If you know me at all, you know I am nothing short of obsessed with my hair. I have an unhealthy emotional attachment to it- or should I say had. Going into training camp, I had absolutely no intentions of ever cutting my hair there, or even a year from now.. but God had a different idea.
For weeks now, I have been praying about being ready to fully surrender, and that I am willing to sacrifice whatever God needs me to. I am ready to give my life and everything to Him, and I am ready to live for Him. Little did I know that He was going to ask me to chop all my hair off. Sounds funny doesn’t it? God even asks us to do little things that have huge significance. Whenever I think of God calling me to do something, I never thought it would have anything to do with my hair- but He sure got me!
One day during training camp, our session was on “How to Hear the Holy Spirit Talking to You.” Before this, I’m not sure if I had ever heard the Holy Spirit speak to me. We had some time alone to pray and seek the Holy Spirit. I continually felt God asking me “What is most precious to you?” I said, “Definitely my hair, God, you know I’m obsessed.” He said ever so gently and kindly, but very sternly “Cut it.”
I continued to wrestle with this thinking there is absolutely no way God. You are so funny… I did not come to training camp to cut my hair! Until, we got in our teams to do a prophesying exercise. At first, I was very skeptical and confused until many stories were being shared and it was clearly evident how present the Holy Spirit was. I have many touching stories regarding this, so please feel free to reach out and I would love to share. After many stories from fellow racers, I sat in Awe of the work that the Holy Spirit was doing in this pavilion. The only words I have to describe it is, “Wow. God is real people.” The third round came, and our leader said that she was going to chose someone for us to prophesy over in her mind but not share. As people started sharing what the Holy Spirit was speaking to them, I continued to get this vision in my mind of someone getting their hair cut. It is still so vivid to me, but it wasn’t me. I wrestled over whether or not to share, until my heart was beating so fast that I knew I was supposed to. I kept saying, “No, this is only happening because of what I just experienced during my personal prayer time, this isn’t the Holy Spirit’s voice, this is mine. God if this is You, give me a sign.” Until, during that exact moment, my squad mentor says, “Just speak it out.” I sat there completely frozen. Okay God, I will do that. Afterwards, she shared that everyone was praying over me.
Talk about a lot to take in…. that is the power of the Holy Spirit. God had just asked me to sacrifice and give up the most precious thing that I had. I had never expected God to ask me to cut my hair. I promised Him that I was ready to fully surrender. He kept asking, “Do you trust me?” This sacrifice of my hair was small, but to Him it was HUGE. I gave up the most precious thing to obey the commands of the Holy Spirit.
Before cutting my hair, I fought it HARD. I did not want to, but there were so many signs from God telling me to. One being a guest speaker who was so fluently speaking and out of nowhere said, “God will still love you even if you stop wearing long hair.” Way to get my attention God! I began to pray, “God please, if you are going to ask me to do this, please let me LOVE my shorter hair. Please don’t let me hate it.” What do you know….. I actually halfway love my shorter hair. I’m getting to fully loving it. The peace that I had after cutting my hair was only the presence of God. It was only His promises, and it was only the faithfulness of the Father.
I have never felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me so swiftly and softly before. Because I was willing to sacrifice something so precious, God will provide. Since that sacrifice, I have already been blessed so hugely regarding finances for this trip.
I came to peace when I realized that me cutting my hair could result in many people hearing the Word of God. I knew people would ask why I cut my hair, and I would be able to share my story with them. Something so simple, can be used to further the Kingdom.
For years now, I have received so much praise over my hair and how long and pretty it is. This is a testament to myself that there is so much more to me than my hair. There is so much beauty in me other than my hair. Giving up something that received so much praise and glorification was difficult- but it will be so worth it in the end.
God works in mysterious ways- whether He is asking us to cut our hair, or He’s asking us to travel the world for 9 months to serve His people. Obey His commands. I cannot explain the peace and comfort you will have when you do.
I am 54.6% funded, and God is continuing to provide! If you feel called to support my trip- please reach out and I would love to talk with you more!
