God woke me up a while ago, and wouldn't let me go back to sleep, reminding me, "I will take back the years the locust have eaten."
So I decided to check it out further:
[Joel 2:25, ESV]
I will restore to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent among you.
[vs.25-27, The Message]
"I'll make up for the years of the locust,
the great locust devastation—
Locusts savage, locusts deadly,
fierce locusts, locusts of doom,
That great locust invasion
I sent your way.
You'll eat your fill of good food.
You'll be full of praises to your God,
The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder.
Never again will my people be despised.
You'll know without question
that I'm in the thick of life with Israel,
That I'm your God, yes, your God,
the one and only real God.
Never again will my people be despised."
Sometimes it's hard to believe He will redeem my bad choices and broken dreams and deep wounds for His glory. But He promised the children of Israel that He would do that, so I believe He promises me the same. I don't have to know how or why, I just have to believe and know that He will.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
happy.
I had someone specifically stop me to tell me tonight that I seem really good. Really happy. In a place where God's peace is just kind of pervading from my being.
I love being able to say, "Yes. You're right. 100%."
I have no doubt that I am smack-dab in the middle of where God wants me. I am surrounded by a community of incredible people at All Souls, I live in a city which has turned out to be a real city (not a fake one!), and I have this incredible new house that just screams "come visit me!" with the sweetest roommates.
There are so many stories to be told, because I've done such a terrible job of telling them via this blog, but hopefully that will all change soon. This past weekend, I bought a MacBook. It won't be here 'til Thursday, but after that I have no excuse not to park myself at Remedy for a few hours in the weeks ahead and share some of them.
I'm not sure who even really keeps up with this, but dear reader, know that I am happy. Happy to the core. Inexplicably and undeniably happy.
I love being able to say, "Yes. You're right. 100%."
I have no doubt that I am smack-dab in the middle of where God wants me. I am surrounded by a community of incredible people at All Souls, I live in a city which has turned out to be a real city (not a fake one!), and I have this incredible new house that just screams "come visit me!" with the sweetest roommates.
There are so many stories to be told, because I've done such a terrible job of telling them via this blog, but hopefully that will all change soon. This past weekend, I bought a MacBook. It won't be here 'til Thursday, but after that I have no excuse not to park myself at Remedy for a few hours in the weeks ahead and share some of them.
I'm not sure who even really keeps up with this, but dear reader, know that I am happy. Happy to the core. Inexplicably and undeniably happy.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
On A Soapbox: The Curly Girl Gospel
When I was in school at Temple University in Philadelphia, I met a girl who had the most gorgeous curls I had ever seen. Being a curly girl myself, I had to tell her this. If you have curly hair, you understand the never ending struggle to find the perfect cocktail to tame your tresses.
I found an opportunity to gush about how beautiful her locks were, and what she said next shocked me.
"I don't shampoo my hair. Just use conditioner. Curly Girl - read it."
I was more than a little taken aback. My internal reaction was, "What? Ew... but, if her curls come out looking like that, then maybe it's worth a try..." Unfortunately, I neither picked up a copy of the book, nor was brave enough to try a shower without shampooing until this year.
Some time ago, I saw a magazine ad for this creepy looking green hand-hair-diffuser-thing that was apparently called a "DevaFuser". I was so intrigued by this strange contraption that I got online to find out more - the company's ad completely worked. It led me to DevaConcepts.com, and after some perusing I discovered that this site was linked back to the author of Curly Girl, Lorraine Massey. At this point, I was paying attention. I'd been led to this woman's approach to curl care at least twice - I was finally ready to hear what she had to say.
One of the turning points for me in my hair care regimen was watching this video:
I had never heard that washing your hair with regular shampoo was like dumping detergent on my head. And once she pointed it out, I thought, "Oh my gosh... she's right." I wasn't ready to give up completely on washing my hair, but I was open to an alternative. Sometime soon after, I ordered the Deva Curl Travel Kit to try out a different way of cleansing my hair. It was definitely strange to no longer have suds in my hair, but my scalp was left with a pleasant tingling sensation.
After that, I ordered the full-blown 32 oz bottles of No Poo, One Condition, and AnGEL a few months ago, and I've been using almost nothing but those products ever since. My hair really does feel healthier, much more moisturized, and I have far less "bad curl days." I went back to an old favorite "regular" shampoo just once a few weeks ago, and when my hair had dried it felt like straw!
So I am on a mission to stop curly girls' ignorance to the effects of sulfates. They are ruining their curls without even knowing it. For a long time, I thought Deva made the only sulfate-free line of hair products out there, but I have recently discovered a few more that are more affordable, and I'm continuing my mission to spread the curly girl gospel - there is a better way.
Love, Peace & the Planet - I had my hair cut at Lox Salon today, and the hairstylist used this to shampoo - it smelled so incredible, I asked her what it was, and as we started talking about it, I was super excited to hear it was a natural hair care line, and even more excited to come home and see that it is FREE of sulfates!
Rainwater Botanticals - I finally gave in to this amazing website called Etsy and decided to search for "sulfate-free" and came up with this gem of an independent store.
Burt's Bees and Kiss My Face - These don't explicitly say that there are no sulfates, but they are nowhere to be found on the ingredient labels!
L'Oreal EverPure - I'm a little more wary about this line, since it is a mainstream company, but it says it's sulfate-free.
Spread the word to other curlies... you never know, you may have someone stop you and tell you that you've got the most gorgeous curls they've ever seen!
sulfate-free :)
I found an opportunity to gush about how beautiful her locks were, and what she said next shocked me.
"I don't shampoo my hair. Just use conditioner. Curly Girl - read it."
I was more than a little taken aback. My internal reaction was, "What? Ew... but, if her curls come out looking like that, then maybe it's worth a try..." Unfortunately, I neither picked up a copy of the book, nor was brave enough to try a shower without shampooing until this year.
Some time ago, I saw a magazine ad for this creepy looking green hand-hair-diffuser-thing that was apparently called a "DevaFuser". I was so intrigued by this strange contraption that I got online to find out more - the company's ad completely worked. It led me to DevaConcepts.com, and after some perusing I discovered that this site was linked back to the author of Curly Girl, Lorraine Massey. At this point, I was paying attention. I'd been led to this woman's approach to curl care at least twice - I was finally ready to hear what she had to say.
One of the turning points for me in my hair care regimen was watching this video:
I had never heard that washing your hair with regular shampoo was like dumping detergent on my head. And once she pointed it out, I thought, "Oh my gosh... she's right." I wasn't ready to give up completely on washing my hair, but I was open to an alternative. Sometime soon after, I ordered the Deva Curl Travel Kit to try out a different way of cleansing my hair. It was definitely strange to no longer have suds in my hair, but my scalp was left with a pleasant tingling sensation.
After that, I ordered the full-blown 32 oz bottles of No Poo, One Condition, and AnGEL a few months ago, and I've been using almost nothing but those products ever since. My hair really does feel healthier, much more moisturized, and I have far less "bad curl days." I went back to an old favorite "regular" shampoo just once a few weeks ago, and when my hair had dried it felt like straw!
So I am on a mission to stop curly girls' ignorance to the effects of sulfates. They are ruining their curls without even knowing it. For a long time, I thought Deva made the only sulfate-free line of hair products out there, but I have recently discovered a few more that are more affordable, and I'm continuing my mission to spread the curly girl gospel - there is a better way.
Love, Peace & the Planet - I had my hair cut at Lox Salon today, and the hairstylist used this to shampoo - it smelled so incredible, I asked her what it was, and as we started talking about it, I was super excited to hear it was a natural hair care line, and even more excited to come home and see that it is FREE of sulfates!
Rainwater Botanticals - I finally gave in to this amazing website called Etsy and decided to search for "sulfate-free" and came up with this gem of an independent store.
Burt's Bees and Kiss My Face - These don't explicitly say that there are no sulfates, but they are nowhere to be found on the ingredient labels!
L'Oreal EverPure - I'm a little more wary about this line, since it is a mainstream company, but it says it's sulfate-free.
Spread the word to other curlies... you never know, you may have someone stop you and tell you that you've got the most gorgeous curls they've ever seen!
sulfate-free :)
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