Untitled

Dum Spiro Spero

So I have recently fallen in love with tattoos. They are intriging. However, the stories behind the art pieces capture my attention even more. The reason behind the feathers is very dear to my heart. My grandmother is very sick, and her age is taking a tole on her health.My grandfather stays with her and takes care f her every need.He loves her dearly. With her dwendling health he constantly stays up worried about her.He neglects his needs to make she that she is taken care of. He told me once that when she was taken to a hospital in greenville he was heart broken because he was unable to be there with her 24/7.He said ” it was like losing his arms and legs, because she was a part of him”. How deeply he loves her BLOWS my mind. This stress has caused his heart to grow very weak, and he has had a few heart attacks. The doctors have told him over and over to find a hobby that will simply give him some relief of the stress and give him a chance to unwind. He found that bird watching was something he throughly enjoyed and that it was a great opportunity to get away from things and draw closer to God. He would go outside and read his bible and pray for thirty minutes everyday. One day he found a dove’s feather on the ground and now uses it as a bookmark in his bible. This story truly sets a perfect example of the way love should be, and the way God has called us to love each other. I am touched by their love that they share.It is inspiring to me. I would love to hear from others that have tattoos and hear the story behind them. I know that yall may share of the most inspiring stories and that your tattoos are a reminder of these. Please share your story with me. I want to hear them and see your tattoo. If you don’t have pictures of them I am looking to do a whole portfolio on tattoos. So I would be up for doing pics of your tattoos just let me know.

stilled water, and you are the stone to create ripples.

Growing up and maturing happens in more than the obvious area. I have noticed that my relationship with God is going through the same stages of maturity. I am at a point that is very calm and stilled. I have fallen complacent with this security of his love. I use to find it super hard to believe that he loved ME… the screw up;the damaged rose had a pursuer. I couldn’t imagine how this was true. But now that I have started to believe this….. I have only seemed to hit the surface. I know he loves me……. NOW WHAT!?!?!

We seem to only be able to handle this thought and truth only a little at a time. We don’t think there is anything more to dive into. How naive am I? I have hit a point where I wonder if I will ever be as excited and overly passionate about my faith as I was when I was a teenager. Am I not as close with God as I use to be? Is it possible that I have lost my passion along the road? NO WAY!!!!!

I refuse to let this be true. This is where the stages of maturity comes into play. I am just as outgoing as I use to be; however, it is a lot more different then it use to be. I believe the biggest difference is that I view God as something completely different then I use too.I am at a different  point and a different stage of life then I use to be in. Who he is to me is going to be different.

When I was a teenager my life was CRAZY!!!! God was my *hero*/*Hosanna* he saved me from the tornado that was ripping me and my family apart. He saved me from myself. When I hated who I was he came and rescued me. He showed me that he loved me and that I deserved to love myself.

Now, however, I have realized that by his grace and by his LOVE I am still lovable. I am by no means perfect but he loves me. He created me to be beautiful and to be lovable. So with this concept tangible, for the first time, in my head he is showing himself to be something different: my LOVER. I am learning to know what it means to be loved. To be pursued. I have seen how distorted and misconstrued our view , as humans,is on love. We have destroyed this word. We have used it like a whore. It is now something fake and over used for all the wrong ways.You can tell this to be true by how high the divorce rates are and by how terrible marriages are now and days.We need to reassess the way we view relationships. We cant just be complacent with the thought of Gods love.Instead, we need to continue diving deeper and not settling at the surface of this truth, but REALLY dive in. We are going to see exactly how love is meant to be. How God created it to be. He calls us his “dearly beloved”….. I am going on this stage to find out how deep his love can go and what he means by this.I hope that I can update this as much as possible, and I hope that you can follow along and give me advice.