Ready?

Hair Nails Salon Window, North Capitol Street (Washington, DC), a photo by takomabibelot on Flickr.

I saw Roxanna, my hairdresser, today.  And as often happens, God used us in each other's lives to speak His wisdom and encouragement into the other's life in one of those rare quiet moments of her normally very busy salon.  It was like God brought a calm to the comings and goings and for the first time in months there weren't other women close at hand waiting to be rinsed or cut or processed -- it was just us, trying to figure out how to be godly women in this very ungodly world.

This time it was her turn to do the questioning and my turn to encourage, but it's been the other way around plenty of times.  I'll never forget the afternoon I came to her choking back sobs about a crisis in my life.  As she began to wash my hair, she stopped and said, "I feel like God is telling me to pray for you right now.  May I do that?"  And she did, right there, with my head in the bowl.  And when we walked back to her chair, my wet hair wrapped in a towel, I felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulders.

That's what God calls us to do for each other -- to be encouragers, to be ministers of His Word and His grace and love.

We never know when God will call on us to minister to someone.  We try to plan it, in our human-ness -- "I think I'll serve the homeless next Sunday morning" -- and maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't.

But one thing is guaranteed.  The most powerful way God can use us is the way we least expect it.  Like in the chair of a hair salon.

So... will you be ready when He asks?