Day Sixty-Nine

GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOUR BODY

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.

—1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 ESV

I weigh more than most women my age. I don’t like talking about it. It has been a fact since the fourth grade, it’s something I struggle with pretty much every day, and if I talk about it, it makes it more real or a bigger deal or something.

I’ve been on a diet, or wanting to be on a diet, since I was in the sixth grade. For those of you who keep calculations at home, that is more than two-thirds of my life.

When I was in my early twenties, I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Among some other lovely side effects, PCOS makes it difficult to lose weight and process insulin.

I spent most of my adolescent years thinking that because I was treating my body badly, it didn’t work right in many areas. But it turns out that I had a disease working against me as well.

When I was a teenager, I was very focused on my body and my wants and needs, but my soul? Not as much. Speaking of my soul, I thought food fed it. The places that felt empty in me, I filled with food. Lonely? Eat. Sad? Eat. Celebrate? Eat.

Being diagnosed with PCOS felt like a light at the end of the tunnel. So this is why I can’t get skinny, I thought, and this is why I hate my body.

God has a purpose for your body—with all its imperfections and sicknesses.

It has taken years, and it’s still a struggle—but by God’s grace, I’ve gone from thinking my body is never good enough to believing it’s a temple of the Holy Spirit.

I pursue healing for my PCOS, and you may have a lifelong condition you wish would disappear too, but remember: Jesus makes all things new. One day our bodies and this broken world will be totally healed. In the meantime, God has a purpose for your body—with all its imperfections and sicknesses. He wants to use you, as you are, to bring glory to Himself.

Brave people look at the bodies they are in and choose to see them for what they are—vessels that hold a mighty God.

BE BRAVE: We are going all in for the next few days on your health. Why? Because only a working body can be a brave body. We have spent time talking about our minds and our spirits, so prepare your heart as we dive into talking about our bodies.