Today I Got a Tattoo
Today is my birthday, but it is even more than that. Today is the day that I declare to the Lord and to the world that I belong to Him and that my life is His to do with whatever He wishes.
Maybe you’re thinking, “Wasn’t that true before now?” Yes, but over the last few years, God has become more real to me than ever before in my life. He has been with me as I’ve gone through the deep waters and walked through the fire. His presence has been my constant help and companion. The shalom that I’ve found in the Lord is more than words can express.
A while back I read a book called “Anything” by Jennie Allen. In it, she talks about how she and her husband prayed an Anything prayer - that they would be willing to go anywhere or do anything that the Lord asked. That prayer led to her starting IF Gathering and seeing a generation of women being discipled.
Jennie’s story spoke deeply to me and I spent a couple of days praying and wrestling with fear. Because I have prayed a similar prayer before and it didn’t turn out as I expected. It led me on a painful, difficult journey. But looking back, I could see how God used it to do so much more in and through me than I could have ever imagined.
So with a trepidatious heart, I wrote out my Anything prayer in my journal. And I meant it with my whole heart, even knowing that it could cost me everything I hold dear.
For weeks after that, I had an insatiable thirst for God's Word. I spent hours at a time studying scripture and the Lord began to reveal the mission that He has for the rest of my life. It is still unfolding but I know that God is calling me to help restore the broken and lead people into a wholeness that only He can give.
As the Lord continued to reveal more about my life mission over the weeks and months that followed, I began to sense Him calling me to some kind of formal symbol of dedication to Him. But what? I had no idea what would effectively symbolize the commitment that I had made, so I prayed that God would show me.
And then, a couple of months ago, I read a verse that I had never noticed before:
Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the LORD.’ Others will say, ‘I am a descendant of Jacob.’ Some will write the LORD’s name on their hands and will take the name of Israel as their own.” - Isaiah 44:5 (NLT)
Immediately, I knew in my spirit what the Lord would have me do as a symbol of dedication - have His name tattooed on my palm.
It seemed like a pretty radical act of dedication, so I did a little research and learned that in Biblical times slaves were often branded on the hand with the name of their master. In the time that Isaiah was writing, for someone to write the Lord's name on their hand was to proclaim that they belonged to God and God alone.
And that is the desire of my heart - to belong to God wholly and for my answer to be yes to anything He asks of me. The more I prayed about it the more I became sure that this was something I was supposed to do. The Lord confirmed it several times through different means.
Then there was the question of when I should have the tattoo done. As I prayed about the timing, the idea of having it done on my birthday came to mind. And the Lord reminded me of the scripture He had given me when He first spoke to me about the tattoo, which came from Isaiah 44:5. My birthday is on 4/5 and I realized that this year I would be turning from 44 to 45. That seemed like the perfect day to make my commitment to God official.
So today as an act of dedication to the Lord and a declaration to the world, I had the Hebrew letters for Yahweh tattooed on my right palm!
As I lay there this afternoon feeling the physical pain of the commitment I was making, I thought of Jesus receiving the marks on His palms as He paid for my sins on the cross. My sacrifice was nothing in comparison to His and so I will proudly display the name of Yahweh on my hand for the rest of my life. I pray that it is a constant reminder of my commitment to the Lord and of His deep love and care for me.
Brandy