Every detail, all for His glory

A testimony of an unexpected ministry tool!

Hello, friend! Before I get into sharing about my squad’s time in Ethiopia, the Lord put a story on my heart to share with you!

Ever since I was little, there has always been one thing that has physically set me apart from my peers, my hair.

At first when I was younger, I didn’t notice anything different about me. But everywhere I went, it was always brought up. A lot of times, someone would compliment or comment on my hair and then immediately follow it up with saying something along the lines of “I bet you hate it though.”

As I’m sure you can imagine, as a little girl that was often quite confusing. Even though I hadn’t started off disliking my hair, gradually, over time, comments like those made me start to feel like I shouldn’t like it and I began to dislike how it made me different and how it set me apart from the other girls. Movies, tv, and books that portrayed curly hair as undesirable and unattractive only added to those feelings.

By the time I reached middle school, I wanted my hair to be like the other girls in my class, straight and blonde. And so it started me down a path of trying to make my curls look as straight and as tame as possible. This continued all the way until my senior year of high school when I finally decided to embrace my hair and its differences and to stop trying to tame it in an effort to make it less wild.

Over the last 7 months on the mission field, I have seen God redeem that season of my life in an unexpected way and as He has done so, I have also gained a new appreciation for my hair!

Very early on into this trip, I quickly realized that most people had never seen hair like mine. No matter where we went, whether it was Thailand, Malaysia, or the Philippines, my hair was fascinating to everyone we encountered.

Time after time, I saw the Lord use my hair to draw people to me. People of all ages—kids, teens, and adults—all wanted to touch my hair, play with it, and to see it up close. That curiosity that prompted them to approach me, opened the door for me to have conversations and connections that I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise, and to share about Jesus and His love!! Even as we have transitioned into Africa, I have seen the Lord continue to use my hair in similar ways—to draw people to me and by extension to Himself!

Through these encounters, the Lord spoke to an area of my life that I had once been insecure about and said, “every detail is for My glory. I crafted you intentionally for a time such as this, knowing exactly who it would draw to you.”

Isn’t that wild to think about?!

When God was creating each of us, He wasn’t just thinking about designing us to reflect Him, He was also keeping in mind the callings on our lives, the people He would lead us to meet, and how best to reveal His glory! Even something as simple and silly as having hair that is a little bit different can become a tool for the Kingdom when it’s in His hands!!

God is so good and so cool!!

He truly does use it all, every single piece!

Every detail, all the way from our appearance to our personalities, quirks, interests, weaknesses, and strengths, are all ordained by the Father for His glory!

There is not a single aspect about you that is not intentional!

He truly does delight in every detail and work everything for His good!

”The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”
Psalm 37:23

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9

Thanks for reading!!

Joyfully His,
Areonah