Fashion Week in New York City was an incredible experience. Never before do I remember seeing God move so mightily in such seemingly insignificant moments. This was my seventh experience of going to Fashion Week with the motivation of sharing the love of Heaven with professionals in fashion and entertainment, and it was by far my favorite. As always, I entered into this trip with the mentality of a working professional. My role there is to work backstage dressing the models before they hit the runway. I am hired by people who know full-well the faith that I profess, but for the sake of professionalism I am strictly advised to "check my religion at the door". Makes sense. I am in a privileged position and the last thing anyone wants is controversy.
I would say the same thing if I were in their shoes.
But then there's this whole love thing.
Because even though there's a lot to be said about love, and sometimes it can get confusing, there is also this one story about love that I can't get off my mind. It's the story of a lover, who loved his bride so fiercely, that even though she went off and cheated on him over and over again, he still pursued her with his whole life and gave all he had to win her back. His love saved her, healed her, and by the power of his unconditional love for her, she was able to become a faithful lover too. His fierce love led her to be a fierce lover too. Its hard to fathom. But its beautiful. Because her actions didn't taint his love, but his faithful loved transformed her actions.
Thats the story that changed me. The Lover is God. The bride is us.
And the Love is one so vast that it can't be "checked at the door".
Because even though I can keep quiet about my "religion", this Love speaks for itself.
Its that Love who makes mundane things miraculous. The same Love who turned water to wine 2,000 years ago, is the One who didn't stay outside when I walked backstage in New York last week. That Love is the one who allowed me to speak kind words to multiple celebrities in unexpected moments- like when I was leaving a venue and a woman of great influence remembered me as "the girl who looks like Lauren Conrad but prays to Jesus like Annette Funicello" and then she proceeded to ask for prayer right there on the spot. Its Love who provided for me to bring $5 Starbucks cards to my models, and its Love who drove those same girls into my arms for hugs and encouragement at the end of their long days. Its Love who caused models from years past to remember me simply "because of the way I looked at them", and its Love who led multiple girls to meet me for coffee throughout the week so they could share their lives with me and allow me to speak a few words of wisdom and hope into their bleak circumstances. It is Love who enabled me to joyfully serve stressed-out people that yelled for no reason and treated me like garbage, and it was the same Love who reminded me to serve my MFC volunteers with humility, because Love treats others as better than ourselves.
The ultimate act of Love came in the form of a God who lived to serve and died to save. So though I may not technically be able to speak of His Love when I am working backstage at prestigious fashion events, I can live His Love through serving, giving, encouraging, praying, and excelling in all I do. And in a world that is just as hungry for Love as I am, I can be confident that the words will come later.
Because true Love is fiercely powerful... and when we see It... we can't help but long for It.
& now for some iphone photos from my time in NYC... here's what you'll see:
some photo-worthy sights.
other wonderful Models For Christ volunteers.
my beautiful little sister, my roommate for this trip.
a model i've loved since i first met her 6 seasons ago.
new friends i made backstage.
some amazing university students who invited me to their dorm one evening to share my story with them.
more photo-worthy sights.
