As any of my friends know… I love food.  I love cooking and trying new recipes, and find myself wondering what my next delicious meal will be.  I really try to eat healthy (most of the time)… but put me in front of some Blue Bell ice cream, Mexican food, or really anything with cheese and carbs… and I find it hard to refuse.  Probably because of this love affair, I’ve never been a size two (or four, or even six) kind of girl.  And really, that’s okay with me.  As long as I can be happy and healthy, the size isn’t what’s important. 

Of course, working with teenage girls… looks and image are always an issue.  Don’t get me wrong - I’ve had plenty of miserable moments looking into the mirror and wondering why I look this way… if only I could shave a little off here, tighten up there, tone up all over… wishing I could be skinnier and therefore, all the more beautiful.  That’s really what we all want - to be beautiful.  To be noticed.  To be accepted. 

Genesis 1:27 says that we are created in God’s image (you really think He messed up when designing you if His ultimate goal was to make you like Himself?).  Psalm 139 goes on and on about how special, wonderful, and originally we have been crafted.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has made EVERYTHING beautiful.  So, if those things are true, why do we continue to have these miserable moments?  The media wants us to believe that we have to be skinny to be pretty.  Perfect hair, expensive beauty products, and sexy clothes will give us confidence and turn heads. 

One of my favorite promises to battle these lies is found in Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV), “‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important that food, and the body more important that clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his [or her] life?’”  Why must we base our opinions of ourselves on what everyone else looks like?  And why must we torture ourselves while looking at the perfectly touched up models and actors on tv, movies, and the magazines?  If we had all the help they did, we would look like that too, you know! 

An unhealthy body image can lead to so many dangerous things like eating disorders, excessive exercising, and depression.  Please don’t allow yourself to become overwhelmed with the pressure to be thin!  Your Creator has made you beautiful, and living with THAT trust and confidence will turn more heads than you can imagine… and for more reasons than just your appearance.

If you think you might have or be on the verge of developping an eating disorder, check out these quizes I found in Lifeway’s girls Bible Study, Wild About You.  quiz-one-disordered-eating.pdf