Priscilla Shirer is setting the record straight after receiving some backlash for recent comments about identifying as a Christian before describing herself as a black woman.

Last month, a video was posted to social media which showcased Shirer preaching about placing her identity in Christ ahead of her racial identity. The video went viral and resulted in a great deal of social media criticism.

Now, Shirer is using her social media platform to explain herself.

“…To be clear….I’m unbelievably proud to be a black woman. My identification with the African American community – the struggles and the triumphs – is something that I value greatly,” Shirer tweeted this week. “Within the context of the entire message I was giving at the time, my only intention was to make the point that no aspect of life should ever define a believer MORE than their relationship w/Christ. I should have been more clear.”

Shirer, the New York Times bestselling author and daughter of mega-church Pastor Tony Evans who serves as the head of Going Beyond Ministries, thanked a number of her supporters on social media who voiced their support. One woman in particular said she understood what Shirer meant, to which the Bible speaker responded, “it’s always hard to be misunderstood – when your heart’s intention is pure but the words don’t convey it as clearly as it should.”

The speaker’s initial comments posted to Facebook by Chuck Bernal, founder and lead pastor of LifePointe Church in Crowley, Texas, revealed that Shirer did not want to describe herself using her race first.

“I do not describe myself as a black woman because that gives too much power to my blackness. I don’t want my race to be the describing adjective of who I am as a woman,” she said. “I am not a black woman. I am a Christian woman who happens to be black.”

Shirer further explained her point by revealing how important it was to lean on the truth of God’s word.

“It’s the job of your adjective to describe the noun of who you are. If there’s gonna be an adjective describing me it’s not gonna be my race, it’s going to be I’m a woman who believes in every single thing that my God has declared to be true,” she said. “And I will stand firmly on the promises of His word because I will be girded in truth.”

(Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images)