Day 47: The Tattoo

On the inside of my left wrist, a tattoo lives. In hand scrawled cursive, it is a glorified scar that reads, “surrender.” It is my first, and only, tattoo...and, I love it. Now, it's not the most decorative, or fancy, tattoo. It also isn't perfect, and sometimes I wish I had spent more time checking out other shops before having it done at the shop that I visited. But, for me, the fact that it's not perfect is a good reminder that nothing in life is.

And it's a good reminder that I am not perfect, either.

I decided to get this tattoo because, in my life, surrendering is a hard thing to do. I am keen on being strong, and overcoming whatever comes my way. To surrender to God was a foreign thing for me, in any aspect of my life. I didn't want to surrender my heart, emotions, actions.

I wanted to keep it all to myself; I wanted desperately to be strong enough.

And so, when I first listened to Adie Camp's song sufficient, I was brought to my knees. Her song centers around 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

These verses are taken from the context of Paul telling about a thorn that is in his side from a messenger of Satan. Paul asks the Lord three times to take it away, but is told the above verses, which essentially is to rely on God's strength in His weakness.

These verses spoke to me, and really have become my life verses. So, I tattooed “surrender” on my wrist, facing me, to remind me that in my weakness, His strength is made perfect, and when I surrender, I can fully feel His presence.

So, if you're reading this blog and you're wondering how you will get through this life that so often brings out our weaknesses, remember that you can boast in your weaknesses because Christ's strength will rest upon you. We can't do everything on our own, but we are strong in Him.

In Christ,

Lilia