After two days, my blissful reunion with fierce foxy gray came to a screeching halt! Imagine me at a model agency party dancing up a breeze, while suddenly I see my oh so light hair crumbling like barnyard straw onto the shiny black floor!!! Imagine me having to leave my Tyson Beckford looking dance partner as I run to the bathroom in complete SHOCK! Imagine me in a state of utter disbelief as I stood in front of the mirror running my hands over the top of my head as my hair crunched like spaghetti before you put it in boiling water! I’m not kidding, it was THAT bad. Just imagine.
With no time to say goodbye, I ran to my car like a bat outta Hell. I went home and laid wide awake for hours, completely baffled as to what could have possibly gone wrong. I used all the same products, put them on my hair for the same amount of time…what happened??? Luckily for me, shaving my head was something I’d done before. Problem Solved…except for the part about my hair sprinkled all over the club! There was nothing I could do about that, except pray that a gusty wind blew in and swept the floor clean!
Months later, while going through some papers in my storage space, I came across that good old granny gray chemical concoction I had written down. To my surprise, I’d put too much confidence in my memory and I put too much bleach in the mix! I missed the instructions by just a little bit, but what MAJOR damage it caused.
Kinda reminds me of the journey of walking with God. Some of us started off ON FIRE. Nothing could have ever kept us from following the “formula” that both enhanced our relationship with Him and ensured our spiritual growth. We knew the formula like our mama’s maiden name. We sought God with our whole heart, read the Bible often, exercised our faith. It seemed like “Victorious” could be our middle name, as each challenge in our path was eventually defeated. With God’s help there was nothing we couldn’t do. No amount of fear, doubt or disbelief could put that fire out. We trusted that God had the formula, and we followed it very well.
One could never imagine that things would ever change. But just like with my hair color formula, we think we remember the steps to follow, but how soon we can forget. We think that everything we know and love about God will stay deep within us, not realizing that, if we’re not careful, it can subtly fade away. Then one day, we can’t even tell up from down, and the formula to figuring it out has completely escaped our grasp.
Job 22:23 promises that, “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored…” So go back to where it all began. He can put you on fire again. You can walk in power again. You can achieve the impossible and come out on the other side of trials unscathed again. Spend time with God. He loves you. Pray. He has the answers to your problems. Begin to listen again. He has the formula that works!
