Body by God

When I was in high school, some women in my hometown converted a gorgeous old home into a restaurant that was one of those places where ladies lunched.

I ended up there on a day they had a lunch-time fashion show. The models would come to our tables and announce the names of the designers: “Dress by [Designer A]. Handbag by [Designer B].” I’m so fashion-challenged that I sat there stunned, feeling like there must be something wrong with me as a woman that I didn’t know who these designers were—not that my body would look good in anything fashionable.

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The response to J. Parker’s recent guest post He Can’t Really Be Happy with My Body is a sad reminder of how many women struggle with body image.

We see ourselves in comparison to others. We are “too” this or “not enough” that. It isn’t even about what we see in magazines or on television. Just compared to other regular women we know in our real lives, we find ourselves wanting.

Shopping for clothes is a reminder of the ways my body is “too” and “not enough.” The size slaps me in the face. The way the clothes drape, or don’t, is a reminder that my body shape isn’t right. Unless the hem of my pants hits in exactly the right spot, I will come away frustrated that my legs are not in proportion to my body.

Even though I know better, I can sit in church and think about other women’s hair behaving (mine has been a raving disaster lately), the colors they can wear (a sunny yellow washes me out), the clothes they can wear (if I wore that, I’d look like a stuffed sausage), or even how polished their makeup looks (“polish” isn’t a word that has ever been applied to me). I can notice which women look cute or beautiful or statuesque. If I’m not careful, I can sit in God’s sanctuary and think about how I’m not enough or I’m too much, simply on the basis of my appearance.

I suspect some of you can relate.

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When we don’t feel beautiful, we are often told to see ourselves through our husbands’ eyes. J. said it in her post. I’ve said it before. Husbands have said how beautiful they find their wives and how frustrated they are when we don’t believe them.

If our husbands tell us we are sexy or beautiful, we should believe them. Okay, that sounds great in theory, but even that doesn’t always work. My husband has always been wonderful about telling me I am sexy and beautiful. I believe that he believes it, and when I’m with him I do feel sexy and beautiful—but his words don’t change how I feel about myself most of the time.

Some of us have husbands who are silent about our beauty, make critical comments about our appearance, or who look at other women or even comment on their appearance in our presence.

So we get stuck. Comparing ourselves to others clearly doesn’t help us feel beautiful, and listening to our husbands sometimes helps but often doesn’t.

The world gives us powerful messages about the ways our bodies don’t measure up. We want so much to be beautiful and to feel beautiful—but so many of us find this difficult.

As powerful as the world’s messages are, remember that God’s truth is even more powerful:

God loves you, no matter your size and shape. He knew you when He knit you in your mother’s womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

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I’d like to challenge you to look at your naked body.

Take all your clothes off and stand in front of a mirror. Look at yourself naked. Take a good long look. What do you see? What do you think? What do you feel?

I took this challenge. At first glance, I wanted to cringe. Memories of how my body used to look and how other women’s bodies look clouded the mirror. The sight of my own body reminds me of so many ways I have found myself wanting over the years.

I prayed to see myself without the filters placed over my mind by the world. I looked into the mirror again. My vision cleared.

Let me tell you what I saw as I prayerfully and clearly studied my own body—the one that God gave me and that my life has shaped.

I am beautiful—not because of how I look, but because my Maker made me.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I bear God’s image, no more and no less than any other person.

God gave me a body so I can live and love. I am thankful that He did so.

Other women are also made by God. They also bear God’s image. They, too, are beautiful.

My beauty is not the same as theirs—and that is God’s design. We are unique.

I am God’s beloved beautiful daughter, created in His image and saved by His Son.

Stand in front of the mirror, friend, completely naked. Take a good look. Tell yourself that you, too, are God’s beloved beautiful daughter. Speak it out loud.

He gave you your body to live and to love. It is up to you to use it to its fullest, whether you are taking an evening stroll, painting your kitchen, or making love with your husband.

Your beautiful body was made by the Creator Himself, the one true Designer.

Look in the mirror and announce the name of your Designer: “Body by God.”

Body by God.

When it comes to your body, it’s the only truth that matters.

Image credit | marvelmozhko at pixabay.com