For those of you who follow me on social media, the picture above might look familiar.

I recently got my first tattoo, and as you might have guessed, I now have this small, yet powerful, reminder forever placed on my right wrist. Here’s why.

“God is greater than the highs and lows.”

Notice how the saying goes, “God is greater than the highs AND lows.” He’s not only greater than the battles we're fighting, but He’s also greater than the battles we’ve won. So, what would it look like to not only see God as being bigger than the trials we may face, but to also see Him as being greater than the podium we may one day stand upon? To be able to acknowledge His greatness even when we so naively feel like we don’t need to?

We as believers know that this world will one day be no more. The home we built, the family we created, the wealth we accumulated, the fame we acquired, all of it will be no more when we pass away. The only thing that will remain is whether or not we chose to acknowledge and develop a relationship with the One who created all things. And if that were the case, why would we then allow our home, our family, our wealth, or our desire for fame and acceptance to take priority over our relationship with the Lord? Don’t get me wrong, these desires in and of themselves aren’t bad. The Lord longs for us to have life and life abundantly (John 10:10). To give us hopes and dreams and desires. To have us walk along the path He has established for us. But these desires can lead us down a path of destruction when they begin to rule our hearts. When our desire to build the finest home on the block takes away from the time we should be spending with him each day. When our career becomes our number one priority instead of our relationship with Him. When we focus on finding our significant other and living the American dream with our two and a half children instead of taking the time to discover the One who is love. The One who has set aside our mortal love for us to be united with in His perfect timing.

Can you imagine how much sweeter it would be to posses each of these things if we could stop seeing them as milestones to be reached, but rather as gifts from a God who is so much greater than them all? How much more fulfilling it would be to know and understand that whether or not we receive these gifts, our God is still great? Because like the story of Job, all these things can be taken away in a blink of an eye, but the relationship we build with Him, the faith we place in Him, the love we have for Him, can never be.

Now, let’s talk about this man named Job for a second. When we are first introduced to Job in scripture, right off the bat we know Job is living what we would deem “the American dream”. Scripture tells us, “He was the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3b). He had it all. An immaculate home, a large family, an abundance of wealth and possessions, even fame. And we know Job acknowledged God in all He did and for everything he had, because scripture tells us, “This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1b). He acknowledged the Lord's greatness in all He did. He knew that his blessings came from above and that the Lord was greater than it all. But Job was about to discover what it meant to acknowledge God’s greatness even when his world came crashing down. Through reading scripture, we discover that Job would soon be tested by Satan, and eventually lose everything. He would lose his entire family, his livestock, his home, his wealth, his health, everything. Were all these losses more than Job could handle on his own? Absolutely. But do you know what brought Job through? God's unfailing greatness. When Job remained faithful to the Lord, because He knew that the Lord would remain faithful to him, the Lord came through. Job not only got back everything he had originally lost, but so much more. His family was reestablished. His livestock was doubled. His health and wealth were restored. All these things were returned to him because he believed His God to be greater than his lows. Job, with an open heart and open hands, allowed Him to be. He believed Him to be. He knew at the end of the day, He would be.

Do I hope to lose everything I have like Job. Not necessarily. James 1:17 tells me, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." What I have, I know comes from the Lord, and I am so very grateful for that. But do I want to have faith like Job that holds onto the truth that God "does not change like shifting shadows"? Knowing that no matter what I face the Lord will time and time again show himself to be greater than any high or low I may face? Absolutely. Job struggled. He doubted at times. He cried out and pleaded with God at times. He even asked "why me" at times. But at the end of the day, Job knew the Lord would be greater than his lows. That He would be there for him even in the midst of great loss and suffering. And Job knew that when the storm finally passed, it wasn’t because of his own doing, but through the love and power of his heavenly father. He was able to look upon his newly established life and recognize that the God he served was undeniably great.

Our circumstances may change, but the Lord’s greatness will always remain steadfast and true.

So, I chose to put a permanent declaration on my body, in a place that from the moment I open my eyes to the moment I close them, I am reminded that God is greater than whatever low or high I may face that day. He will always be greater than my biggest success, my biggest failure, my biggest victory and my biggest defeat because,