serena

I’ve been meaning to write this post since last week and am just getting around to it. This is such a random but cool story, if I do say so myselfJ

So last week I decided I had had it with my boring all brown hair. However, being the hair snob that I am I have a lot of trouble going to just anyone and so when moving to a new place my hair stylist is usually the one thing I hold on to for much too long. Since moving to Springfield I have continued to go to my stylist in Cedar Falls (in IA), trying to squeeze in hair appointments during work or weekend trips back. Well I hadn’t been home since Christmas so my hair was starting to drive me crazy and I needed something done. Which leads me to last week.

I hopped online and did some google searching for good hair salons in Springfield and decided to give W3 salon a shot based on the reviews I had read. So I called on Monday hoping to get in to whoever was available within a few weeks. To my surprise and excitement they had just gotten a cancellation for one of their Tuesday afternoon appointments with Serena. So I took it.

I always get nervous when going to a new salon – will they listen to what I want? Will they chop my hair? Will the color be awful, etc etc? So I brought in a few pictures of what I was after in terms of color and for the length I knew I just wanted a trim because I’ve been growing it out for quite some time. So, I met Serena, she seemed super sweet – just a little bitty thing that honestly didn’t look much older than 20 years old.

We got to talking after I described what I was looking for and she got to work on the highlights. I quickly learned that she was a mother of 4 – which I couldn’t believe she was old enough to have 1, much less 4 - she assured me she just had good genesJ Our conversation proceeded and somewhere along the lines I asked her how long she had been doing hair, she responded with 13 years but that she had just recently taken a year or so off to publish and promote a book she had written. Since I really enjoy reading this of course perked my interest and I started to ask her more about her book. She replied that it was a religious book about grace. I told her I was a Christian also and our conversation evolved. She told me a little more about her book and tid bits of her challenging life. She said that the book was about being on the other side of the church, the one being judged, and needing grace. Each of her responses to my questions intrigued me and I knew I had to dig into getting a copy of her book.

Once she was done with my hair I told her I was interested in reading her book and asked how I could get a copy. She said they are sold in Barnes and Noble, some Christian book stores, and online at Amazon. She then jotted down a website on her business card for me to check out and said I could read an excerpt of the first chapter online.

So of course I rushed home and hopped right on the computer to check out her site. I was intrigued, amazed, speechless, cried, and just couldn’t stop reading. Serena has had an unbelievable life. Circumstances of her childhood and mistakes of her own as an adult have transformed and shaped her into a unique and remarkable person. She writes so beautifully and I absolutely cannot wait to get her book. I ordered a copy online that night and have yet to get it but I’m sure I’ll have plenty of posts to follow regarding it.

So you are probably wondering what the website is, huh?! Serena’s website is www.graceisforsinners.com. This should bring you directly to her blog portion of the webpage but also give you the option of clicking on different topics along the top. Be sure to check out the “Excerpt” to read part of her book as well as the “About” section to watch a video of Serena talking about her childhood and mistakes as an adult.

Situations like this help me understand the depth of our God. Once you read more about Serena and hear about some of things she has had to overcome in her life it is so remarkable that she is a Christian today and relied on God to bring her through things even before she knew who God was. I know people with similar stories, stories of brokenness and circumstances that are truly unfathomable to me. I have such a hard time truly understanding what some people have been through because I recognize that I was incredibly blessed with the childhood I had and the family I have today. But I also know in my heart that people do not just get through these things and break the vicious cycles of abuse, sexual sin, drug addictions, etc. on their own. It is God, and only God, that heals people that have experienced such tragic, disgusting, and heart breaking experiences. It is God that makes these people remarkable woman, wives, mothers, children of God. Only God can do that.

PS – she did a great job on my hair too!