Mom and I attended several bible studies and retreats over the years together.
One afternoon retreat we attended stuck with me more than
the others. I would like to say I remembered
the name of the speaker, but I can’t. I
do remember her hair and her message. I
know that sounds funny but stay with me for a minute.
She was an a very charismatic person with multicolored hair. She burst into the room and filled it with her
energy and positivity. She immediately
addressed the elephant in the room – her hair.
It was professionally styled and cut short above her shoulders. But what caught everyone’s attention was the
colors, yes the colors. There were three
– brown, red, and blonde in three bands.
These colors were not highlights like we would normally see,
but instead three horizontal bands across her head. Each color was separated from the next. She said if we didn’t like a color, we could choose
the one we liked and stick with it. What
an empowering statement. She liked it
and let everyone else know they could choose to like it or not. Either way, she wasn’t going to be upset with
their decision. It cut the tension, and
everyone laughed.
Then she began to share her message. It was a powerful testimony about how God was
with her during a very difficult time.
This message was not the most dramatic one, but it stuck with me. She had struggled with not hearing from
God. He had her in a waiting period of
her life. She was furious. She walked out of her house and up a hill and
yelled out to God until He gave her the peace she needed. She was able to then praise Him in the quiet. In the silence. In the ‘wait’. That was the lesson of Habakkuk. Praising Him even when we don’t see the
results.
I can still see her walking back and forth sharing how she
cried out to the Lord in her pain and yelling loudly – “YET!” and then; “I WILL REJOICE!”
It wasn’t the most eloquent message. But it stuck.
I carried that scripture and that message with me every time
things became difficult in my life.
I would shout out; “YET!” “I WILL REJOICE”
One small message.
But so profound.
God’s Word NEVER comes back void. Never.
I want to be remembered by my message. You can forget my name. You can even forget my hair. How beautiful would it be to be remembered by His words, not ours?
'Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on
the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though
there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice
in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. '
Habakkuk 3:17-18
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