Shear Grace Hair Studio

Good morning to all my amazing clients. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with friends and family. As of right now I am book solid until after Christmas. Also as of January 1st 2025 prices on all services will be increasing. Just wanted to jump on and give everyone a heads up. If you have an appointment booked before Christmas I will see you soon. Hope you all have a great holiday season.

To those who woke up with victory in their eyes, congrats and I am excited to witness the promises ahead!

To those who woke up with fear in their hearts, I see you and I am so sorry.

But to those likened a party affiliation to a spiritual choice, please remember that the nation is watching.
They are watching how we act today, tomorrow, and in the coming days.
They are watching how we treat those who lost hope.
They are watching how we speak to those who do not believe as we do.
They are watching Christians to decide if Jesus is worth following.
They are deciding their eternity by our actions.

As our country enters into this next season, I pray that we as Christians may remember to act justly, love mercifully, and walk humbly with an eternal mindset, not a 4-year one.

Let us show the nation what it actually means to be the hands and feet of our beautiful, grace-filled, Holy Jesus Christ.

🫶

In the Name of Jesus

Mark 4:39: "And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Boy the book of Psalms have been screaming in my life the last couple of weeks.

Gone Forever

LISTEN
“Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!”
—Psalm 32:2
When we come to the subject of sin, something that we unfortunately are all familiar with, we have two ways to approach it. We can confess it for what it is, turn from it, and know the happiness of being forgiven. Or, we can conceal and hide it and know the misery of ultimately being found out and reaping what we’ve sowed.
In the Book of Deuteronomy, God posed a challenge. He said, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” (30:19 NLT).
God was saying, “You can walk with Me, or you can walk away from Me. You can live, or you can die.”
It’s amazing that some people consciously would choose death. But that is essentially what we do when we choose to go against God and His Word.
Sin is attractive. The devil knows how to present it so that it will have a certain appeal. Sin is a lot like candy-coated strychnine. It’s sweet on the outside until you bite into it. Because of the short-term pleasure that sin offers, many people don’t think about the long-term repercussions.
Yet the Bible warns, “You may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23 NLT). Sometimes this happens immediately. And sometimes it happens after a period of time.
A few years ago, I saw a news story about someone who wanted to steal gasoline from a motor home. The thief stuck his hose in the tank and began the syphoning process. But he had put the hose into the sewage tank instead of the gas tank. The owner of the motor home found him curled up outside, vomiting.
His sin found him out.
King David is rightfully known as one of the greatest saints in Scripture, identified uniquely as the “man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14 NLT). But it is also true that David is known as one the greatest sinners in Scripture.
On the one hand, we remember him for his heroic exploits and his tender heart toward God and others. But on the other hand, we remember him for his sins of adultery and murder and his attempt to cover them up.
Ultimately, the prophet Nathan confronted David about his sin and told him, “From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own” (2 Samuel 12:10 NLT).
But thank God for second chances, because this was during the time that David wrote Psalm 32, which begins, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!” (verse 1 NLT).
David had tried in his own ability to cover his sins but with no success. But when God covers our sins, they’re gone forever. We can’t cover them, but God can. We can’t get rid of them, but God can.
God not only covers our sins; He cleanses them.

Monday, August 5, 2024
Safe in His Hands

LISTEN
“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”
—John 10:9
A popular advice columnist once said that among the thousands of letters she received each month, one problem dominated the rest: fear. She said that people were afraid of losing their health, their wealth, and their loved ones.
All too often, Christians haven’t found the comfort, strength, and contentment that God wants them to have because they are paralyzed by fear. Yet Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures” (John 10:7–9 NLT).
In Jesus’ day, a sheepfold was an enclosed area with walls that provided protection for defenseless sheep, especially at night. Predators such as wolves or lions walked around the sheepfold, looking for a way in. Yet the only way in was through the door of the sheepfold. And that so-called door was the shepherd.
We see this pattern elsewhere in Scripture. On one occasion, Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31–32 NLT).
Jesus essentially was saying, “I’m standing in the gap for you.”
The devil cannot pick us off at will, though some Christians may think that. Rather, he must go through the Good Shepherd because we are under His divine protection.
Jesus also said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can sn**ch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can sn**ch them from the Father’s hand” (John 10:27–29 NLT).
Although this passage is a promise of God’s protection, it is not a promise that we never will fall into sin. No one will sn**ch Jesus’ sheep out of His hand, but we, as sheep, can still go astray.
Not only has God given us His protection, but He also has given us freedom. We don’t have to stay in the sheepfold. We don’t have to stay in His protection. And when we make a mess out of our lives, God will do what He can to find us, restore us, and bring us back to Himself.
Yet God is looking for our cooperation. He wants to protect us, provide for us, and bless us. He wants us to find contentment. But we must follow the Good Shepherd’s voice.

Friday, August 2, 2024
He Knows Our Needs

LISTEN
“The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need.”
—Psalm 23:1
As one of the most well-known passages in the Bible, and certainly the most well-known and beloved of the psalms, Psalm 23 has given people untold encouragement and comfort throughout the centuries.
And when we consider the content of the psalm that precedes it and the psalm that follows it, Psalm 23 makes a lot of sense. Psalm 22 presents Jesus as the suffering Savior. It gives a graphic account of His crucifixion, including references to the way He would die.
Then, Psalm 24 speaks of Christ’s return. When He comes again, He will be wearing not a crown of thorns but a crown of glory as He comes to establish His kingdom on Earth.
Between these two psalms is Psalm 23, where David presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Thus, we see Jesus as the suffering Savior in Psalm 22, the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23, and the returning King in Psalm 24. Taken together, these psalms give us a picture of who God is.
David was a shepherd and the son of a shepherd. In fact, the Bible refers to him as the shepherd king of Israel (see 2 Samuel 5:2; 1 Chronicles 11:2; Ezekiel 37:24). Perhaps one day, as he was looking over his flock of sheep, he started reflecting on the things about sheep that reminded him of himself.
There is a lot we can say about sheep. They have many strange characteristics. For example, they don’t take care of themselves and need constant attention. Sheep completely depend on the shepherd for sustenance, protection, and guidance.
Picking up on this theme in John 10, Jesus said, “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice” (verses 3–5 NLT).
In fact, we see the theme of God as Shepherd and His people as sheep repeated throughout Scripture. Isaiah 40:11 says, “He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young” (NLT).
And Isaiah 53 tells us, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all” (verse 6 NLT).
Peter wrote, “Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25 NLT).
A shepherd comes to know the unique characteristics of each sheep. As David wrote in another psalm, “You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away” (Psalm 139:2 NLT).
Not only does the Good Shepherd know our natures, but He knows our needs. And when God looks at you, He knows the deepest needs of your life.

Thursday, August 1, 2024
All the Grace We Need

LISTEN
“Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”
—2 Corinthians 12:9
When we look in the Bible at the stories of people who suffered, we see that God was always with them in a special way.
For instance, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered his men to throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a fiery furnace because of their bold profession of faith. But afterward, Nebuchadnezzar saw a fourth figure walking with them in the fire.
The king exclaimed, “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!” (Daniel 3:25 NLT).
When Stephen was about to become the first martyr of the church because of his bold proclamation of the gospel, he had a vision of Heaven. The Bible says, “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand” (Acts 7:55 NLT).
The apostle Paul spoke of a particular suffering and difficulty that he faced, calling it “a thorn in [his] flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7 NLT). Yet when Paul asked God to remove the source of his suffering, God said to him, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness” (verse 9 NLT).
Throughout Scripture we see that God responded to His people with special comfort in times of need. And He will do the same for us.
It’s so often during difficult times that we come into a greater appreciation of God’s goodness, because it’s then that we really see His grace and power shine.
God does not forsake His people. However, at the cross, God turned from Jesus as He bore our sin so we could come into a relationship with Him. Speaking prophetically of this moment, David said in Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?” (NLT).
The abandonment of God the Father was much more a source of anguish to Jesus than it would be to anyone else, because He is holy. Never for one moment of His earthly life did Jesus have a thought out of harmony with the Father. Never did He come close to sinning. He consistently maintained an intimate closeness with God.
In contrast, our sin can cause us to become hardened toward God and far from Him. And many times, we don’t even know the hardness and distance are happening in our lives.
Though Jesus incredibly (and certainly innocently) suffered the horrors of the crucifixion, the most important moment was when He who was flawless took every sin of humanity upon Himself.
Interestingly, although Psalm 22 begins with Jesus’ pain-filled question, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (verse 1 NLT), it ends with this hope-filled declaration: “His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done” (verse 31 NLT).
God the Father abandoned Jesus for a time so that we might enjoy His presence forever. Jesus was forsaken so that we might be forgiven. He was there on the cross, doing what had to be done. And only He could do it.

“Lord, How Long?”

“Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe. ”
—Psalm 5:7
We live in a time when our society celebrates ungodly lifestyles. It flaunts them. We read about it. We see it on television. And we say, “Lord, how long are they going to get away with it?” Meanwhile, society mocks those who try to live by God’s Word.
So we think, “This just isn’t fair. That person over there shouldn’t be able to get away with that. It is a horrible thing they are doing.”
Asaph, one of the writers of the psalms, grappled with this age-old problem. He wrote, “I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is! Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction” (Psalm 73:16–18 NLT).
David, too, reflected on the life of the godly and the life of the ungodly and contrasted them. He wrote about the ways of ungodly people and their priorities. And then he went on to say, “Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe” (Psalm 5:7 NLT).
He was saying, “These nonbelievers can do what they want to do and live the way they want to live. But I’m going to go to the house of the Lord.” David got his priorities in order.
In the same way, when we go to church, when we get into God’s Word together, we see the big picture. We recognize right from wrong. And we can make the right choices.
We can compare going to church and fellowshipping with other believers to burning logs or coals. If we keep them close together, they stay hot and glow. But if we separate one from the others, that one will grow cold. The same is true of us as followers of Christ.
Yet there are Christians who say, “Let’s not go to church today. Let’s go do something else. We went to church two weeks ago.”
They are missing out. Church isn’t something we do when we find the time. It’s where we go to gain our focus. It’s where we go for a spiritual tune-up. And it’s also where we go to give as well as receive. We bring our gifts and build up one another.
That is why the Bible cautions, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT).
Something wonderful, something supernatural, something mysterious happens when God’s people gather. When we worship the Lord, He inhabits the praises of His people. When we study His Word, He speaks to us. And when we unite our prayers, there is power in them.
David was saying, “This world is crazy, but I will turn to You, Lord. That is where I will put my trust.”
Let’s follow the example of David. Let’s take our problems and burdens and cast them upon the Lord, and He ultimately will have His way.

Friday, July 19, 2024
The Time Is Short

LISTEN
“These were his instructions to them: ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.’ ”
—Luke 10:2
Esther was a beautiful young woman who essentially won a beauty contest and became the queen over the kingdom. She also was Jewish. Then, a very wicked official named Haman developed a plot to exterminate all the Jewish people in the kingdom. And through a series of treacherous moves, he laid a trap for the Jews, who would be systematically executed.
Esther’s cousin Mordecai also was a Jew, and he knew that she could do something to help her people. All she had to do was go and appeal to the king. But Esther was safe and secure there in the palace. Everything was going okay for her, and she was reluctant to approach the king.
But Mordecai sent Esther this message: “If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14 NLT).
Esther recognized what she needed to do. She appealed to the king, averted the plot, and the Jews were saved. She seized the moment.
Sin isn’t simply doing what is wrong; sin also can be neglecting to do what is right. We can fail God in what He wants to do and miss out on His blessings as a result.
Jesus said, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields” (Luke 10:2 NLT). Notice Jesus didn’t say that we need to pray for more observers, more spectators, or more complainers. He said that we need to pray that the Lord would “send more workers.”
God can do a lot with a little. He multiplied a boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fish and fed thousands. And He can take what we have and multiply it. He can give us gifts and abilities that we’ve never had before if we simply say, “Lord, it’s not much, but it’s Yours. I give it to You. Take it over. Here I am, Lord, send me.”
Will you make yourself available to God? Will you say, “Lord, I will labor in Your field”? No matter how much money you make, what career you follow, or whether you’re married or single, will you commit to never stop being available to God as a laborer in His field?
Who knows whether God has not put you where you are, at this moment, for such a time as this?
This world is getting darker. The only hope for our country is a spiritual awakening. We have to get the gospel out. We have to redouble our efforts as never before because time is short. The devil knows this. And certainly, he is redoubling his efforts. He’s trying to drag as many people down as he possibly can.
We need to go out and make a difference while we can.

Wednesday, June 26, 2024
The Value of a Gift

LISTEN
“I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”
—Matthew 26:13
It’s interesting that when we read through the Bible, we read very little about the great historical figures of the day. The great Caesars or Herods or the mighty armies of Rome are merely backdrops for the greatest story ever told. They serve as points of reference chronologically.
But in reality, these people and events were secondary. It reminds us that God sees things differently from how we see them.
Also, we don’t find every miracle, every teaching, and every thing that Jesus did in the Gospels. John points out, “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25 NLT).
The Holy Spirit selected certain miracles, certain teachings, and certain events in the life and ministry of Christ to be included in the four Gospels for our benefit. And the story of Mary in Bethany is one of them.
Things were coming to a head in the life and ministry of Jesus. He’d had a number of increasingly confrontational exchanges with the religious leaders. They were ticked off at Him, and they wanted Him out of the picture. In short, they wanted Jesus killed.
But they couldn’t do it yet, because it was Passover. There were thousands of pilgrims jamming Jerusalem, and Jesus, though controversial, still had His admirers. Thus, they weren’t going to strike yet. But they were plotting against Him.
Meanwhile, Jesus decided to go and spend time with some of His friends. And among those friends were Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. No doubt they relished those moments with Him. They could legitimately say that Jesus was their friend.
One day they were with Jesus in Bethany, at the home of Simon, someone whom the Bible identifies as previously having leprosy (see Matthew 26:6). Jesus had just taught the Olivet Discourse, and no doubt there were some follow-up questions. Not only that, but Lazarus had been newly resurrected. It must have been an incredible conversation.
And then Mary, deeply moved by what she saw, had to do something dramatic, something extravagant to demonstrate her love for Jesus. She came with an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil and poured it on Jesus as He sat at the table. It effectively was her life savings.
It’s worth noting that whenever we read about Mary, she’s at the feet of Jesus. Maybe that is why she had the insight she did. Mary took advantage of every opportunity to hear what Jesus had to say.
Jesus was so impressed by Mary’s act of devotion that He said, “I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed” (John 26:13 NLT).
What is the most precious thing in your life right now? Have you presented it to Jesus yet? That is what Mary did. And it cost her everything. The value of a gift is determined not by how much it costs but by how much it costs you.

Monday, June 24, 2024
A Wall of Prayer Warriors

LISTEN
“For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”
—Matthew 18:20
The Romans, who were great military tacticians, knew how to use their shields effectively. When they came under attack, they pulled their shields together in their ranks on the front, the side, the back, and overhead, forming a defensive box. Then, they would break out and counterattack.
That is what it’s like when Christians pray together. We stand together as a wall of prayer warriors marching forward. There is power in united prayer.
Jesus gave us this promise: “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:19–20 NLT).
First, let’s understand what that doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that two Christians can get together and decide to pray for the same thing, and it will automatically happen. James warns us, “Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure” (James 4:2–3 NLT).
Sometimes, we pray for things that are just not right or things that would be harmful to us. As a result, God says, “No, I’m not going to answer that prayer.” Just because two believers may agree in prayer about something, it doesn’t mean that God necessarily will answer that prayer.
The assumption of Matthew 18:19–20 is that we are in alignment with God’s will as we are praying together for something that we know God wants to do.
For example, when we pray for people to put their faith in Christ, we are praying according to the will of God. And when we pray for a spiritual awakening to sweep our nation, we are praying according to the will of God.
However, that doesn’t mean we can just claim, in Jesus’ name, that someone will come to Christ. That person still must respond to the gospel. God wants people to be saved, but He also has given us a free will. So, our prayer should be that God will open their eyes and show them their need for Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT).
Jesus said, “But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” (John 15:7 NLT).
God is not a genie who will answer every request that we offer. But God will answer our prayers if we are maintaining a living communion with Him and His Word is at home in us, because we will be praying for what God wants us to pray for.

Thursday, June 20, 2024
Ananias, the Unsung Hero

LISTEN
“So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'”
—Acts 9:17
When Saul heard the voice of Jesus on the Damascus road, he fell to the ground, blinded by a searing light. Then Saul was led to the home of a man named Judas in Damascus.
Enter Ananias, the unsung hero. God appeared to him in a vision and said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again” (Acts 9:11–12 NLT).
Now, you can understand Ananias’s reticence. Saul was a notorious hunter of Christians. He was the man who had Stephen murdered. Yet God was saying, “Go to Saul. He is praying.”
That would be like a Jew who was hiding from the N***s hearing that Hi**er had been converted. There was no way. Do you know someone whom you couldn’t imagine ever becoming a Christian? That is what it was like when Saul of Tarsus came to Jesus Christ.
The Message describes Ananias’s reaction this way: “Ananias protested, ‘Master, you can’t be serious. Everybody’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us’” (Acts 9:13–14).
Sometimes God will put a burden on our heart to talk to a certain person. It isn’t as though we have a detailed blueprint of what we are going to say and how that person will respond. But we simply have a sense that we ought to go to this person or ought to go to that place.
That is how it was for Ananias. Sometimes we see opportunities, and sometimes we can make opportunities. For example, it might be as simple as initiating a conversation.
God told Ananias to go, and he went.
Now, if God tells us to go, can we say no to Him? Yes. Remember, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach, but Jonah refused. So, God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah and then ultimately regurgitate him. And reluctantly, Jonah went to Nineveh.
The question is, will you be a Jonah or an Ananias? When God says go, are you going to be a Jonah and argue? Or are you going to be an Ananias and take a risk?
What is the worst that could happen?
“Well,” you’re thinking, “I might get martyred.” That is true, but it’s unlikely. Probably, what will happen is that someone will say, “I don’t want to talk to you.” Or, they won’t even respond to you.
Maybe they will argue with you, which isn’t always a bad thing. Then again, maybe they will listen to you and even believe what you are saying as you speak from the power of God’s Holy Spirit. So go.