Body Image God's Way Part 2Sample

The Woman with the Body Issue

I used to shy away from God when it came to issues of my body. For the majority of my life, I was riddled with shame and feelings of inadequacy that stemmed from the droves of harsh words I’d endured over the years. A part of me believed that the whole world saw me as nothing more than a girl who was taking up too much space in the room, and somehow that belief leaked into how I imagined God must see me.

And as a result? I hid.

Much like Adam, in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3, I found myself hiding from God, assuming that if I wanted to make a change, I’d have to muster up some willpower, do the hard things, and force myself to white-knuckle it through a diet or workout routine until my body finally became good enough.

But because I’d tried and failed at these things a thousand times, I found myself sobbing through feelings of defeat over and over again. Surely God was as frustrated with me as I was with myself.

Eventually I realized that God doesn’t shy away from the things that seem impossible to me.

Things like my body.

The truth of the matter is that not only does He love me completely and unconditionally, He also made this body of mine. His Spirit dwells here. He’s given me this vessel for journeying through life, and He cares about anything that concerns me. So instead of running from God, I now run to Him.

What would shift in your life if you did the same?

What would happen if you dared to trust Him? Even with this massive struggle that has come to define a lifetime of effort to overcome. What if you chose to carry it to Him, instead of hiding away in shame? There’s power in that. We see it in Luke 8:43-48.

There was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve excruciating years. She’d spent every penny she had on doctors in hopes of finding a resolution for her condition. No matter how much she tried, though, no one had an answer. She still found herself wrestling with this issue in her body that was beyond her control.

But one day she pressed through a crowd of people and touched the edge of Jesus’ robe, and at that very moment the power of God settled in on this woman’s situation. Her bleeding stopped. Her issue was resolved. She was whole.

Perhaps our situation is a little different from this woman’s. Maybe our body issues run deeper than can be seen with the human eye. But today I invite you to consider placing radical trust in Jesus and taking your body image issues to Him directly, daring to trust that He’ll walk you through a journey toward wholeness.