My kids got me a tattoo for my 52nd birthday. I have “talked” about a tattoo for years and thank God I didn’t do some of the ones I talked about. Jesus had some refining to do with my ideas and creativity before I got permanently inked.
I now wear my heart on my sleeve in a physical way, not just in the feels.
This whole ink thing is new to me, but the testimony has been growing over 30 years. Then, seven years ago in a Beth Moore Bible study about the fruit of the Spirit it produced a sweet seed in my heart that I have never recovered from, but continued to cultivate.
Fruity Kids
My kids finally pushed me over the edge to commit, and have drawn on the outside what was on the inside and doodled all over every paper I find in front of me.
Each spiritual fruit is represented by one of my kids. Nine kids, nine fruits listed in Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.
Displaying Fruit
Lashae is love. She was the firstborn and broke open a new love in my heart that I didn’t know before. Cellie Joy is pure joy. God brought her into my life when I wasn’t feeling it, and couldn’t figure out how to get it back. Luke is peace, he is the middle child that tends to find himself in the eye of the storm. Esther is patience and she teaches me to wait patiently on the Lord and His timing. Mikiyas is kindness; he is the kind of human that brings out the best in everyone. Charsie is goodness and goodness does that girl give good. She was the ring leader of getting this tat started and seeing it through to the end. Reece is faithfulness; God has taught me increasing faithfulness throughout his lifetime. Maezie is gentleness; I learn through her life, that gentleness is actually wild and wants to be right in the middle of everything. Gentleness actually brings a different energy to all it is invited into. Kole is self-control; he is usually the last to show up and respond in communications, but when he does it brings out the best in situations.
Tattoo Map
Each kid is represented with an arrow and their fruit written on it. The arrows facing the opposite direction are our adopted kids. They came to us, rather than from us. The arrows with fletching on them (the tail end) are the kids that are married and the little arrow points behind that main point represent the grands.
The CJ at the top, is the brand Charlie and I have had for years. It stands for Charlie and Jenay. 😊. You can’t really tell where one ends and the other starts which feels true after being married for 33 years.
The two arrows at the bottom that read testimony and hope are our sons in Uganda. Simon signs everything with #amalivingtestimony and he lives that out boldly. Patrick has a ministry called Joyful Hearts of Hope. Hope is a accurate description of his life.
At the top it says Psalm 127. Scripture is the ultimate authority and the living Word. It amazes me to read God’s Word and experience the truth lived out, displayed over time and now across my arm.
Psalm 127
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
