Today I bought a new hair dryer.  This likely holds very little meaning to you…it’s a hair dryer.  But to me, there’s great significance in this purchase.

In 2012, my (now ex) husband left.  There was very little explanation, very little build up to the bomb drop that he was done and I needed to make arrangements to live my life and raise our children without him in the home.  At the time, I worked a part time job.  I was getting ready to return to full time employment and we had started looking at lots with plans to build our next home.  Needless to say, being told he was leaving was a bit of a shock.

About the time my ex left, my hair dryer died.  I was in a whole new (much lower) income bracket at this time and wasn’t about to spend money on a hair dryer if I didn’t have to.  So in  March of that year, I grabbed my backup hair dryer.  I don’t know about you, but I keep a backup hair dryer in my linen closet.  It’s the one that hasn’t died yet, but is on its way out and is replaced by a newer model. It’s on hand in case my current hair dryer dies.

I’m what they call a “deep thinker.”  So while staring at myself in the mirror each morning, drying my hair, there were lots of conversations going on in my head.  Thoughts like “What’s going to be for dinner?” and “Am I going to grow old alone?” and “Will I be able to afford a new AC unit for the upstairs?” and “I wonder how this is going to affect the kids’ ability to form and maintain healthy relationships in adulthood.”  You get the picture.  Those internal conversations had me drying my hair with tears rolling down my face for at least a couple of years.

When I first grabbed the hair dryer out of the linen closet, I was concerned it would die on me.  I needed it to last a while longer.  A decent hair dryer isn’t cheap and I had other things I needed to spend money on.  Whether it was paying bills or saving for vacation, this hair dryer had somehow become a symbol of my need to eeek out every last bit of utility from every single thing I bought and owned.

Fast forward to today, May 14, 2018, 6 years after I grabbed that old, used hairdryer from the linen closet, praying it would last long enough for me to get a few paychecks under my belt.  Today was the last day I used that old hairdryer.  I no longer have tears rolling down my face each morning.  Two new AC units were installed this spring (thanks to a generous Christmas gift from multiple family members) and the kids and I have our flights and lodging reserved for the Hawaii vacation we have dreamed of and saved for.

So crazy as it sounds, as I place my old hair dryer in the garbage, I again have tears rolling down my face.  Not because of a faithful hair dryer, but because of a faithful God who pulled me and my kids through a whole mess of pain and dysfunction.  Who showed Himself to be patient and kind in the big things and the little things…like a hair dryer.