to fight with color, to fight with grace, to fight with style and to fight with faith.
“a fight with cancer will give you perspective and push you to your purpose”
Fight. So, eeny, meeny, miny, moe, pick a struggle and let it go… whatever your fight may be, pick it up and let it go. Yes, I know, we can’t literally release ourselves of whatever IT is - because trust me, if I could I would… However, we can release ourselves from the shackles that come with IT & fight back. Fight back with faith. Fight back with fashion. Fight back with strength. Fight back with prayer. Just, Fight Back. So, if you’re here as a fighter or a friend of a fighter, I urge you to fight and do so with grace.
For a further push, check out:
