Lexington: May/June 2016

JESUS.

MUSIC.

FASHION.

ANGELIC LEXINGTON

RAW BEAUTY ISSUE

ANGELICMAY/JUNE 2첫16 LEXINGTON, KY

JESUS. MUSIC. FASHION.

Singer - Songwri ter Showcase BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE ROASTERY & ANGELIC MAGAZINE

SATURDAY, MAY 14TH ‐ 7PM THE ROASTERY COFFEHOUSE LEX, KY SINGER/SONGWRITERS: JOE HAYES & JACOB HUNT KATRINA BARCLAY CARLY JONES JUSTIN CARLSON

THIS NIGHT IS TO BRING GLORY TO JESUS. YOU'RE INVITED.

Raw Beauty THIS ISSUE IS TO CELEBRATE WOMEN & THEIR GOD GIVEN NATURAL BEAUTY

THE FASHION PHOTO

足SHOOTS

FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE ALL HAVE NO MAKEUP

JOIN US THIS MONTH BY POSTING A NO MAKEUP SELFIE ON INSTAGRAM USE THE HASHTAG WE

'LL

#NOMAKEUPANGELIC

REPOST YOUR PHOTO ON OUR INSTAGRAM

@ANGELICMAGAZINE

EDITOR LETTER A WELCOMING

H

i Lexington. I hope you've been well. We're going to be doing a singer/songwriter showcase on May 14th for you, and we hope to meet you. It's our first event in Lexington since we launched in the community last fall and we're excited for what God may have in store.

If you don't know this, you mean a lot to us and God has put you on our heart.

We pray for you and pray to be a part of Lexington for years to come.

Inside this issue you will see fashion photo-shoots featuring no makeup. It's our Raw Beauty issue. No illusions. No coverings. No masks, just rawness.

If you read through this issue we pray that you see Jesus in it.

-- Jesse Anaya

LYNDSEY SMYTH

PHOTOGRAPHER

//

LEXINGTON

"I REMEMBER SPENDING COUNTLESS HOURS ON MY MAKEUP AND STANDING IN FRONT OF MY CLOSET THROWING CLOTHES AROUND, FEELING LIKE NOTHING WOULD BE GOOD ENOUGH. "

WintohentwoIdifferent think of raw beauty, I view it as being separated layers; physical and spiritual.

In the spiritual layer, raw beauty is being able to strip away that armor we put on and truly come before Jesus.

Being vulnerable with God isn’t something I ever thought about too much. I always believed by simply telling Him the things that were going on in my life, that I was doing fine.

Until I actually sat down and evaluated whether or not I was being 100% authentic. I think it’s hard to come before God and lay everything out in honesty, until you realize that He already sees every single tiny flaw, and every miniature imperfection. He already has you figured out, and He knew you before you ever knew His name.

The most beautiful part about that? He loves us anyway.

He chose us anyway. He died for us anyway. And He will continue to profess his love for us daily.

Getting to that point in your relationship with Him where you can be vulnerable is so amazing and so raw. It’s ridiculously freeing.

Being a woman in today’s society, I feel as though the physical layer to raw beauty can be much harder to dig into.

When I was in high school, before I knew Jesus, I was convinced that my self-acceptance and self-worth came from what other people though of me - men in particular.

I bought certain clothes for the sole purpose to objectify myself and receive attention from guys. Little did I know, this was crippling to my spirit.

I was never met with my own expectations. The trashy comments I received were somehow never enough for me. I was constantly creating this idea in my mind that I would never be good enough or I could never grab enough attention.

A couple of years later, I fell in love with Jesus, who proceeded to fill all those cracks and doubts. He constantly whispered to me “you are my beloved”. I’d never felt more free!

However, I can’t say it was always the case that I listened and lived as if that were true. Starting out at a new college

college three years ago, I had so many people to “impress” and try to gain their approval.

I may not have been trying to show off my body, but I remember spending countless hours on my makeup and standing in front of my closet throwing clothes around, feeling like nothing would be good enough.

Recently, though, I have been able to tap into that spiritual vulnerability with God and it has made the biggest difference in my life. I’ve been absolutely covered by the promises and character of God. I’m constantly reminded every single day that who I am is found solely in Him. No matter what I look like on the outside, if I am connected with God on the inside, that will be the biggest testament of my worth and confidence to others.

I knew going into this shoot that I wanted to be able to portray to the viewer, what I feel when I’m being raw and vulnerable with Jesus. I chose my dear friend Lisa for this shoot because she absolutely radiates confidence. Oddly enough, I was nervous about asking her to do a makeup free shoot because her makeup is always flawless and I wasn’t sure how comfortable she would be with the idea.

She absolutely blew my mind when she was so excited to do the shoot, and presented an overwhelming sense of peace, and comfortability in her own skin. She was more than willing to be vulnerable in front of the camera.

I wanted these photos to show serenity and vulnerability within the space. I feel as though these photos portray a feeling of wholeness and acceptance and that’s exactly what I was going for. I’m so hopeful to empower other women to find their identity in Christ first, and their beauty will then flow from that!

WHEN THE SCROLLING BEGINS TO BREAK YOUR HEART SOCIAL MEDIA

.

T // @ Iamazingknowandshe'shasB theC"literally perfect." She's gorgeous and most de-cluttered, modern-chic-rusticY LARE UCKER

CTUCKY

esque, stark white, furry, velvety, simple yet elegant work desk you've ever seen...on Instagram.

I get that her and her boyfriend are seriously the cutest couple ever and are always doing something so fun and adventurous while you're sitting alone, bloated, eating carbs, with no makeup or bra on, lifting and toning‌your right thumb. Even if you got up right now, worked out like hard core, got a spray tan, washed and dried your hair, put on some of the $200 worth of makeup you own yet barely ever use, and slipped on the cutest outfit from that trendy boutique you follow, you still probably couldn't catch up to like... one-tenth of her life right now.

She's known her purpose for living ever since her early 20's... Probably never disappointed God in the ways you have and seems to have met her soulmate way before she's 30 and over it.

You should probably leave the insta-blogging up to her...

She would probably be a more ideal candidate to do kingdom work and get married and procreate like God expects of all 22-25 year old southern belles, ultimately helping to make the world a better place. She's beautiful.

Her Instagram account is gorgeous. She finds a way to pay her bills, or still not have any, style the most adorable outfits and be picture perfect ready no matter what the agenda is for the day.

She finds time to bake treats and clean her toilet and dust her room/office and do Pinterest projects...successfully. Her bed is always made. Her pillows are so fluffy and clean. She has a purpose. She has it all together. She is really going to make a difference in this crazy world.

She's going to make some equally gorgeous guy the luckiest man in the world and have a perfect family. She makes God so proud. And what are you doing with your life? Well, God may have chosen her. But He chose you too.

He may have chosen her way earlier than you and it may seem that He spared her from a lot of crap in life that you had to go through. But who's going to identify with her?

Well, millions of girls who probably won't relate to or care about you or your amateur, mediocre social media accounts.

AND YOUR WORTH

.

But she has a certain audience which God designed for her.

And you do, too. Your story will reach the millions that will never relate to HER insta-goodness. That feel-good social media presence doesn't make everyone feel good. But when they hear you talk about what a hot mess you were and kinda still are, and how Jesus still came for you, chased you, offered you freedom and new life and stays pursuing you every day, even the long, hard, depressing ones, that hits her heart like a ton of bricks.

That one is part of the audience He designed for YOU. You don't envy her and you don't conform to what she does because that's none of your business, it's not in your blueprint of kingdom work. You have a lane, handed down by Heaven, stay in it or you could miss out on Greatness.

God's heart never sees her in IG or snap chat filter form, as with you. He knows the countless selfies she took to get the right angle and lighting, and how much crap is on the other side of her room to make her perfect "home office" look so dang simplistic and just uncomfortably white. He made you both, and beautifully so in His image. That kind of beautiful that won't go away when you get old and your body starts to fail you. This beauty you don't see in an Instagram post won't fade when you get handed a crippling disease or near fatal accident that leaves you unrecognizable.

It's important we know how much we mean to our creator and that it has ZERO to do with any aesthetic proportions, flattering shadows, angles, and filters on our faces and bodies.

Raw Beauty is learning to look at yourself in the mirror, stripped down and bare and say, "God loves you. He picked you out of the universe. I love you. I am proud of you. You are such a beautiful you. Your skin, your hair, your body, your nose, your teeth are all your own and no one else could play the part of you, they'd never live up.

God gave you a radiant, free heart and that shines through to the outside, and people see THAT! They think you're beautiful, too. You're a saved daughter who got promoted to a princess of the universe."

You are amazing and your Father traded Heaven to give you this life. Being beautiful goes so much deeper than your face, your body, your perfect relationship or your gorgeous life on Instagram. Remember this when the scrolling begins to break your heart.

SHE'S MORE THAN HER MAKEUP A GUY'S OPINION B Y JESSE ANAYA

YAndou bring tenderness out of us. you inspire us to write poems and songs.

It’s not your makeup that we adore. It’s you.

To picture our lives without you is picturing a solemn life incomplete.

A wedding day without our bride. Our child without their mom. A life with no love.

We don’t like to dance, but for you, we’ll 2-step the night away.

We don’t do picnics, but with you we’ll have a picnic every day.

We don’t like to show we cry in movies too, but you, you make it safe for us to show our tears.

It’s not your makeup we adore. It’s you.

When you’re cold, we want to build you a fire.

And if you’re still chilly, we would give you our last sweater.

We don’t like flowers or things like that, but for you, we’ll handpick crimson roses.

We don’t want to do life without you.

Because you make Sunday mornings better.

Your smile lives in our heart.

It’s not the way you look that we adore, it’s how you look at us that we can’t forget.

You’re more than your makeup.

You’re so much more.

JUSTIN C ANGELICMUSIC

B J A Jandustinworship Carlson is a husband, father of 2, singer/songwriter leader.

Y ESSE NAYA

Originally from Nashville, TN, Carlson has found his way navigating the South from Tennessee to Virginia and now to Lexington, KY to pursue what Jesus has laid on his heart: To share Him with others through music.

“I graduated college in 2004 and I’ve worked in the local church since then, through music, and anytime I’ve stepped away from that, in the worship realm, God pulls me back in. It’s really become clear to me, really in this last year where God has been refining that in me.”

Carlson has a passion for worship leading, singer/songwriting and his heart is to build community within the church and outside of it.

“I really long to communicate the beauty and the mystery of who God is, who Jesus is. I’m writing these songs really with a trajectory of hope, and that hope being Jesus.”

“I want to see a space for artists to flourish. TO share the love of Jesus and see that play out in the community, in our work. How do we do this? What does it mean to be a faithful steward of the arts? I’ve been asking myself how to be faithful in doing this in Lexington.”

Leading worship at a church in Roanoke, VA, Carlson was led to Lexington, KY. “I got a call from a pastor here in Lexington and over the course of a lot of conversations, God lead my wife and I here. That was 9 months ago and it’s been kind of a whirlwind. It’s been really good and hard. I’m really seeing for God to shape us to be more like Jesus, it’s not always a romantic thing. It’s exposing things in our lives, patterns and God has really been refining me and my wife, and it’s evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work. This season in Lexington has been a season of refinement.”

CARLSON SINGER/SONGWRITER LEX, KY

PERFORMING AT OUR SINGER/SONGWRITER SHOWCASE 5.14.16

"I WANT TO SEE A SPACE FOR ARTISTS TO FLOURISH. TO SHARE THE LOVE OF JESUS AND SEE THAT PLAY OUT IN THE COMMUNITY" Carlson will be performing at our Singer/Songwriter Showcase on May 14th.

“Stylistically, I’d say my music has some elements folk, some pop and Americana. In terms of inspiration, there’s a lot of times I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to pray. So the songs have really helped give me a language when I don’t have one.”

“I’m recording an album of Psalms. I think God’s word is inexhaustible, and the theme of waiting on the Lord has really been resonating in me creatively.”

We look forward to seeing how God will continue to work, refine and use Justin Carlson in Lexington in the seasons to come.

ANGELICMUSIC

Carly Jon

Before I could speak, I was singing the song, Somewhere Over the

Rainbow. Singing has been an innate passion of mine since I can remember. At 5 years old I knew that I wanted to become a singer. That passion has not died once.

Growing up, I got involved in many opportunities to use my gifting.

My mom was the worship leader at our church and used my vocals as part of the team beginning at age 11.

I remember my first solo, petrified yet dying to do it again. I continued to lead worship through high school, as well as partake in musicals, including lead role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. I picked up a guitar for the first time my junior year of high school and began writing songs.

I attended Anderson University in 2007 and declared a Marketing major my sophomore year. Getting a degree in something other than music was a safety net for me.

If music didn’t ‘pan out’ the way I wanted it to, I could always fall back on my degree. Although I was not studying music, I took advantage of many opportunities to advance my career.

Competitions like Indiana Superstar helped build my confidence in being critiqued as well as performing on stage in front of an audience that was not my church. I continued leading worship at my church, as well as leading one year at Ohio State Youth Convention.

The summer of my junior year I attended Lake Tahoe Summer Project through Campus Crusade, and was chosen to be the worship leader for the remainder of the project. I continued to write songs and began performing originals and covers outside of church.

Being in the studio on campus a few times got me familiar with the process of recording and I fell in love with a side of music I had not experienced prior to this.

After my husband and I got married in 2011, we moved from Ohio to California for his job as a youth pastor. I experienced many emotions being a newlywed and living so far from home.

LEX

nes , KY

"I EXPERIENCED MANY EMOTIONS BEING A NEWLYWED AND LIVING SO FAR FROM HOME. THESE EMOTIONS SPILLED OUT INTO SONGS, WHICH LATER GREW INTO MY FIRST ALBUM, L ETTING GO. " These emotions spilled out into songs, which later grew into my first album, Letting Go. I learned an enormous amount about music business through this project; from creating my website, to designing business cards, to performing, to promos, to digital distribution and sales.

Once again, I had fallen in love with everything that music had to offer. I decided to pursue music more actively. I continued to lead worship at my church, partake in various local singing competitions, and even auditioned for The Voice where I was asked to fly to Miami, FL for a call-back.

Though the audition lead to an end with The Voice, I learned a great deal about myself and what was required of me to work successfully as a business-woman and artist.After 3 years serving in California, my husband and I felt called to help lead at our current church, Eastland Church of God, in Lexington, KY. Not only did we desire to be closer to family as we anticipated growing our own, but we wanted to take my music career to the next level.

Since living in Lexington, I have performed locally at several coffee shops, restaurants, and other local organizations. I have also recorded several songs with Digitracks Recording Studio, and have a new single being released May 6th.

I continue to learn about what it takes to be a successful artist. I also continue to learn about embracing the unknown and anticipating what is yet to come. Being content in all situations is not an easy concept to grasp but because of the hope we have in Christ, you and I are able to take big leaps of faith.

We are able to be confident in our callings. We are able to live without safety nets.

I am happy to be doing what I love and also to share the message of Jesus through my music.

SINGER/SONGWRIT SINGER/SONGWRITER PERFORMING AT OUR SINGER/SONGWRITER SHOWCASE 5.14.16

Envious Appearance, Confidently Beautiful B Y LAUREN PRATHER // @THESTYLISTLAUREN

A s a licensed cosmetologist, most would probably

consider me the exact opposite of a natural beauty advocate. The features and unique beauty that God has given each and every one of us is what I strive to bring to their beholder’s consciousness every single day.

What I have found in my profession is that Satan has made women blind to their beauty. Many women the instant they sit in my chair they start picking themselves apart. “I’m sure you noticed my double chin, so my hair can’t go any shorter than this, but I just hate it and want something different.” We magnify our flaws and believe they characterize who we are.

Speaking from a woman’s standpoint, our looks have set us out against other women as well. I’ve listened to women rip each other apart strictly based on looks. Before even meeting someone, you can already decide if you like them or not, simply based on appearance.

So there are two things appearance has inspired us to do: not like ourselves and not like other women. The world tells us we need to work on our appearance, but what God sees, and what he has crafted is beauty.

God did not design our looks to inspire hatred, jealousy, envy, or pride. He designed us to reflect Him and all of His glory. It’s so easy to listen to our environment screaming that we aren’t good enough, pretty enough, thin enough. You need to change your appearance and strive for this unattainable, everlasting youth. All the while His soft, still whisper is telling us “You are beautiful.”

God will make you feel beautiful if you let Him. He will show you why you were created, and that He loves every little thing about you. When you walk in confidence knowing that you were created, and you were created beautifully, then, you can find it in your heart to celebrate other people’s beauty.

"I never realized the bondage I was held under envying other women. I couldn’t go anywhere without surveying the room all the while belittling myselfin my head. " I never realized the bondage I was held under envying other women. I couldn’t go anywhere without surveying the room all the while belittling myself in my head. “Oh no, she’s prettier than me. Oh no, she’s skinnier than me.” If I was feeling really selfconscious that’s when I would start belittling them in my head or even out loud.

It took quite some time for me to allow God to let me feel confident. My husband and I go hiking every chance we get. The thing I like most about walking in the woods is taking in all of God’s creation.

Every leaf, every tree, every rock formation and flowing water was designed by our Maker. I find comfort in knowing that I was part of that creation as well. God saw fit to make all the beauty from the mountains to the ocean, but it wasn’t complete without me.

That’s what gives me confidence and allows me to see other women as sisters and not as a threat. To celebrate their beauty, and not envy them.

Walking in the woods has also given me grace with myself. It has made me come to terms with Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time…” My looks aren’t the same now being almost 30 as they were when I was 20.

Just as every season is beautiful in its own way so are we in the different seasons in our life. Winter does not envy summer, spring does not envy fall. It all has its purpose and is beautiful in its time.

You are beautiful right now, back then, and still tomorrow. “…He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Amen.

LL ESLEY T HOMAS , KY EXINGTON

O

ANGELICTESTIMONY

ne of the things that’s so amazing to me about this journey that we are all on is the way that God reveals parts of his character in our individual lives; in different countries, in different cultures, and in different circumstances. I grew up Zimbabwe, Africa, and all my life all I had known was this world where things always seemed to be uncertain and uninspiring.

This world was just ‘my normal’. But, normal is never the life God calls us to live. Growing up in a third world country and moving to a first world country, allowed for so many ways for God to show up in my life and to reveal to me parts of him that I didn’t know existed.

One of those ways was design. I was born into the creative hands of a graphic designer who never settled for mediocre; my mother that is. To her everything had already been discovered and that it was our job on this earth to inspire people through the art of design. The world I saw was filled with so many beautiful things and at the same time, so many awful things.

I wanted the beautiful things to be more beautiful and the awful things to just simply not exist. The only solution I could think of had to do with the power of design. God has always revealed himself to me in the things He has designed; from the smallest detail of the veins on a leaf, to the poetic display of the universe. God is always in the details.

About 3 years into college, I hit a wall of doubt. The familiarity of this new comfort zone that I found myself in, coupled with a bad breakup and some unhealthy friendships created this frantic version of myself who was torn between knowing what she wanted to do in life and this girl who couldn’t seem to grasp anything.

I found myself in this strange place of always wanting to please people. Every decision I made seemed to be placed on the hope that I would gain approval and validation from people I barely knew, people I didn’t even like. At the time I was studying Interior Design and found the false truth that if I designed things that people liked, my life would matter.

I would matter to people.

Unhealthy? Yes. I still believed in design, but somewhere along the line, I stopped believing in myself. I believed that design could

change the world, I just didn’t believe that I was to part of that story. That all changed in 2014.

You know how certain verses keep popping up in your life that God really wants you to pay attention to? Well He does that, and for me it was Ephesians 2:10. That verse came alive for me when I heard a version I had never heard before.

The word was ‘poiema’. Poiema is the word the for ‘workmanship’. Its literal meaning translates to ‘thing that is created’. Something happened in my heart at the thought of being this being that Christ had created, for something that He saw was good.

I obsessed over this word the more it sunk deeper into my heart, I wasn’t prepared for the story God was trying to reveal to me. You see, we get our English words ‘poem’ and ‘poetry’ from the word poiema, and divine poetry at times was the last thing felt like.

I remember days in my life where the weight of guilt and regret caused me to question my purpose and identity in the world. This verse offered me life; it gave me purpose.

I believe that God speaks to us in the simplest ways. He tells His best stories through us- His creation. These days I am choosing to believe that we were all created for a beautiful poetic story that He is telling through our pain, through our excitement joy and dreams.

I have a different view of design now; choosing to design because God created all things, and He created me to do His good works. He created within me this desire to create, so I now design as if God thinks my work matters, using what I have with what the world gives me.

The art of creation is creating something new in me every day, and choosing to live in the reason of why He calls me His poem, adds joy and fulfillment to my days.

What were you created for?

Beauty in Christ

N

NO MAKEUP PHOTO足SHOOT // PHOTOGRAPHED & WRITTEN BY JESSICA CAIN

atural beauty is something that I think gets overlooked far too often in culture; I know I tend to ignore it with myself.

With raw beauty, I feel like it is easy to say that someone else has it, but then brush off even the thought that we hold that same beauty ourselves.

With this photo-shoot, my mind kept going back to a verse in Matthew 6. There is part of the chapter that talks about how beautiful the lilies of the field are, and how if God cares so wonderfully for the wildflowers that are here one day and gone the next, than surely He will care for us.

This ultimately draws back to the idea to not worry. In my pictures, the model is always somewhere outdoors, and is wearing a floral headpiece. This was my way of tying into this scripture reference where, while the flowers are beautiful, the ones adorning them are far more priceless to the Lord.

Raw beauty is something that I consider to be very vulnerable; this belief was affirmed for me during the preparation of these pictures. Every day that I would have a scheduled photoshoot and begin taking the pictures, something with the weather would go wrong. Here I have these models outside, barefoot, and with no makeup on and without fail it was always very cold, windy, raining, or a mixture of the three.

They were completely vulnerable in just about every way, but in their vulnerability was such an amazing beauty. I think there is something so captivating about one that is unashamedly aware of the beauty they hold in Christ. Obviously, whenever a photo is being taken, especially with no makeup and with the knowledge that others will see it, there can be moments of discomfort, doubt, and lack of self-confidence.

However, when those things are pushed through and the realization of the natural beauty that we all hold is reached, it is such an incredible moment. I am not exempt from this struggle either.

While I discussed styling and location and ultimately conducted the photoshoots, I pushed the reminder of natural beauty and being fierce and gorgeous because of who they were created in likeness with.

I spent time reading this verse among others and several devotionals. Even still, I was not reminding myself of those very truths through the beginning of this process; not even in the slightest. While I took photos and saw the natural radiance just beaming from them, I hid.

I hid behind my camera, I hid from transparency, I hid from the idea that I did not feel that the words the Lord was speaking through me were also for me.

But along the way, I was reminded by someone dear to me that regardless of my personal nitpicking at my appearance at any given moment, the truth of who I was created to be in Christ and the beauty that creates is not negated.

This created a new sense of breakthrough for all involved. And while it is so good to have that encouragement, I think we need to all consciously try to find that confidence to always hold on to.

Along with that same section of Matthew, I worry, sometimes a lot. And through this process, and with these people I was blessed to be surrounded by during it, I was able to see the freedom from worry that happens when we look at the beauty of Christ.

Once I let go of my worry in the moments of pouring rain, 40mph winds, and chilly weather and just simply allowed the Lord to move and reveal His raw beauty, the results were beyond what I imagined.

To me, raw beauty means embracing what we may view as flaws and seeing the bigger picture. Even though someone somewhere along the way may have told us there was something to be ashamed of, something to be worried about, someone to feel the need to look like, the Lord is still pursuing us and reminding us that regardless, we are beautiful, and we are beautiful always.

"I WAS REMINDED BY SOMEONE DEAR TO ME THAT REGARDLESS OF MY PERSONAL NITPICKING AT MY APPEARANCE AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT, THE TRUTH OF WHO I WAS CREATED TO BE IN CHRIST AND THE BEAUTY THAT CREATES IS NOT NEGATED."