Breaking Free from Body Shame
Have you ever felt like your body is a project to finish, a massive problem to solve, a trophy of approval that you’re trying to earn.?
You’re not alone.
What if we made a collective decision that we would only treat our bodies in accordance with what God has said about them? What if we decided that we couldn’t beat the curse of being human for now, but we can look forward to the moment when we experience the true form we were meant to take in heaven? What if we lived and treated our bodies not in accordance with earning the approval of man in mind, but with eternity in mind?
What if we looked at our flesh and said, “You owe me nothing, but I will treat you with honor and kindness because you were made by God and called good”?
This is a perfect place to pause and address those of us who have very real grief regarding the fallen state of our bodies. Maybe you identify with our friend Katherine, who experienced a stroke, or my friend Heather, who has battled infertility. My friend Taylor was shot in a school shooting and lives with debilitating pain because of it. My friend Gabby has fibromyalgia, and I’ve watched her weep through the pain after leading our church in worship. For many of us, the grief isn’t that we don’t look the way we want to in a bathing suit—the grief is that we live with chronic pain or fatigue or frustration or feeling limited in ways others do not.
In so many ways, these friends of mine teach me how to have compassion for my own flesh as they live expectantly for heaven. They call me to a new level of learning to love my body because God made it, even when I’m deeply disappointed by and frustrated with it.
When I was first beginning to wrestle with my own autoimmune disease diagnosis years and years ago, I posted something on social media about being mad at my thyroid. As hilarious and immature as it was, I believe I said something to the effect of, “If I could punch my thyroid, I would.” I’ll never forget the comment of an older and wiser friend, who responded with something along the lines of, “No! Your thyroid is your body—you should love it and treat it kindly.” I remember being frustrated, feeling like she had dismissed my pain and agitation. I remember think- ing that if she had a thyroid that was giving her as many issues as mine was giving me, she’d be angry, too.
I think about the thyroid comment even now—twelve years later. Which of us was right? Is it OK or even productive to be angry at your body when it doesn’t have a separate soul or will? Would gentleness and kindness be a more helpful tool in the healing process? What does it even mean to be angry at your body when your body is you? What if many of us who experience bitterness toward our bodies actually have pain we need to process with our souls and with our Savior?
For any of you whose ailments are impossible to hide, I pray that these words a balm and a brave space. I’ve learned that safe spaces are less realistic to expect, but brave spaces can be built, and I’ve written this book for you. I pray you hear the same message as everyone else, and with emphatic encouragement: Your body is good.
I pray our culture would consider the constraints of your body more and more daily as we repent from the ideals we strive for and confess our own blindness, our inability to see the burdens of others.
I pray this message is a brave space where you feel considered, championed, and invited to lead the conversation.
Whether you struggle with illness, injury, or just insecurity: I believe God’s Word can be a balm for our souls and a pathway to freedom. It’s one thing to know in your head that you were created in the image of God. Yet it’s quite another to experience this belief in your body, against the cultural ideals of a woman’s worth. And between the two lies a world of frustration, disappointment, and the shame of somehow feeling both too much and never enough in your body.
The truest thing about you is that you are made and loved by God. And the truest thing about Him is that He cannot make bad things.
Far from a superficial issue, self-image is a spiritual issue, because God has named your body good from the beginning.
Whether your struggle is with eating and exercise habits, stress or trauma, infertility or injury, this book makes space for you to experience God meeting you in this tender place, and ring His freedom bell over your body in a whole new way.
Let’s dig into this truth together, and see if we don’t come up feeling more free than we went in.
Let’s break free from body shame.
Dare to reclaim what god has named good! Your body is more than its size, its sickness, or its symptoms. You were made for more than a love/hate relationship with your body.
This invaluable resource will offer insights into renaming what the world has labeled as less-than, resting in God's workmanship, experiencing restoration where there has been injury, and becoming a change agent in partnering with God to bring revival to a generation of women.
Breaking Free from Body Shame by Jess Connolly is now available for purchase.
