A fractional normal inverse Gaussian (FNIG) process is a fractional Brownian motion subordinated to an inverse Gaussian process. This paper shows how the FNIG process emerges naturally as the limit of a random walk with correlated jumps separated by i.i.d. waiting times. Similarly, we show that the NIG process, a Brownian motion subordinated to an inverse Gaussian process, is the limit of a random walk with uncorrelated jumps separated by i.i.d. waiting times. The FNIG process is also derived as the limit of a fractional ARIMA processes. Finally, the NIG densities are shown to solve the relativistic diffusion equation from statistical physics.