the LION

James 2-5 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him"

Most of you have seen my tattoo, and most of the time when I meet new people, i get "oh yeah! your the girl with the crazy lion tattoo. I've seen it online". The fact of the matter is that I feel like most of you have seen him (the lion) but don't know what it means. While there are tons of debates about whether or not christians should have tattoos or not, thats not what Im getting into right now. Right now I'm getting into what the lion means. He is my own personal representation of the Father and what God means to me. Before I came to Christ my life had no real purpose or meaning. Or rather, i hadn't found out what its purpose was. Through times of hardship and times of joy, there was always something missing. And going into my junior year of college I was at the end of my rope. I was broken, dismantled, lost, and quite frankly sick of looking for what was missing and looking in all the wrong places. Thats when HE stepped in. God saved my life. He's my warrior, my protector, the one who fights for me and my heart. the Lion/God is a majestic, strong, beautiful,provider. People are always so curious about why I chose to get a pink lion. I guess I had never really thought of a pink lion as a weird thing because I'm always confused when people ask about it. I wanted the lion to look like the entire Godhead. Strong like the father, gentle like the son, and miraculous like the spirit. Going further than that though, the pink represents the femininity of my heart that God has placed in me. It represents how we as women, get our loving, gentle, relational, romantic heart, from God. there are some other, deeper reasons, behind the colors, the eyes, where it is, etc, but thats for me to know :). The lion, who is a representation of God, is a reminder to me of the strength I've found in God and how my weaknesses are made perfect in HIS strength. Even when I'm caught in the midst of hurricanes, while lost in the hills and valleys, I'm thankful. I'm thankful that while in a season of pain, God is using me. He uses what this life throws at us to teach us his ways, to keep us dependent on him, and to ultimately bring glory to His name. Before I knew the love of the everlasting LORD there were times where the world made me feel like there was no way out. Now, even in times of hardships (which still hurt like all heck, and are far from easy) I can honestly say that I REJOICE at the fact that I'm alive and He's with me, using me, teaching me, loving me, and that "the hands that hold the world, are holding my heart''. what an amazing feeling!