Many people are asking about my journey to becoming natural and staying natural. So I will start with this:
1 Corinthians 11:15, (New Living Translation)—-> “And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering.”
1 Peter 3:3-4, (New International Version)—-> “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
First let me say that I moved to Houston in spring 2009, and it was HAWT! lol I tried wearing my hair natural but straight and pressed out, as I did in Atlanta (thats where I went to college, Spelman College;-) Shouts out to C/O 2008 ** Hits Spelman hand**, #okIMdoneNow) LOL… Anyways, at the time I was going through the toughest storm of my life. I mean, this was a BIG battle that I was fighting and I was in need of a lot of things; so I thought. In other words, this spiritual season was either going to make me or break me!!:-/
I was praying and believing God for many things like a job, shelter, food, u know…..!!! The essentials. lol! And here I was in prayer talking to the Lord but thinking about my hair!! lol Again, Houston= Hot and my poor hair just wasn’t handling it well:-( Eventually, days went by I continued to play around with the idea of me just washing it and wearing it natural. So finally, one day I did. **blank stare**………**Inserts Crickets**………
lol I know what you’re thinking. “Thats it???!”….Yea, thats it. Taadaaahh!;-) Simple as that. I decided to twist my hair and wear it natural! There was no fancy forum, or Natural Hair Care Fair/ festival involved. I had no one pushing, encouraging or inspiring me to do this, I just did it. lol….Later, the Lord wouldbegin to show me why!
I started researching and studying the science of African hair, and so much of the information I received became a light to me while I was in a dark place. I grew to LOVE MY MANE! It was turning into a hobby of mine, but even more, a passion;-) Doing my hair, posting pics, teaching others what I learned, etc…all of it was so fun to me! In many ways, it was literally setting me free. But I’ll explain more of that later. lol.
My hair began growing to great lengths…stronger and longer natural hair! This is where the Lord and my relationship with Him came into play…..
Like I stated earlier, I never put the time, patience, dedication, and focused discipline into my hair and therefore didn’t know anything about it:-/ I didn’t understand my hair. I didn’t know how it worked and I didn’t know exactly how beautiful it really could be!! This was a —-> DIRECT <—-(wish I could underline that for even more emphasis. lol) reflection of my relationship with Christ. Yes, my hair and my relationship with Him reflect each other;-) Now the 2 scriptures posted at the beginning of this blog make so much sense! It finally clicked! The light bulb moment came.
The Lord was showing me that my hair is symbolic of Him. My covering, my glory, my joy, my strength, my protection. {{side note: For those of you that don’t know, human hair is like our fur. It protects our skin on our head from the natural elements like the sun, dirt, debris, etc…}} Ok back to the point; Jesus is all of these things to me……….Well, now I know this personally but at that time I had no clue. You see, He was actually all of these things loooong before I knew anything about Him. It just took me some time to realize who He really was in my life.
Needless to say, the diligence, patience, and discipline that I put into my hair was all that God was calling me to put into my relationship with Him. Consequentially, as my hair grew, my relationship with Him grew. The more I got to know my hair, the more I got to know Him. Weird right? Nah, not really. lol its spiritual. I was going through some trying times and His Word was all that I had to hold on to. I mean, given the circumstances around me at the time, I was kinda propelled into my destiny with Him. He’s done more on the inside of me then I could have ever imagined!! \0/ Im victorious. Lol! Which brings me to that other scripture about a woman’s beauty.
A woman with humility and strength is a POWERFUL woman. Her beauty is inward! We’ve heard this many times before, but society has proved that we really don’t believe it. We just say it as some cliche that’s thrown around to make ourselves sound good when we’re popping off at the mouth about the obscene and insane standards of beauty that are projected on women. Better yet, we may believe it, but WE’RE NOT WILLING TO DO WHAT IT TAKES TO GET IT!…Unfortunately, there are many women out there who are just completely ignorant of who they are and the God that created them. I know because I used to be one of them:-/ They never really SUBMIT to the “Potter” and allow Him to mold them into something beautiful. (Jeremiah 18:3-6). Who you are on the inside belongs to God. No matter how much make-up we wear, jewelry we buy, plastic surgeries we go broke for, weaves we flip, and name brands that we flaunt on our pair of jeans…beauty does not come from our outward appearance!!!!!!! I feel like screaming it from the roof tops! lol!
Beauty comes from your inner self, where God rests. His living quarters is where beauty permeates through the heart and out into the world for everyone to see. Therefore, He wants to develop this part of you. Who you are inside;-) I thank the Lord for continuing to purify and beautify me….. lol…..and my hair;-)….Gosh! I love me some Him. Daddy Jesus <3 **drops mic**
Jaz
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