Yes, I now have a tattoo.

Today—December 6, 2015—I got a tattoo.

I’ve been considering the decision for a while — a year or so, tops. After much prayer, thinking, hesitation, consultation (with tattooed friends), deliberation, procrastination, and vacillation, I finally, finally did it!

I’ve posted this photo on my social networks and my previous blog post, partly as a reminder that this happened, because I still find everything a bit surreal:

Here’s the finished product:

My new tattoo is the Hebrew word for shalom. This word is a typical “hello” and “goodbye” greeting for modern-day Israelis, and it literally means “peace.” However, it’s so much more than that.

According to this awesome resource, “Shalom is more then just simply peace; it is a complete peace. It is a feeling of contentment, completeness, wholeness, well-being and harmony.”

More than the abovementioned, shalom has a lot to do with Philippians 4:7, which is part of my life verse:

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I chose shalom because it is the peace of God, and I chose to place it on my pulse area cos I wanted to make the verse real for me. It’s a visual representation, if you will, of God’s peace guarding my heart.

It’s a reminder for me of who God is and what He’s done in my life thus far—someone who has given me peace beyond comprehension, through Christ Jesus. It’s a reminder for me of who Jesus is—the Prince of Peace.