My Hair is Falling Out, Literally!

Some people receive ulcers and others form bad habits all from a five letter word called stress.  Stress is abundant in our lives from our fast paced schedules and desires to achieve.  Our stress is shown through our emotions and our actions.  However, were you aware that stress can be determined by your hair falling out?  In August, I started noticing an increase in the amount of hair found on my brush, in my hands while washing my head, and just around everywhere.  Luckily I have thick hair because for over a month now, it has continued to fall out in more abundance than normal.  In consulting a doctor, he told me it was a result of stress from maybe months ago that was finally working its way out. Although he assured me I wouldn’t go bald, it worried me that something had made me so stressed that my hair felt the need to abandon my head.  Hmmmm, what kind of stress have I experienced in the past few months?  Well, I packed up my life that I had lived for 9  months and went back to my beloved Togo where I went immediately to work teaching and preparing curriculum.  With this job, I experience a lot of unknowns and see a lot of needs which makes me rely heavily on the Lord’s help but I wouldn’t say that it ruins my life with stress.  The only major stressful week was when I received 2 serious marriage proposals from people I knew and our 10 year old neighbor died.  All this happened while I was trying to run a summer school program and a soccer camp. That might have done it. 

  As a Christian, I know to give my worries to the Lord; cast all my cares upon Him and He will give me comfort.  But yet we seem to get this mindset that is a right of passage to be stressed to the max.  We fill our lives with strenuous activities and choose to find them stressful and energy draining.  Why in the world do we do that? Why do I get worried and stressed out when I have 15 kids in my house and still need to finish writing curriculum?  Instead of allowing the stressful situation to bury me in a pile of worry and woes, I need to give it to the Lord and be thankful for the opportunity to work for Him and allow Him to work through the situation. 

Living a life stress free; wow, is that even possible?  Yes, definitely it is possible but only by focusing our eyes on Him, relinquishing the worries to Him, and offering thanksgiving to everything He brings our way.  So will my hair eventually stop falling out?  I sure hope it does but in the meanwhile,  I will just enjoy the ups and downs of life that God brings.