By the time I went to bed that night the thought had gotten stronger, but I decided not to set my alarm to get up for church. I figured if I woke up in time to go to church, I would, but if I slept in, then so be it. Around seven in the morning it was as if someone shook me awake. I lay there in a half asleep state trying to figure out why I felt like I needed to jump out of bed and go somewhere. It was like I had an appointment. Then, the thought came again, "Get to church by 9." My intention to sleep was overtaken by the fact that I was now wide awake. I procrastinated and laid in bed awhile longer. Not being able to ignore the persistent thought, I decided to take a quick shower. Upon finishing my shower, I went to the drawer that held my hairdryer. Much to my dismay and horror, I realized that my hairdryer was gone. In the moment I realized that, it came back to me how I had told my oldest daughter to take the hairdryer and all of our makeup as I had no plans on going anywhere. She had packed nearly all of our bathroom supplies in her overnight bag.

As I stood there dripping dry I looked up at the ceiling and said, "Lord, I can't go to church like this!" The thought went through my mind, "I need you to go." I looked at the clock and found I didn't have time to stand around and dry. Inspiration hit me and I decided to use my daughter's huge box fan as a hairdryer. I turned it on and knelt down in front of it. The low setting was too slow, so I turned it up to high. This proved to do a quick job of drying my wet locks, however, it dried standing straight up. I tried to brush it down, but it kept springing back into an upright position. I gave up due to lack of time and moved onto brushing my teeth. I scrounged for toothpaste as that had been taken as well. I reluctantly brushed my teeth with the only tube that I could find. Bubble gum flavored gel tastes horrible in the morning.

The most humbling experience was swiping on the last bit of my pre-teen daughter's deodorant that I found at the bottom of a drawer. It was some type of strawberry scented concoction that really wasn't going to help me if I broke out in major perspiration. And, the events of the morning were proving to be sweat inspiring. Looking at myself in the mirror with hair standing on end, I did one last check to be sure I had heard from the Lord. Again, "Go to church by 9."

I got in my car and began to rationalize that the speaker was going to have a special word just for me. That had to be why God was being so insistent on sending me at 9 am. He surely did not want me to miss out on a visitation or something very spiritually important to be imparted to me. However, I told the Lord due to my unkempt condition, I was going to sit in the darkest corner of the balcony and not move. I was so uncomfortable without my makeup on. I felt exposed and wanted to just turn the car around and race back home.

I quickly bypassed every friendly greeter at church knowing that my face was screaming for makeup, and I was sporting a hairstyle that represented a wind tunnel survivor. As planned, I quickly found a seat in the balcony where the lights were dim and no one was near. Praise and worship came and went and I was becoming less self conscious as I began to soothe myself with the notion that if anyone around me looked my way they wouldn't really know how I normally groomed myself. There were no familiar faces in the crowd so I began to feel safe. If anyone noticed they would probably just think I usually looked the way I did. And, as a bonus, the next time they saw me I would look so much better. All of this was going through my mind as I tried to be okay with myself.

As the service went on I totally forgot about my appearance. I became focused on the Word and the teaching. Just as the pastor was making his closing remarks, I felt led to look over my right shoulder. I saw her immediately. A woman crying. She kept wiping tears from her cheeks and even dabbed a tissue on her chin and neck to mop up the wetness as it streamed down. I felt such compassion for her. I had been through days of such shirt soaking sessions. I immediately felt a need to go to her.

Once church ended, I gathered up my things and I approached her. I introduced myself and I felt compelled to encourage her and to tell her that God loved her. She held my hand as I spoke and then embraced me. She kept thanking me for coming and speaking to her. She had been through many trials and felt as if her life was falling apart. She told me that she had prayed for God to show her His love, and when I came to her, she knew it was Him answering her prayer.

We ended up speaking to one another for awhile, and I exhorted her to keep walking with God no matter what came her way. I got into my car thanking Him for the opportunity to help another. A car behind me honked, and as I glanced up in my rear view mirror, I saw my scary hair and my face with no makeup. The realization hit me right there that I had just spent quite a lot of time helping someone while forgetting about my horrible looking appearance. What had almost kept me home that day had become non-existent in my thoughts when I saw her crying. I was able to function at a high level without my eyeshadow or lip gloss in place. My self conscious worries had nearly kept me from experiencing such a wonderful encounter where I felt God's presence touching another through me. In that moment I was so thankful for the Lord's insistence of sending me to church despite my mild resistance.

Later, the Lord reminded me of a key scripture found in Genesis 1:26-27 (NLT):

Then God said, "Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals and small animals."

So God created people in His image;
God patterned them after Himself;
male and female He created them.

He reminded me that every time we look into a mirror, we see Him staring back at us. I would venture to say that most of us do not take that into account when we gaze at ourselves in a mirror. I think most of us begin to see the things that make us not measure up to the standards that the world has set before us. Magazine covers and commercials tell us that we are to have flawless skin and no hair out of order. The messages sent by the media tell us that we have to be perfect. We become dissatisfied with what we see, and soon that dissatisfaction can turn toward self hatred. In the meantime, our Creator is watching us and wondering why we don't appreciate what He has created. We obsess about our every feature forgetting that we were fashioned by a hand to be an influence in the world, not be influenced by the world. The ironic part is that many of us go to church and sing songs and hymns with the words, "make me more like you, Lord", and then we go back out into the world and become frustrated when we don't fit in. We were never supposed to. This was quite a revelation to me. I don't have to look like what the world says I have to. I just have to follow His instructions.

In this season of New Year's resolutions where we want to revamp ourselves and make changes, I believe the Lord desires for us to take care of what He has created, and to present ourselves the way He would want us to, but not to the extent of forgetting the Creator. Even in this, I find it has been so important to hear the Voice that guides and leads to the truth. He created me, therefore, He can give me tips and advice on how to take care of what He has created. He desires for us to live balanced lives and to enjoy the life He has given. Despite our stature, or the color of our eyes, or the extra wrinkles that appear at 40, we are made in His image.