Teino Evans, Staff Reporter
Tanya Aubaine declares her love for Christ through song. - CLAUDINE HOUSEN
SHE MAY not be able to easily convert an audience to righteousness with her stunning looks, but when she opens her mouth to sing, Tanya Aubaine gives a whole new testimony.
Tanya says she has been singing gospel music from age six in the church where she started to worship.
"At that time I was at the Effortville Pentecostal Church of God in May Pen, Clarendon, where I grew up. My brother and sisters also went to that church, but my mother wasn't really a church person so she just sent us," Tanya explained.
According to Tanya, at that age they would take her to rallies and she would sing, but when she got saved in 1992, at around age 13, Tanya started to attend the Epping Forest New Testament Church of God in Manchester, where she sang on the choir and also performed solo pieces.
Tanya, who is slim, of light complexion, has hazel eyes, sports long nails and shaved eyebrows and is about 5 feet 6 inches tall with coloured hair, says persons always find it hard to believe that she is a Christian, based on her appearance.
HER LOOK
In explaining her look, Tanya says everything is natural, just how God made her, but because of her profession, she is always engaging in the act of beautification.
"I am a beautician. I cater for the entire body, from head to toe. I used to have my own spa and so I have to look the way I look, because, for example, I'm a nail technician, so I have to wear nails and wear them well," she explained.
Tanya has also cut her hair and has changed the colour more than twice. Now her hair colour is actually light brown, almost matching her complexion.
Despite the look, however, Tanya says all her life has been centred on God, and even though she may have faltered at times, her look does not define who she is.
In keeping with her strong Christian beliefs, Tanya says she would like to one day take her gospel career to a more professional level, not just performing at concerts and events within her church, but on a bigger stage.
"I would like to have my own gospel album one day, because I have written songs of my own and would like to get them out there," she said.
Tanya, who has been through it all, says that it is through her singing ministry that she has managed to overcome some of the painful struggles that she has undergone.
Married at age 18 to a young pastor (who was 21 years old), Tanya said her experience in marriage opened her eyes to a lot.
"After I got saved, it was about three and a half years after that I got married. We lasted for two years. I had two children for him, but my husband backslid and became unfaithful and even ran himself into bankruptcy and disappeared, leaving my two children and me," she said.
The church, she said, refused to accept her, as she needed money and food for her children, but the pastor declined to help as he declared that the church was in a state of bankruptcy because of her husband.
"I then got involved with a guy who had money. I ended up having two children for him, but that relationship didn't work out, because I later discovered that he was a Muslim and, added with the other problems that we had, it just didn't work out," she said.
THE GRACE OF GOD
According to Tanya, it was only the grace of God that pulled her through, as had it not been for her relationship with God she does not know what would have become of her life.
"If I didn't know God for myself, then I would be totally lost today. And if the church hadn't turned its back on me, I wouldn't have gone that route. Now I can sing and give my testimony and not mind, because there a lot of people who face similar problems, especially the wives of pastors, and I think that by talking about the problem, it will also help you to get over it," she said.
Ministering to others through song, Tanya says, really changes people and encourages them.
"Every time I take up the microphone to sing, I minister, and I normally fast and pray before I do a concert," she added.
"Most of the times, after I am through singing, other artistes can't get to take the stage, because I do altar calls and the stage becomes full. The best time for me, though, is when I get to close the show, because I get to deliver my message without restrictions or time constraints because other artistes are waiting."
