The Tattoo Artist

 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” Isaiah 49:15-16 NIV

   Several years ago, when my husband and I were at a farm sale, I happened to notice tattoos on the arm of a man who was there. I’ve seen different tattoo designs before, but never like his. There were 4  names inked down his left arm, one under the other: Betty, Susan, Amy, and Nancy. But it was hard to read them because across each name was a tattooed black line. 

    So I struck up a conversation with the man and asked him if he would mind explaining what his unusual tattoos meant. He pointed to the first one and said, “Well, Betty was my first girlfriend, but she cheated on me when I was in the service. And then Susan was my first wife, but we just didn’t get along, ya know.” He told me about the last two names, but I don’t remember why they didn’t work out. I just had to ask: “So the line you had tattooed across each one?” He shrugged and said, “I don’t care about them anymore, so I just got rid of them that way. I don’t even think about their names on my arm.”

    Immediately, I thought of Isaiah 49:15-16. “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” 

    I love it for so many reasons. Immediately, I can see that it is the first recorded tattoo in the Bible. God’s tattoo of our names on the palms of his hands! Then my eyes are drawn to the word “engraved.” Not written in pencil, which can be erased, or ink, which can fade. There is no line drawn through our names to show that we have done something to cause Him to never care about or think of us again. But engraved by the God of the Universe because He loves us that much. 

    Do you feel forgotten? Unloved? Alone? Perhaps it seems like no one truly understands your heartache and pain, and you have nowhere to turn. Never forget that God has your very name engraved on His hands for a reason: to let you know that He will never leave you or forget you, and He loves you more than you can ever imagine. There is proof of the love the Eternal Tattoo Artist has for us - engraved on His hands. 

  

     Father, thank you for loving me so much that you would find a way to show me you will never leave me or forget me. I love you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Have you ever felt like you were completely alone and no one cared about you and what you were going through?

• Where did you turn to first for help, and why?

Apply

• Memorize Isaiah 49:15-16 for those times when you are struggling with something in your life.

• Write this Scripture on the palm of your hand during your prayer time for a week, and praise the Lord and thank Him for never forgetting your name.

Power

• Isaiah 49:15-16 NIV “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” 

• Psalm 56:8 (NIV) “Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll - are they not in your record?”

• Hebrews 4:16 (NIV) “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” 

Angels Ride the Subway

 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and

to bring you to the place I have prepared.” Exodus 23:20 (NIV)

    He didn’t look like an angel to me, at least not like any angel I had pictured. He had long dark dreadlocks curling almost to his waist and a red and black bandana tied at the back of his head. His sleeveless jacket was woven with what appeared to be strands of yarn in purple, red, yellow, and green. His jeans were thin denim, frayed at the bottom.

    I hadn’t even noticed him at first, sitting right next to me. My stress level was a 12 on a 10 scale as I watched the young woman in the next row alternate between leaning back in her seat and then slumping forward, her arms hugging her chest, her eyes closed.

    We had been at the Passion Conference in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta when she became quite ill, and since I was the nurse with the group, I volunteered to get her back to the hotel. There was only one problem, and it was a huge one.

    I was not blessed with any sense of direction when I was created. None. I get lost in closets and small bathrooms. Every way I turn is north. Always. And she and I were on the MARTA – the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority – trying to get back to the airport to catch a shuttle to our hotel. Directionally challenged. On the subway. In a strange city. Mercy.

    She motioned for me to lean over, and I heard her whisper, “You know how to get us back, right Nurse Nancy?” I smiled confidently and said, “Of course I do. We are going to be fine.” She leaned back and closed her eyes, and I leaned back to find the young man next to me half-smiling. “You don’t know where you’re going, do you.” he stated quietly, not as a question, but as fact. 

    “Uh, no. No, I don’t. But she is really sick, and I have to get her back to our hotel” I told him as I silently prayed “Lord, help us! You know I have no sense of direction! Please get us back!” 

     Two minutes later, the subway slowed to a stop, and I felt panic begin to take over. Do we get off here? Do we ride further? What are we going to do? Suddenly I noticed that the young man had gotten up from his seat and was standing at the door, ready to leave.

    But two other things also caught my eye: one, that he was very tall, and two, that he was motioning with his head that we were at our first stop. I grabbed the young lady with me and put my arm around her as I whispered, “Come on. This is where we get off,” with a confidence that I absolutely did not feel. We stepped out of the subway and into swarms of people trying to get around us to the seats we had just exited.

    For a second time, I felt panic begin to creep into my body when I noticed the young man glance back at me and once again nod his head as he walked around a corner. “This way,” I told her, but stopped as I rounded the corner and realized there were four possible directions to go in, and I had no idea which was the one for us.  

    “Lord!” I cried out in my heart and looked to my left. There at the top of a flight of stairs was a beautiful sight: a very tall young man with dark dreadlocks standing still on the first step, as the rush of people flowed around either side of him. And he was looking at me. 

    One more nod, and I could not help the grin as I mouthed “Thank you” and helped the young woman with me as we followed him down the stairs to the next level in the subway. 

“Wait right here,” I told her. “I want to thank the man who helped us.” But as I turned around, he was nowhere to be seen. Nowhere. A very tall young man with dark dreadlocks, a red and black bandana on his head, and a colorful jacket had completely disappeared in a matter of seconds. 

    I turned back to the young woman and said, “He’s gone! How could he have disappeared like that? He was so tall. I couldn’t have missed him!” We both looked at each other. “An angel. He must have been an angel,” I told her. She nodded. “God took care of us.” But we were not home yet. 

    This new level in the subway posed new problems. Which way to go now? The crowd of  a few minutes earlier was gone and we were left standing with only a woman and her baby in a stroller.

    “You got us this far, Lord. Which way now? Which way?” I prayed. My answer came in the form of a very tiny lady in a blue shirt and slacks who suddenly appeared in front of me. “Where you goin’ Honey?” she asked. “We are trying to get back to the airport,” I told her. “My friend here is sick, and I need to find the right subway car to get her there.”

    Her smile was huge as she instructed me, “You stay right here, facin’ this way,” she replied. “Don’t move ‘cause this car that’s comin’ is gonna take you to the airport. You stand in this spot you are in now, and the doors will open right in front of you.”

    “We are almost there!” I smiled excitedly at the young woman as I turned with an “Oh, thank….” But the tiny lady in the blue shirt who had helped us was gone. We looked  around everywhere for her, but she, too, had disappeared in seconds.

    Would you believe that the subway car opened its doors directly in front of us? Yes, it did. And we were able to get back to the airport, to a shuttle, and to the hotel to begin healing about 15 minutes later.

    I have no plans to go back to Atlanta and the Georgia Dome anytime in the future. But one thing I do know: if I ever ride the MARTA again, God will provide angels on the subway to get me home.

    Father, you are amazing. Being lost is always so hard for me. Thank you for sending help just when I needed it. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up

Reflect

• Have you ever been in a situation where you panicked because you were “lost” as to what to do, and received help from a stranger?

• When you are faced with a hard situation, what do you do first? Pray or panic?

Apply

• The next time you are confronted with a problem with seemingly no solution, ask the Lord to send help to you and watch as He is faithful.

• Do not forget to thank Him for answering your prayer.

Power 

• Exodus 23:20 (NIV) “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.”

• Psalm 91:11-12 (NIV) “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

• Luke 4:10 (NIV) “For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully . . .”

 

Protected In the Shadow of Your Wings

 “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 63:7 (NIV)

    My husband was the manager of a propane company for many years, and he often filled in for his drivers by delivering propane to the homes of his customers. One customer, an elderly woman, had a small dog that was a constant irritation.

    Every time my husband stepped out of his propane truck, the dog would greet him by nipping his ankles and legs. No amount of kicking at it or yelling would stop it from attacking. Every delivery to her home would result in rips in his work pants and cuts on his legs.

    Finally, in complete frustration with the dog’s persistence, he grabbed a wrench from the truck seat and thumped the dog on the head. It immediately yipped its way to the back of the house. “I thought THAT would take care of the problem,” my husband later told me.

    As soon as he reached the customer’s door and started to knock, he heard the dog yipping again as it came around the corner of the house – but this time a huge Doberman pincher was leading the way with the smaller dog close behind. He may have been little, but he was not worried because he had a much bigger dog watching over him and serving as his protector.

    “That little dog danced around under the back legs of the big dog as I stood pinned to the house until the lady came out to help,” my husband continued. “I swear it was taunting me and singing ‘Takin’ Care of Business.’ There was no way I could move,” he went on.

    I can’t help but think of Psalm 63:7 when I think of that story. David understood the feeling of being attacked. But his attacker was King Saul, and he didn’t want to simply nip David’s ankle – he wanted to kill him! Even so, David knew that no matter what came his way, God was his deliverer.

    And David also understood something else: he could sing praises of joy and deliverance in all circumstances because God was his protector, watching over him, and defending his life.

    What are you facing that is nipping at your ankles every time you turn around? What keeps you awake at night and rolls around in your mind all day? Absolutely nothing is bigger than God’s ability to handle it and to protect you. Seek His help. Call on His name. When we allow the Creator of the Universe to take care of us, we can sing and praise from the shadow and protection of His wings.

    Father, thank you for protecting me in the shadow of your wings as you watch over my every need. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

•  Have you had a problem or situation that has been on your mind constantly, and you are unable to get it off your mind? 

•  Did you call on the Lord to help you? Why or why not?

Apply

•  In your journal, draw a picture of huge wings.

•  Now list every problem, worry, or situation you are facing under the picture of those wings. Then praise the Lord for His protection as you sing in His shadow.

Power 

•   Psalm 63:7 (NIV) “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.”

•   Nahum 1:7 (NIV) “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. . .”

•   II Corinthians 4:8-9 (NIV) “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”