God in everything in between

I just got my tattoo touched up, hopefully for the last time, because this time was flippin' sore! I guess I've got used to it hanging out on my finger, I don't think about it much anymore, but as the needle was digging into my skin, I was thinking back to a couple of years ago, when I first got it...

I had never been really in to tattoos, never had a great desire to get one, but just after Speed Bumps and Roundabouts came out, I started thinking about it. I wanted a reminder - a reminder that the words that I wrote did not come from me, from my wisdom, from my strength. I can guarantee that if they did, no one would ever read them!

So (much to my dad's dismay), I decided to get a permanent reminder - on my index finger, right where I can see it as I write, a teeny tiny cross, to symbolise all that Jesus has done for me, all that he's given me, including the words I write.

The thing is, it hasn't reminded me about what I thought it would, or at least not in the way I thought it would. When I got it, I was thinking - well, if the book really takes off, if it gets huge, I'm going to need something to remind me to keep grounded. It didn't really turn out that way. I sold books, but it's been a tough slog. All those movies and stories about unknown authors being discovered and becoming overnight sensations, they are one in a million, or at least, one in a big number. As I realised that I was not going to be recognised walking down the street, I began to learn that I have no less need to be reminded that my words come from God.

He is God in my success, God in my failure, God in everything in between.

If I had sold only one copy of SBAR, and that copy had said only one sentence that had impacted only one person, it would have been worth it. And that is what my tattoo reminds me - when I write words, they are a gift from God that He can use and that He will use, in His way, in His time.

#tattoo