Cut, Color and Counsel

My shoulders tightened.

That is where I typically hold my tension.

As I waited for the door to open, I could feel my anxiety rise.

This was the longest I had left my son since his surgery.

But I really needed a cut and color, like so many other women.

Oh the joy of finally getting an appointment when our area was given the green light in these COVID times to open salons.

A small sense of normalcy.

The days of restriction and isolation felt multiplied following my son’s surgery.

If I am being honest, despite the amazing support from so many, there were days I felt exhausted, emotionally and physically.

I longed to feel understood.

And then the door opened.

Literally and figuratively.

I don’t think my friend even knew how she ministered to me as she mixed my color.

This was more than an appointment for a cut and color.

It was a divine appointment.

As she spoke of her own child, who also recently had surgery and was stuck at home, my shoulders relaxed.

She shared the frustrations and difficulties they experienced, and the things that helped.

With my mask covering my face, I fought back the tears.

I needed to be in the presence of someone who understood.

My son jokingly told me I needed a cut and color.

But my heavenly Father knew what I needed even more was counsel.

I am so profoundly grateful for that gift and for His provision.

It overwhelms my soul.

Friends, do you really know how much He sees you?

I don’t know what difficulty you are facing today, but know this: He knows you.

Listen to these words from the Psalms.

“You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.” Psalm 139: 1-18

Whether our movement is restricted or we go across the continent, He is always with us.

Even when we feel isolated, we are not alone.

When we think no one understands, He knows our thoughts and feelings.

That knowledge is too wonderful not to share with a broken world.

Will you share His love today?