By the grace of God: Women build ministries at salon
By Kat Russell, Photojournalist
Kentucky New Era
December 1, 2013
http://www.kentuckynewera.com/web/news/article_1da21288-5b15-11e3-91d7-0019bb2963f4.html
Photo Credit: Kat Russell / Kentucky New Era
When Heather Hawkins was about 8 years old, she wrote a letter to her future self. The letter said that when she grew up she wanted to work in a salon as a stylist, like her Aunt Nancy.
“I forgot about all that and when I was 22, 23 years old, there I was at Regis in the mall, and my mother gave me this letter I had written to myself,” Hawkins said.
More than 15 years have passed since her mother handed her that letter, but Hawkins still takes her place behind the chair every day and she still loves doing hair.
People feel better about themselves when they feel beautiful.
“There’s power in the hair,” she said.
No longer working in the mall, Hawkins, a single mother, now owns Grace Salon on North Main Street in downtown Hopkinsville. The salon opened in 2009.
Born and raised in Hopkinsville, Hawkins said her childhood was tumultuous.
“I grew up in an alcoholic home,” she said. “My mother was
an alcoholic and she wanted to love me, but she just was sick and so I went through a lot of destruction in that home.”
When she was about 12 years old, Hawkins moved out of her mother’s home and moved in with her dad, but she said a lot of damage had already been done and, at age 14, Hawkins started experimenting with alcohol and drugs.
“I knew the very first time I drank, that it was different, that I was different from my friends,” she said. “They could drink and stop and I couldn’t.”
At first, it was just drinking and occasionally smoking some pot. Hawkins married when she was 18 and moved away from Hopkinsville with her husband.
Two years later, she found herself back in Hopkinsville, going through a divorce and recovering from an abortion.
“Then I really started to drink a lot …” she said. “That’s when I started to do harder drugs. I just really didn’t care what happened to me.”
In the years that followed, Hawkins again moved away and tried her hand at living in bigger cities. She spent some time in Florida, lived in California for a while and spent a few years in Nashville. Nothing seemed to fit
“I was on the run pretty much,” she said. “I was a mess. I would just drink and drink and drink and then I would stop drinking and start doing drugs. I was just trying to find a balance I guess.”
But what Hawkins found was that she could not run from her problems. No matter where she lived, her addiction, the trauma from her past and the pain and loss she felt after her abortion followed her.
“My mom used to tell me, ‘Wherever you go, there you are’ and I hated that saying,” she said. “I guess I thought that there was some magical place I could go to and everything would be different and it wasn’t because I was still the same.”
“I forgot about all that and when I was 22, 23 years old, there I was at Regis in the mall, and my mother gave me this letter I had written to myself,” Hawkins said.
More than 15 years have passed since her mother handed her that letter, but Hawkins still takes her place behind the chair every day and she still loves doing hair.
People feel better about themselves when they feel beautiful.
“There’s power in the hair,” she said.
No longer working in the mall, Hawkins, a single mother, now owns Grace Salon on North Main Street in downtown Hopkinsville. The salon opened in 2009.
Born and raised in Hopkinsville, Hawkins said her childhood was tumultuous.
“I grew up in an alcoholic home,” she said. “My mother was
an alcoholic and she wanted to love me, but she just was sick and so I went through a lot of destruction in that home.”
When she was about 12 years old, Hawkins moved out of her mother’s home and moved in with her dad, but she said a lot of damage had already been done and, at age 14, Hawkins started experimenting with alcohol and drugs.
“I knew the very first time I drank, that it was different, that I was different from my friends,” she said. “They could drink and stop and I couldn’t.”
At first, it was just drinking and occasionally smoking some pot. Hawkins married when she was 18 and moved away from Hopkinsville with her husband.
Two years later, she found herself back in Hopkinsville, going through a divorce and recovering from an abortion.
“Then I really started to drink a lot …” she said. “That’s when I started to do harder drugs. I just really didn’t care what happened to me.”
In the years that followed, Hawkins again moved away and tried her hand at living in bigger cities. She spent some time in Florida, lived in California for a while and spent a few years in Nashville. Nothing seemed to fit
“I was on the run pretty much,” she said. “I was a mess. I would just drink and drink and drink and then I would stop drinking and start doing drugs. I was just trying to find a balance I guess.”
But what Hawkins found was that she could not run from her problems. No matter where she lived, her addiction, the trauma from her past and the pain and loss she felt after her abortion followed her.
“My mom used to tell me, ‘Wherever you go, there you are’ and I hated that saying,” she said. “I guess I thought that there was some magical place I could go to and everything would be different and it wasn’t because I was still the same.”
Kat Russell / Kentucky New Era
Things changed for Hawkins when she was 30 and found out she was pregnant with her daughter. She turned to God and asked Him to help her quit drinking.
“That’s when everything changed,” she said. “I prayed for the whole nine months I was pregnant … I started to really feel the presence of the Lord.”
Hawkins said God healed her; He removed the need to drink.
When her daughter was a few months old, Hawkins returned to Hopkinsville and started fresh.
Today, Hawkins is 10 years sober and lives a life based in her Christian faith. She started teaching Sunday school classes and doing ministry work. At Alpha Alternative Crisis Pregnancy Center, she counsels women who have had abortions or miscarriages and she works with pregnant women to help them make informed decisions.
Then came the salon. Everything just fell into place
“God started to give me the desires of my heart once I stopped running.” she said.
For her it’s more than just a place where she cuts hair; it’s home to her ministry work.
Hawkins said a couple of years ago, she connected with a woman who lived at the Trilogy Center, a local court-ordered drug treatment facility for women. Hawkins offered to do her new friend’s hair as a gift.
“Then God really laid it on my heart that that’s what I was supposed to do,” she said. “So I go and pick them up and I do their hair. So I get to make a living and also do a lot of ministry work as well.”
This year, Hawkins expanded her salon to include the Butterfly Boutique, a nonprofit donation-supported free clothing boutique for the Trilogy women and the families at The Salvation Army.
“I kept looking over at that empty space and I just knew that God was going to do something that connected with what I do,” she said.
Hawkins met Jessica Fuller in an aerobics class Hawkins teaches at the Y. She said she just knew Fuller was the one to help fill the space.
“I could tell our spirits were alike so, we just started talking and praying together and it just blossomed from there,” Hawkins said.
Fuller, originally from Cadiz, has lived in Hopkinsville for seven years. She is involved in the Hands Up program: a ministry that provides a meal and someone to preach to those at The Salvation Army.
Before the Butterfly Boutique was in flight, Fuller had started collecting clothing for the families at The Salvation Army, but she knew if she wanted to do more, she would need a bigger space to keep and distribute the clothes.
After she and Hawkins met, the pieces connected and the boutique was born.
“There are so many places available in Hopkinsville … where people can purchase clothes or go and get clothes for their families,” Fuller said. “We wanted to be a boutique experience where they would come in and be treated just like they would in any store and help them shop for their families and themselves. “
In the last year, the boutique has grown into a place where Fuller could also do her own ministry by starting a church that meets in the boutique every Wednesday night.
“I think it’s amazing when I look over and the word is being preached,” Hawkins said, “because that’s what I knew God was going to do with this place.”
Between the salon and the boutique, Hawkins and Fuller — joined in faith and a desire to be of service — have built a ministry that fills both their hearts.
“Once in a while, I’ll drive through a part of Nashville and it will just overwhelm me because I’ll remember what I was doing at that time and my life is so different now,” Hawkins said. “God has given (us) so much. It’s pretty amazing how He puts people together. My life is totally not my own. I’m able to do so many different things and be involved in so many different things by his grace. It’s amazing the things that I get to do now.”
Reach Kat Russell at 270-887-3241 or krussell@kentuckynewera.com.
“That’s when everything changed,” she said. “I prayed for the whole nine months I was pregnant … I started to really feel the presence of the Lord.”
Hawkins said God healed her; He removed the need to drink.
When her daughter was a few months old, Hawkins returned to Hopkinsville and started fresh.
Today, Hawkins is 10 years sober and lives a life based in her Christian faith. She started teaching Sunday school classes and doing ministry work. At Alpha Alternative Crisis Pregnancy Center, she counsels women who have had abortions or miscarriages and she works with pregnant women to help them make informed decisions.
Then came the salon. Everything just fell into place
“God started to give me the desires of my heart once I stopped running.” she said.
For her it’s more than just a place where she cuts hair; it’s home to her ministry work.
Hawkins said a couple of years ago, she connected with a woman who lived at the Trilogy Center, a local court-ordered drug treatment facility for women. Hawkins offered to do her new friend’s hair as a gift.
“Then God really laid it on my heart that that’s what I was supposed to do,” she said. “So I go and pick them up and I do their hair. So I get to make a living and also do a lot of ministry work as well.”
This year, Hawkins expanded her salon to include the Butterfly Boutique, a nonprofit donation-supported free clothing boutique for the Trilogy women and the families at The Salvation Army.
“I kept looking over at that empty space and I just knew that God was going to do something that connected with what I do,” she said.
Hawkins met Jessica Fuller in an aerobics class Hawkins teaches at the Y. She said she just knew Fuller was the one to help fill the space.
“I could tell our spirits were alike so, we just started talking and praying together and it just blossomed from there,” Hawkins said.
Fuller, originally from Cadiz, has lived in Hopkinsville for seven years. She is involved in the Hands Up program: a ministry that provides a meal and someone to preach to those at The Salvation Army.
Before the Butterfly Boutique was in flight, Fuller had started collecting clothing for the families at The Salvation Army, but she knew if she wanted to do more, she would need a bigger space to keep and distribute the clothes.
After she and Hawkins met, the pieces connected and the boutique was born.
“There are so many places available in Hopkinsville … where people can purchase clothes or go and get clothes for their families,” Fuller said. “We wanted to be a boutique experience where they would come in and be treated just like they would in any store and help them shop for their families and themselves. “
In the last year, the boutique has grown into a place where Fuller could also do her own ministry by starting a church that meets in the boutique every Wednesday night.
“I think it’s amazing when I look over and the word is being preached,” Hawkins said, “because that’s what I knew God was going to do with this place.”
Between the salon and the boutique, Hawkins and Fuller — joined in faith and a desire to be of service — have built a ministry that fills both their hearts.
“Once in a while, I’ll drive through a part of Nashville and it will just overwhelm me because I’ll remember what I was doing at that time and my life is so different now,” Hawkins said. “God has given (us) so much. It’s pretty amazing how He puts people together. My life is totally not my own. I’m able to do so many different things and be involved in so many different things by his grace. It’s amazing the things that I get to do now.”
Reach Kat Russell at 270-887-3241 or krussell@kentuckynewera.com.
