Unity

People get tattoos for a lot of different reasons; decoration, remembrance, symbolism, or even rebellion. For me, tattoos are mile markers. Back in the Old Testament, whenever God would do a miracle, bless his people, or show favor on them, they would resurrect a monument out of stones as a way to remember what God had done. Not only would they see it and remember, but their children and children's children would see the stones and know what God had done. Well, building a stone monument isn't really practical in this day and age, and since I've always loved the art of tattoos, my way of resurrecting a monument for years to come is placing it on my body.

I just recently got a new tattoo, and I've had a few people ask me to give its meaning. I knew I had wanted this tattoo for a while, mainly because it symbolizes probably the most tangible miracle my family has ever experienced as a unit. Theres a lot to it, but in a nut shell, God did an incredible emotional and spiritual healing in my family two years ago. I'll spare you the gruesome details, but for years my family had been demonically oppressed, and riddled with habitual sins that were passed down from generation to generation. We didnt even realize it until 2 years ago, that each of us had dealt with the same sins, almost to a T. From sins in our personal lives, to sins in our marriages, each one of us had been struggling with the same issues. But, because of shame and guilt, we had never told each other what we had been going through- or even admitted that we were struggling. God began working in my Dad, older sister and my hearts (separately) about our family and the generational sins that had been oppressing us for so long. God began opening up the doors in our personal lives to seek restoration and healing- but our family as a whole still had so much bitterness and pain covering it. My Dad decided it was time to cut to the source and called a family meeting during Christmas of 2010. We all sat down and hashed everything out. We confessed sins, asked for forgiveness, wept together, and rejoiced as God began to break the chains that had been holding my family captive for so long. We realized that Satan had pinpointed my family as a target to destroy- and was doing everything he could to prevent us from uniting together. Satan was working so hard because he knows God has amazing plans for us- not only individually, but together as family. We could no longer allow Satan to break us apart with bitterness, anger, discord, back biting, discontent and shame.

In the last half of 2010 going into 2011, God did miracle after miracle in my family. He broke through years of secrets, bitterness and anger in my parents marriage and my own marriage, he allowed forgiveness and healing to flow between us girls and my Mom and Dad, and he started the restoration process of bring my family back together. The work he's doing in my family is still not finished, but he will be faithful to complete it. We are imperfect people trying to love each other, and so we'll always have bumps in the road. But I can honestly say that for the first time, our family is united. I believe by Gods grace and redemptive power the generational sins that have plagued my family are broken, the lies, secrecy and bitterness are dissolved, and we as the Barron family can walk in complete and total freedom through Jesus Christ’s blood! And you know what? God can do that in your family too. My family isn’t something special. God's healing power is for all who are willing to except it and walk through the refiner’s fire to come out the other side as pure gold. God wants to move in each and every family. He wants to restore what has been broken!

My tattoo is pretty self explanatory. The doves which are holding onto the banner of "Unity" represent my parents. The four flowers represent each of us four sisters. This tattoo is way for me to remember what God did in my family. Its something I can physically show my children and tell them the story of how God restored what had been lost. Its a legacy for me to pass down. Obviously it will fade, and when I die, it will be buried in the ground. But for my life here on earth, I will have a monument that shows the miracle God has done and is continuing to do.