Nearly eight years ago, Chanell Chebuske was just starting her freshman year of high school. As a small, Dominican girl who had just moved from New York City to St. Louis, she was one of the only Hispanic students in her entire school. She said she was bullied, insecure and struggling to find a friend group that she felt comfortable with.

Chebuske said she was lost until the second half of her freshman year when she was invited to go to a Bible study class with one of her friends. Although she was caught slightly off-guard, Chebuske said she was curious and agreed to go.

Now a senior fashion design major, Chebuske has been a nondenominational Christian since that first Bible study. She was baptized her sophomore year of high school, and has four tattoos to celebrate her journey with faith.

“Some people are controversial about tattoos, so that’s why I use them to glorify God, not tattoo Justin Bieber’s face on my butt,” she said.

Chebuske’s tattoos are of a diamond, a lightning bolt, the word “believe” and a cross. Each tattoo represents a different aspect of her relationship with religion.

The “believe” tattoo reminds her to always believe in God, as He is her foundation, she said. Her lightning bolt tattoo, which she got her freshman year at Syracuse, is about casting her worries and pains onto God.

“Your mindset completely changes,” Chebuske said about finding faith. “And how can it not, when you know you’re completely loved?”

Chebuske’s cross tattoo reminds her to deny herself temptations that go against her beliefs, and her diamond tattoo is about the way in which God helps his followers become better people, similar to how diamonds are formed from intense pressure, she said.

“There’s just all this pain and ugly blackness in your life,” she said. “But then God takes you … You’re going through all this pressure, and it’s so hard and it’s so painful, but when you come out of it you grow so much into this beautiful thing.”

Chebuske said she is thankful that she found religion. Although she still has insecurities, she tries to focus on the good. It paid off; by her senior year, she had formed a close group of friends and had won both best dressed and prom queen.

“Just thinking about it gives me reassurance,” Chebuske said. “I’m re-falling in love with God right now.”

Published on November 17, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact: emmichae@syr.edu