Prayer That Changes Destiny

Growing up, my mother would busy herself around the house singing the popular Doris Day song “Whatever will be will be”. If you know the song, sing along, otherwise you can google it. Here is one verse of the lyrics: “When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother, what will I be. Will I be rich, will I be pretty? Here’s what she said to me: Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see. Que sera sera.” The song is about fate or destiny as some would call it. Some people believe destiny to be God’s will and everything is predetermined. Others choose not to even acknowledge God and believe destiny only to be the natural course of events resulting from cause and effect, or in other words, natural consequences. Both of these beliefs can be true.

Someone may be able to change what may be destined to occur in a given situation by changing how they respond to the logic behind the situation. For example: a heavy smoker may be destined to have lung problems, or an alcoholic may be destined to have liver problems, and an addict is destined to have relationship problems at the very least. But all of these potential destinies can be changed by quitting the habits and getting professional help to cope. In the case of the predetermined will of God, destiny may or may not be God’s will. The stories in the Bible helps us determine how to perceive the will of God. One way is a direct revelation from Him in the form of a word of knowledge through the Holy Spirit; which comes from faith in Jesus Christ. However, in Biblical Old Testament time, the gift of the Holy Spirit was not yet given to dwell within ordinary people. In those times, God revealed His word and His will through His prophets. Here are two stories that describe how destiny is changed.

Prayer That Changes Destiny

In the book of Isaiah, in the Old Testament, the prophet writes about King Hezekiah: In those days, Hezekiah became mortally ill and was at the point of death. Isaiah came to him with a word from the Lord. He said,“put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. He prayed wholeheartedly, recalling his faithfulness to the Lord, weeping bitterly. Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life, and so He did! The Lord is faithful to His word. This is a wonderful example of how the Lord hears the prayers of His Faithful. It was Hezekiah’s destiny and clearly God’s will for him to die from his illness, because He declared it to the prophet. But, God heard his prayer and changed the course of events.

Another example is in the story of Paul the apostle, taken prisoner and sent on his way to Rome to appeal to Caesar. (Acts 27:1-44) Paul was chained to a Roman Centurion soldier. They set sail on a ship carrying many prisoners, as well as precious grain cargo from Alexandria to Rome. Paul perceived much danger ahead, a clear warning from the Lord about the hurricane-size storm they would soon face. He told the centurion and suggested they spend the winter at a close port to avoid the loss of many lives. But, the centurion listened to the ship’s owner and pilot, who insisted they head on to their destination. When the storm arrived and increased in strength, they threw whatever they could overboard, including the precious cargo in order to lighten the load. The Roman soldiers intended to kill all the prisoners, because if any got away, their lives would be taken in their place. Everyone had lost hope for survival. Naturally, Paul had been praying, and the word of the Lord was revealed to him through the Holy Spirit. So Paul told the captain, crew and passengers to take food and strengthen themselves. He said, if they followed his advice from the Lord, not a single life would be lost. So they did, and as the ship broke apart near the island of Malta, he told them to swim or take pieces of the broken ship to support themselves, and make their way to shore. Just as promised, they all made it to the island safely. Paul went on perform many miracles there by the power of the Holy Spirit, sharing the good news of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

In this story, the perceived loss was not necessarily God’s will, but rather the potential destiny of the course of events from the storm. This was revealed to Paul by the Lord, thus he advised spending the winter at a nearby port. However, when that solution was ignored, Paul’s fervent prayer changed that destiny. You see it was never the will of God for all of those lives to be lost, because He had big plans for Paul to bring the gospel to Caesar in Rome. That was God’s will! And His will is always done, even when we get in the way and don’t listen.

So, my point through these stories is that we can see how prayer can change destiny, (or what is perceived as destiny). This new normal of wearing masks and social distancing seems destined to be changing our way of life. Some will go through this season of pandemic with fear and anxiety, while others may sing “Que Sera Sera” and act  all “la-ti-da”, or we can wholeheartedly seek the Lord in prayer. Friends, this is a time to come together in heart and mind, and pray for our nation. We must pray for our President, we must pray for all those in leadership that they are seeking God for wisdom, discernment and the next right step. We must pray for the media and for truth to be revealed and fear mongering to halt. The Lord uses situations like this, that are clearly out of man’s control, to turn hearts back to him. I encourage you to pray! Pray like you have never prayed before. Humble yourselves before Almighty God, confess your imperfections of missing His mark of holiness that is required for a relationship with Him. God the Father sent Jesus to redeem each of us from our sinful nature, so we can be in union with Him.

When we do this, our sins are forgiven and we have the right to stand before Him as sons and daughters of God and ask Him to heal our land. This was the word of the Lord to Israel at a time when He was calling for national repentance and revival:

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 ESV

“Where two or three have gathered in My name, I am there in their midst.” Matthew 18:20 ESV

Please check out the video at the end with information about a national call to prayer coming in September. Will you consider joining together with fellow Christians across this great land for the sake of our families, friends and our entire nation?

Hair Color That Changes Self Image

We’ve all heard the famous cliche: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which means that beauty is subjective to individual opinion. However, the opinion that matters most should be your own. Sadly, that is not always the case. Many times, other people’s opinions contribute to self esteem issues, especially if those opinions are conflicting. Self esteem can be connected to self image, but it is not the same. Self esteem is how you feel about your appearance; whereas, self image is how you see yourself, and how others see you. Changing your hair color may not necessarily help improve your self esteem, but it can help your self image. Dr. Vivian Diller PHD has written a good article in Psychology Today about “beauty self esteem”. She says it is both physical and psychological and is affected by one’s genetics,  grooming habits and how one feels about the way they look. Dr. Diller claims cognitive behavioral therapy can help. Read her complete article here

In my  blog today, I am talking about self image. How do you see yourself? What adjectives come to mind when you look in the mirror? If you answered either of these questions with negative response, maybe a change in hair color will help.

Before choosing a new hair color to improve your self image, you should determine what your skin tone is and whether or not your existing hair color flatters it. Skin tones reflect the outward tone of the skin and are either warm, cool, or neutral. Very pale skin is usually cool, and yellow or olive skin is usually warm, (obviously neutral skin tones are in between). These are just  examples, but cool and warm skin tones can be perceived as fair, medium and darker skin tones as well. Undertones are the underlying pigments beneath the surface of your skin. These too are either warm, cool or neutral, but not necessarily the same as your skin tone. You can usually determine your undertone by looking at the veins on your forearm and wrist. If those veins appear bluish or purple, you have cool undertones. If they are greenish, you have warm undertones. If those veins are barely visible, blending into your skin tone, chances are you have neutral undertones. It is important to discern this, in deciding whether to choose a warm or cool hair color. It comes down to deciding if you want to enhance or compliment your skin tone.

Enhancing one’s (outward) skin tone means bringing out more of the same tone, either warm or cool. Complimenting that skin tone means choosing a color in the same color category of the skin’s undertone. Allow me to use myself as an example for clarity: I have a warm skin tone on the yellow side; however, my veins are very blue, so I have cool undertones. Choosing a warm hair color like a copper red or a golden brown or blonde, will enhance my yellow skin. If I choose a cooler hair color like a burgundy red or a mahogany brown or an ash brown or blonde, I will compliment my skin tone, making it appear less yellow. ( At least until it oxidizes…darn those free radicals.)

This concept is the same for cool skin tones with warm undertones. If you have neutral undertones, you can most likely wear any hair color but the prettiest formulations are a combination of both warm and cool. Most people know what wardrobe colors look best on them. And if you are not sure, try this: Get a separate piece of silver and gold fabric. Drape them around your neck line one at a time while looking in the mirror. Decide which one you think looks better on you. If you have cool skin with warm undertones, you will probably choose the gold because it will brighten and compliment your skin, whereas, the silver will enhance your cool skin tone. ( It will make pale skin look paler or drab.) And likewise if you have warm, (yellow or olive) skin, the silver will most likely make you look less sallow. Doing this fabric exercise has a dual benefit, because it not only helps you determine your hair color choice, but gives you the best combination of colors for your wardrobe too.

The options are once again endless! And color is also as subjective as beauty. The bottom line is, if you like the way it looks, no one else’s opinion should matter. In the salon I try to give my clients what they ask for, unless they ask for my opinion. Then naturally, I will give them my best professional advise. Most of the time they take it, but if their mind is made up, who am I to argue? I made that mistake years ago. I had a young woman fresh out of law school with rich, beautiful, deep brunette hair and dark eyes. Her skin tone was warm with blue undertones. She wanted to change her color to very light blonde. This would have required bleaching out her hair to the lightest yellow shade before toning it to the shade of blonde she desired. I did my best to discourage her, by telling her about the frequent maintenance and added costs, not to mention, I didn’t think it would flatter her skin tone. When that failed, I went on to explain that I thought: a young lawyer just starting out would come off more credible, not looking like a hooker. OOPS! That was not the right thing to say, and I ended up loosing her as a client. She found a willing stylist who turned her a hideous shade of blonde, which made her look harsh in my humble opinion, (okay, so maybe not so humble. I’m a work in progress.) She went on to become a successful blonde lawyer. Maybe the harsh factor turned out to be a good thing for her career. Anyway, lesson learned for me!

To improve your self image, you don’t have to go drastic, unless of course you want to, like that lawyer client of mine. Sometimes just the slightest change in your hair color, like warming it up by going a little lighter, or deepening the tone of your faded locks with a cool gloss, can enhance your self image. Keep in mind you can also apply these hair color and skin tone principals to choosing the most flattering colors for your wardrobe. In case you missed it, in an earlier blog titled Faith, Hope and Hair, I discussed face shapes and hair styles. So, for your best self image, combine a hairstyle that flatters your features along with a hair color that flatters your skin tone and then do the same with your wardrobe colors and you can look the better than ever. I can hear the compliments coming, because self image is not only about how you see yourself, but how others see you too. While your own opinion is the most important, who doesn’t want compliments on how great you look?

I am grateful that you have taken time to read my blog. Please email me with any questions. I would be delighted if you will subscribe, so I can notify you when new blogs post. May God bless you and keep you safe under the shadow of His wing. I’ll be back next time with more on prayer, spiritual warfare, and hair.