Astonishing Love

So yesterday I finally got my tattoo...finally....it's been a long time coming...what did I get? I got the words "Astonishing Love" written on my right forearm...and I love it... I have another tattoo on my leg, so going into the tattoo parlor I was a bit concerned...tattoo's aren't the most gently things to put on your body...but it was worth it. I was of course worried about the small things as well (which would have really been big if they had gone wrong...), like the spelling of the words...wouldn't that suck...

So why did I get the words Astonishing Love? Well over the past year or so of thinking about what I wanted to get tattooed I began thinking about Christ and my relationship with Him. Through thinking of that I began to realize the love that Christ has for us and I was amazed, even flabbergasted. I've done some stupid things in my life, and despite those, God still loves me...really? YES! I know! I was just as surprised! God loves us unconditionally, which is crazy to even begin thinking about that, and calls us His children, His sheep. So I was going to get the words "Amazing Love" written. After some thought I began to realize that amazing has lost it's power, and doesn't fully describe my thoughts that I have about God's love. So I began searching for similar words to amazing, and lo and behold, Astonishing emerged. Astonishing means, "causing astonishment or surprise; amazing" (Dictionary.com). It was the surprising in the meaning that really caught my attention! It surprises me how often we take God's love for granted, and is equally surprising that despite all our faults that God still loves us....hence the word choice.

I got my tattoo done by an artist named Bry who works at Thrive Studios. Check out their website and Bry's art that he has done, he's really good, and takes a lot of pride in his work....I'll post pictures of my tattoo soon....I guess you could say I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve now! (Yeah...I said it...)