Playing with Permanent Markers

Ironically, no...it wasn't one of my children! (Davida~ and it DEFINITELY WAS NOT Duncan in my car!) 

 That's right, IT WAS ME! (insert Jim Carrey's voice from Liar Liar) 

I am 32 years old. I have always been the rebellious child and the kid that pushed ALL the limits. I have 4 brothers. I'm the ONLY one who's ever broken a bone...well, technically my younger brother broke part of his tailbone area playing football, but I take that cake. My parents will tell you that I also did these bone breaking activities while they had no insurance and usually in an extreme attempt to get out of moving. I plead the 5th on that one, although it did come in handy to get out of packing and moving boxes. Lets not get off track too far here. 

By pushing the limits, I will admit that I'd go and get my ears pierced in the uncommon areas (according to my dad) and I usually sprung it on them when we were in public. I can't help it that my children will have no chance of getting away with things. I LOVE my piercings. I have had my ears done many times, my belly button several times (yeah that was short lived because pregnancy and belly rings = DISASTER. Plus, I believe you grow out of the navel.) I will also admit that I've had my tongue done a few times also. And then my last piercing was my nose, which I still have and alternate between studs and hoops...

What you may not know is that I'm TERRIFIED of needles. Absolutely terrified. I almost faint every time I have to have my blood drawn. The tears that are uncontrollable as I'm hooked up for an IV are just something that I now warn my prep nurses about. The last lady that came to draw blood for our life insurance policy actually forcefully told me to breathe while she filled the vile. You'd think that will all the needles I've encountered in my life I'd be completely fine with it!? IT'S RIDICULOUS. Which is why, when I decided to get my first tattoo, my husband just laughed at me. 

Yep...ink. And guess what!? IT WAS AWESOME!?  

I won't say that I just came up with it on my own though. One of my best friends MADE me do it. LOL!!! Okay, fine, not really, but she definitely made it hard to say no...and then we decided that this was something we were going to do to celebrate this time in our lives. I'm so glad this is what we did. Nothing really says, "PERMANENT" like a tattoo. I've wanted to get a tattoo for a long time. There have been many times that I've almost done it, but chickened out....again, the needles part. I've been on the search for a good tattoo parlor anyway and since my hubby also has a thing for tattoos, I've been privy to many things I want to be aware of and stay away from. For one thing, I'm extremely sensitive to the feel of a place. I can tell right away the kind of people that dwell in a store or parlor. Since I've had so many piercings, I've seen some really creeeeeeeepy places. But this was a little different, and I needed to feel comfortable where we went. My friend and I were at Target and since the time was getting close and we needed to make a decision, we were scoping out art on everyone we saw. You can tell a lot about an artist by the lines and hey, I've been watching the last 2 seasons of Ink Master, so I'm pretty well versed! (LOL RIIIIIIIGHT) However, I've been paying attention and an artist that enjoys their work and is professional is important and it shows in their work on YOUR skin. I'd say, make sure you choose someone you have a connection with. Anyway, back to Target, because I'm here to tell you that Target always promises to deliver awesomeness. We were checking out and saw that this checker, Whitney, had a REALLY spectacular tattoo. The lines were so clean and it was a well done piece of art. So we asked her where she went and then her friend, who also works at Target, whipped up her sleeve and showed us yet another superb tattoo. I needed to meet this artist. So we were introduced to Blaine, at Deeds of the Flesh in Thorton. I called and immediately was able to joke with the lady who answered the phone because when we were given the name of the artist to check out, it looked like "BlainO" so that was hilarious. I was able to speak to Blaine and Rob and I went down to check it out. I was SO impressed. It was clean and open and everyone in there was professional, but so laid back and easy going. The owner is a woman name Tiff, and she and her hubby have owned the shop since 2007. Since I was a virgin in the tattoo world, they were really helpful and I HIGHLY recommend them. I'll be going back to Blaine for my next tattoo.

 Ugh, its true, once you get one, you want more. Blaine was HILARIOUS and really made my first experience an amazing one. 

So this is what I've got. Remember that every tattoo is EXTREMELY PERSONAL and mine definitely has a story.

"Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?" I said, 'Here I am. Send me.' " ~Isaiah 6:8

The last couple of years have been very spiritually intense for me. I have fought many battles and God has been asking me recently, "Are you willing to go? Will you OBEY me?" And its been TOUGH! For anyone to tell someone else where they should be in their spiritual walk with God or to judge them for doing or NOT doing what that person thinks the other person should be doing is outright ridiculous. NO ONE gets to tell ANYONE what they should or should not be doing in their spiritual walk because guess what, NOT YOUR BUSINESS. Walk in your own shoes because you only have two feet and clearly God gave you your own to walk with. Walk beside me and show me God's grace and speak God's truth in love~ meaning, you may tell me how God has created me in HIM and that because I'm one of Jesus' creations, I'm not bound by responding out of my fear or anger...its definitely NOT pointing out all the things you see wrong about me. That's NOT the truth in love, that's not speaking life, rather its speaking curses into my life and you do a lot of damage. In fact, you absolutely go against Jesus' very definition of being a light to the world. So I believe thats where the whole 'pull the log out of your own eye before you try to remove the speck out of mine' thing comes in here. This is something I come across often. A lot of people feel they are entitled to judge you because they wouldn't do whatever it is the way you've chosen to do it. It baffles me really, especially when it's people who call themselves 'Christians'. Where is grace to grow in the Lord at your own pace? Somehow God is alright with each of us and allows us to encounter Him WHERE WE ARE IN OUR WALK WITH HIM. Its people who seem to feel they need to express their opinion (uninvited I might add) or 'fix' things because apparently they need to involve themselves. I have to laugh now because I've had to learn to let it roll off my back. God knows my heart and He works with me through the issues that I have and is not concerned that I'll never recover, contrary to what anyone else thinks. We all have issues and the Lord deals with ALL of us in His time because we are all different. Ah, the Love of a Father who truly is in control of all things.

SO when I was having my quiet time I was lead to this verse in Isaiah...and again I heard the Lord ask me, "Are you willing to obey me...Will you go where I send you?" And BAM. I ran and got my concordance with the Hebrew conversion and found the exact translation for this verse. In that moment my soul connected with this idea..."SEND ME."

I will go and this was something I could NOT forget and I knew I'd always need that reminder of making that commitment to the Lord's calling...

HERE I AM LORD, SEND ME.