Heather's Story
A couple weeks ago I blogged about Lisa, the mother of three who now has three tattoos. And after I got her story up, her daughters especially were interested in telling me the stories behind their ink. So now things have finally settled down with heading back to college and stuff that I get to tell you all Heather's tattoo stories.

Heather says that when she was younger she was not a huge fan of tattoos. But after seeing her friends and both siblings get them, she decided it was her turn.

The first tattoo she got was an Italian flag on her foot, because she is half Italian (on her dad's side). And when her maternal grandmother saw this tattoo she insisted Heather get something for the other side of her family, so she added the shamrock for her Irish roots. Not only is Heather's love for her biological family represented in her ink, but also her love for and acceptance of members of her distant family. She added the Slovakian flag into her foot tattoo for her mom's boyfriend's roots, because he has been a significant figure in her life for years. And after that, she added the Puerto Rican flag for her cousin's wife who is not accepted by some members of Heather's extended family.

 

After she finished her foot tattoo she got the Scripture reference for Isaiah 40:31 because she says she has been through a lot. This verse talks about how when believers in God are burdened they can go to the Lord, and He will renew their strength, so they may "run and not grow weary...walk and not faint" (in especially the spiritual sense). Heather says that this verse is so relevant to her life because she is very involved in sports, so she can definitely relate with  feeling worn down. So with that feeling in mind, she (and many others) find great encouragement in the analogy the author of the Scripture passage puts forth when he says that with our Lord we can carry on, even when this world's "logic" says we should be defeated; we can believe in something greater than ourselves, something more! (And is there any better expression of belief in that hope than getting it put in permanent ink on your body?!)

I hope you all have enjoyed hearing those stories behind the ink, and maybe this blog has worked to even challenge or encourage some of you out there. I would love to hear from you in the comments below! Thanks for reading. I'll be back here next week with some more edifying tattoos that have really impacted my way of looking at life. Have a great week, everyone!