“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
~Proverbs 31:30
“For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” ~1 Samuel 16:7
I’ve always thought it would be nice to be taller (I’m just 5’2″) and better proportioned. I longed for straight hair instead of curly. I could go on with a long list of things I perceived as “wrong” with me. Things I was never quite satisfied with.
Why do we as women struggle so much with accepting the way God made us? We worry about our skin, hair, and weight. We wonder if our clothes look okay. Sometimes we can waste a great deal of time and money on our appearance.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to enhance our features and look our best. It’s when we start wishing we looked like someone else altogether that I think we run into trouble.
There is great pressure in our society to look a certain way. Thinness is idolized. Sometimes girls find themselves willing to do just about anything to have the scale tell them they’re acceptable. Even if it means causing harm to themselves through an eating disorder.
This book,
Beauty in Christ, takes a look at this struggle that many girls and women face.
Emily Swanson shares her experience with unhealthy body image and dealing with an eating disorder, taking a biblical approach to the topic.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:
“Even though I wasn’t the ideal weight, I found beauty in an amazing God that had created my body to run, to serve others, and to till the fields in preparation for planting food for my family. I didn’t deserve any of this, and yet He gave it all in His merciful care.”
“God made people with individual needs, looks, and talents. That’s the beauty of diversity. Yet, while we are all different, God made us this way in order to combine our gifts to glorify Him and build His kingdom.”
“A model with a flirtatious smile on her face is not as beautiful as a girl running across a field, her hair flying, no makeup, dirty toenails, and an infectious smile. Why is that more beautiful? It’s because her heart attitude is beautiful. Her joy is not fake, but it radiates from the inside out. It is evidenced in the way she treats others, the way she talks, laughs, and blesses the older woman across the street with the love of Christ in her attitude and life.”
Have you ever struggled with having a proper body image? I think most of us have struggled with this to some degree at certain points in our lives.
Be sure to check out Emily’s book, Beauty in Christ: Freedom from the Idolatry of Body and Food, or find out more at the Beauty in Christ website.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions expressed here are my own. No affiliate links were used in this post.
Golden words, yours!
A big hug ,
Franca
Thank you, Franca! Hugs to you, too! ♥