God in Unlikely Places

While Asherel was having hair and make-up done for her prom, I sat nearby and had a wonderful time. I almost didn't go because I felt wretched. The entire world was spinning and I could barely stand without swaying and feeling like keeling over. Nonetheless, I was not going to miss my daughter's first prom experience and I struggled to totter to the car.
"But you will need to drive," I told Asherel weakly.

First, I was excited to discover that the hairdresser was from Lithuania. That is next door to Estonia where my father-in-law was from, so we chatted about the Balkan states and how we were all worried about what Russia would do. Estonia was freed from the USSR in 1991, but they are vigilant as the bear is sharpening her claws again. After our political discussion, I got free advice on my own hair, while Asherel rolled her eyes as if to say, "This is not about you....."

I scheduled a hair cut with Asherel's hairdresser.

Then, on to makeup. I tried to take a picture while Asherel's eyes were closed since she detests photos. She opened her eyes, and said, "If you want to take sneak pictures, turn off the shutter sound." Well, I couldn't figure out how to do that, and soon, the make up artist, her assistant, and me were gathered around my phone, while Asherel tapped her fingers in the makeup chair. Finally after an internet search , we learned you cannot turn off the camera shutter sound save by muting the entire phone. I did so, and snapped several pictures of my prom girl. The makeup artist returned to her work. I got some free tips on makeup in case I ever decide to be a girl.

Asherel doesn't really need makeup or professionally styled hair to be beautiful. She is naturally beautiful. However, I really enjoyed being in the lap of luxury, even if it wasn't my body being transformed. I was feeling wretchedly sick for the first hour-- dizzy, nauseated, and terrible. I tried to quell the nausea as I talked with the hairdresser. She told me some amazing stories, prefacing her tales by saying,  "they were astonishing coincidences...though I don't believe in coincidences."

My ears perked up with this line. I have used it myself many times. Later on, as she was struggling to get the beautiful new barrette in Asherel's hair, she said, "Does anyone know a prayer?"
Bingo! I knew I loved this hairdresser for a reason. Now I had no doubt I was with a fellow believer. No wonder all my illness had mysteriously disappeared.
"Dear Lord!" I cried our loud, "Please help the barrette to go in Asherel's hair and stay in place! In Jesus name I pray!" The hairdresser smiled at me. The barrette went in, and was snug and secure. Her wonderful stories of "amazing coincidences" which in both our minds were simple, daily examples of God's intervention in humble lives filled me with quiet hope.

You just never know where you might see God. He shows up in the most unlikely places. For the time I was there at the spa, all the nausea and spinning and terrible feeling had vanished. I prayed with a hairdresser and laughed with a make up artist, and realized it was not just my beautiful daughter that was being transformed. The spa may have been a worldly oasis of comfort for most of the women there that day, but for me, it was the simple spiritual witness of a kindred soul that refashioned my day.

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 Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.