Get a Stress Ball!

I've been waiting for this day for a while now.  I made a hair appointment for a day after I got home from Africa, but because my schedule filled up I couldn't go.  The next time my stylist had an open appointment was when I was in Alabama, so we scheduled it for today.  Almost a month after being home!  I know this seems very trivial and silly, but it had almost been a year since I had a haircut and for my hair that's unacceptable!  It was to the point where I could hardly brush through it.  Curse this thin, curly hair of mine!

So with 3-4 inches gone, my hair is now looking good and healthy!  Yay!  However, something that was interesting to me was that my stylist asked me what happened to me recently.  She asked if I had somehow been pulling out hair or if some way I was wearing it was causing it to fall out.  I was confused so I asked her what made her inquire about that.  She said that all over, not just on top from wearing a ponytail, but all over there were short hairs, new growth coming in.   Isn't it interesting how she could tell something had happened because of something like hair growth?  

I mentioned that October and November were incredibly stressful months for me.  Without going into to detail I basically said I had a situation that caused me to be unable to sleep and was just very stressful for a good six weeks.  She said that it was obvious that something happened because normal "shedding" and new growth doesn't happen in such a drastic way. We all lose hair and it grows back, but not in such large numbers.  I have these short little hairs sticking out everywhere.  Praise the Lord that it's growing back (because with hair as thin as mine I can't afford to lose more), but I had no idea the physical toll that I had taken from those weeks. 

I knew I wasn't sleeping, but I didn't have hardly any days where I felt exhausted because of it.  I made it through each day.  At the time I didn't think so much about how tired I actually was.  Since being home I've slept more than I did those entire 6 weeks.  It's still amazing to me though, that I made it through al that without some kind of freak out.  

Sitting in that chair today, getting my hair done all I could think was, "thanks Jesus for getting me through."  I knew then that it wasn't my own strength or I would have broken.  But just seeing the physical results of that time today was eye opening.  I'm continually grateful for the ways that the Lord carries me.  He never ceases to amaze me!  Today I'm thankful for new growth and a reminder of God's strength.