stovebolts I do take your point about the power of God. Ephesians 2 is a passage that often comes to mind about the change in the unbeliever/believer, before/after.
In style terms, I guess faded tattooing is kind of an extension of the style of faded and distressed jeans. Although seeing as the young lady with the entire John 3.16 tattoo on her wrist area that my wife and I talked to was likely wanting to use it as a witness tool, then preserving its legibility would be important and she would thus likely regard it as almost obligatory after several years to go back to the tattoo parlor for some ink to be re-injected and refreshed. (So I can see also how as Christian woman she might feel quite strongly committed to going back to the tattoo parlor in due course.)