Rigging prblem

hi, im running into a strange problem, and i cant seam to find a solution. i have a character completely rigged, and the mesh is parented to the armature; everything is completely normal. however when i render a still image, for some reason the rig is reset to its default position. anyone know why this is happening? i can post pictures if needed.

did you set a keyframe for your pose?

haha good call, i knew there was a simple solution i was missing