I’ve been really encouraged lately by the connections I’m starting to make with local friends here in my country of service. Some of them come from a ballet class I’m currently taking, some of them are friends of friends, and some of them I’ve met randomly. The friends I’ve made by pure chance, while running an errand to buy flowers, are some who feel the closest. It’s just crazy to think that if I decided to buy flowers at a different flower shop, or if I went at a different day or a different time, I wouldn’t have the friends I have now.
I recently invited them and my housemates to a picnic. We had a lovely time. We got to know each other more, we learned more about different types of food here, we laughed a lot. We joked around about American cultural quirks, and they joked around about their own country’s cultural quirks. We also talked about tattoos.
How random, right? My friend and I both have tattoos, so we showed them to each other, while sharing more about their meanings. The first one I showed her reads “No fear in perfect love”. And after translating it, my friend exclaims “That's so beautiful! I want that too! Let’s be ‘tattoo twins’!”
But I wanted her to know why I got this tattoo first. I wanted her to know the real meaning behind it. The love that I’m referring to here doesn’t come from the world, but rather comes from Jesus. I got this tattoo because it comes from a specific verse that is very personal to me.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18
Jesus’s love is flawless, it is unconditional, it is perfect. I have nothing to fear when the Creator of the universe loves me. Without getting into my whole testimony story (which maybe I’ll share another time), I can say that Jesus’s love is the reason why I’m not debilitated by anxiety. The more I learn about His love for me, the less I fear.
Now, I can’t quite explain all of this yet with the detail I want to in the language I’m learning. But I was able to get out the message that this tattoo referenced a verse in the Bible, and I got it because Jesus loves me, and I amso grateful for that.
Some people may not agree with tattoos, and I can understand that. But how lovely is it that our God can use any random thing to show Himself to others. The way I met these friends and the conversations we have seem random to me, but I don’t think God sees it that way. God always has a purpose for everything. He always has a plan.
He can use anything to show His love to others, even at random picnics with random friends.