God sure is a sneaky (awesome) dude sometimes.
You may be asking yourself what I mean. Well, I had another moment from this weekend at CCC’s Women’s Retreat that involved God not only working overtime but also revealing some cool new “tools” in my ministry arsenal. Apparently, I can paint fingernails. Who knew, right? Not this girl.
Here’s what happened: We had about three hours of free time on Saturday afternoon from around 2:30-5:30pm. There were quite the variety of activities from which to choose: Yoga, nature walk, games, nap, chatting, etc. After contemplating my options, none really grabbed my attention. Instead I found myself asking God what He wanted Me to do with my free time. I thought “Maybe I should blog.” Well, we didn’t have internet. Scratch that idea. Suddenly, I remembered that I packed my hodgepodge fingernail polish collection that weekend, so decided I would do my nails.
For some reason, I was inclined to take my eclectic variety of polish down to the big conference room and camp out on a table as opposed to staying in my room. (Why? I have no idea, other than God was nudging me to it.)
Long story still long (again,) I ended up with two coats of polish on my nails before things went an unexpected direction. I struck up a conversation with Jennifer, who I didn’t know really well at that point, but soon escalated to “Want me to paint your fingernails while we talk?” She agreed… And God went to work. In my random “kit” I had some detail brushes for doing designs. I had only done it to myself once with less than satisfactory results. For some reason Jennifer and I were feeling kinda feisty… so we stepped out of our comfort zone and attempted to paint a design on her ten cute “Rosy Future” pink nails.
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| My first “victim” Jennifer… Feisty Rosy Future Nails… RAWR. |
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| Dear Shannon with her “Jesus Fish” |
Thus, God revealed a new ministry to me– nail design painting. By the time that our free time has wrapped up, I had about five sets of fingernails and three sets of toes added to my resume of design. See, I told you God was a funny dude.
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| My boss Kelli even stepped out of the box and went blue… With a design I created… “I am the vine…” |
The greatest part of that afternoon? No, it wasn’t discovering this new random hidden talent (although since I was doing it for free, I did offer a money back guarantee) Rather it was the fellowship and conversations that were had. I knew that every lady at the retreat had a different story. Some were in a great season of life. Some were in a challenging season. But seasons aside, all of those fingernail owners were awesome women of faith and tough as nails.
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| My new adorable friend Jamie: “Oh my, ya’ll… my husband isn’t gonna know what to think!” |
Jesus had some experience with nails too… Except these were nails of love and sacrifice, ones that pierced his hands so that we could have a hope and future. God, funny dude that He is, can reveal some incredible messages in loving and touching ways, whether that be in a bottle of electric blue nail polish… or hanging from a cross on a hill far away. Today, I am thanking God for making His son “Tough as Nails.”
Thankful for our “Rosy Future,”
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| Bardie working some gorgeous nails! |
“He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:14-15
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| Not gonna lie, Mary’s might be my favorite– I think I accidentally painted the “Holy Spirit” onto her nails. Gives a whole new meaning to the term “Spirit Fingers.” |
