Yay Sisters: Tara Sun, a faith and fashion influencer from Oregon, USA

Tara Sun Christian Blogger on The Yay Project

Happy Tuesday, friends! Today I’m delighted to introduce you to Tara Sun, a faith and fashion blogger/influencer from Oregon, USA. If you follow faith and fashion bloggers on Instagram, you might already friends with Tara. She seems to have an endless capacity to befriend, love on, and encourage others, and best of all does it from a place grounded in Christ. In addition to her blog, Instagram (girl is amazing at Stories!), Facebook and Pinterest, she’s also recently launched a YouTube channel (links at the bottom of the page). Read on, follow her channels, and be encouraged and inspired by this wonderful daughter of God!

Name: Tara Sun (Aman)

Location: Oregon, USA

Age: 21

Hey Tara! Please tell us about yourself.

Sisters… my name is Tara Sun (my middle name is Sun). I am a follower of Jesus, online ministry founder, daughter, sister, girlfriend and deep-conversation lover. I was adopted at a very young age into a Christ-loving family. There’s nothing I love more than a vanilla latte, long conversations with friends, skiing, writing, digging into God’s word and encouraging other women in their faith.

Some random facts about me: I used to work in some major retail stores which has ignited my love for fashion. It’s been awesome to encourage other women to dress beautifully, yet in a God honoring way. I used to dance ballet (for 14 years until I graduated high school) and I’ve been blessed to travel to three different countries.

How did you become a Christian?

When I was a young child, my parents would read me a story book called “Steps to Jesus.” We read it almost every night. One night, after reading it many times, I asked my parents to accept Jesus into my heart. The end of the book prompted this response and I truly believe that I was old enough to understand the implications. However, I like to say that I rededicated my life to Christ when I was twelve years old. As I got older and experienced more trials in my life, I really truly made my faith my own.

What’s your favourite way to experience God?

One of the first ways that I love to experience God is through Bible reading. I have been loving using my Hosanna Revival Journaling Bible to write down my thoughts, favorite verses and prayers. I love how meditating on Scripture opens my eyes to who He is, what He has for me and convicts me of sin to help grow me in my faith even more. I also love worshipping through music and I have always had a knack for singing. It’s also been great to experience God through other people -- the online ministry that I have cultivated has shown me that God’s truth can be experienced and enjoyed through other people sharing their testimonies as well.

What does celebrating your God-given design mean to you?

Personally, celebrating my God-given design means living rooted in my unshakable identity in Him. There are a lot of things in this world that tempt us to align with. However, every worldly option will always fall through and never satisfy. Celebrating my God-given design means pressing fully into the fact that God has fearfully and wonderfully made me. It means that by His grace, and nothing of myself, I am equipped to be able to use my individual talents to spread His name. This means being thankful for how God has uniquely created me, but always striving to give Him the glory. (I call this the 1 Corinthians 10:31 mindset.)

How do you hold onto this when times are tough?

When times are tough, I have to remember that God is the one working in me, through my unique, God-given design. When circumstances seem insurmountable and overwhelming, I try to hold onto the truth that He is the only One that can truly equip my heart and frame to live purposefully. It’s also comforting to remember that we are all given a unique, God-given design and there is no need to be threatened by that. We are better when we work together as a body of Christ. There is no need for competition or disunity because my role is different from someone else’s. Their role is different from mine. But they’re all so necessary. (Ephesians 4:16)

Love what you are doing as a faith + fashion influencer! Can you share more about how you started?

Faith and fashion are two words that describe me as a person and a platform perfectly. Although God has been sharing more faith based encouragement through my platform, there has always been a genuine love for fashion. Like I mentioned briefly, I was able to work for some major women's fashion stores and that fueled my love for styling even more. Originally, when I started my blog, I wanted it to be mainly about God and offering people hope that He has immeasurably more to offer our lives when we follow Him. However, I still enjoy taking outfit pictures and being creative because it opens up a unique door to show others that we can still enjoy our passions while glorifying God.

Also, along the way, it’s been great to encourage other women of Christ to examine their wardrobes and use their outfits as a way to show other people His light! I started my blog as a way to share the glories that God had brought about in my life. Over the last year and a half, God has blown me away. He has united me with some beautiful fashion bloggers that are now introduced to the gospel. He has introduced me to some beautiful Christian bloggers that are encouraging sisters in Christ, walking along the same journey. I am continually humbled and blessed to be able to have this creative outlet, but most of all, to make Christ-connections and hopefully win some souls for Him!

What are some things God has taught you while working on this?

One of the biggest things that God has taught me over the last few months is humility. Ever since God took this ministry and completely ran with it, exceeding my expectations, I have become so aware that this is about Jesus and not me. That every compliment, comment, collaboration and more is only because of Jesus’ provision. I have learned to put on humility every single day because it is an extreme honor and responsibility to be doing this. Jesus’ work, no matter how you go about it, is the most important and serious work anyone can do.

We must always put on a humble attitude and recognize the implications of it. It’s more than selling a pair of shoes through a commissable link. It’s more than promoting a brand because they have a great mission. It’s about putting on a thankful heart every morning, realizing that God has given you a platform to simply steward. Over the last few months, God has been teaching me to constantly surrender my game plans and goals because He has a better one for this space and life in general. He has taught me that people are the prize, not the following count or the awareness.

Can you share more about your vision moving forward?

Even though I just said that I have to constantly surrender my game plan, I do have some hopeful dreams moving forward. ;) A few months ago, I launched my YouTube channel and it has been beautiful to expand upon another platform and also provide more in-depth encouragement. I plan to continue putting more time into YouTube, as well as sharing blog posts. I would love to branch out into other things like books, podcasts and more, but again, those are dreams to pray about.

Moving forward, I am striving to continue to provide biblically based encouragement on any platform. Additionally, I would love to also share the wisdom that I have accumulated over the last year to other Christian bloggers / influencers / encouragers. I believe that there is a place for everyone here online (and in real life) to share Christ and their glorifying testimonies. It doesn’t matter the follower count. I just want to be able to provide some sort of resources to help other people share Christ. Most of all, moving forward, I am so excited to continue to let God move through me and champion others along the way.

How can we pray for you?

This is the sweetest! I will always welcome some sweet prayer from my sisters in Christ. At this moment, my biggest prayer request would be that I would be able to steward both school and my online school well at the same time. Currently, I am pursuing a degree in Biblical Counseling online, as well as running my blog, YouTube, Instagram and more. It has been a challenge to give both the time I’d like, but I’m confident that the Lord is using schooling to increase my ministry and vice versa. It’s my prayer that the Lord will give me the focus, strength and motivation to do both well and in a way that pleases Him!