Daughter Dear™,
Who calls the shots, you or your body?
If your ability to step into your calling is frequently dependant on how your body looks, feels (maybe you're in pain), weighs, performs etc, then I'd say your body rules the roost.
It might look like: avoiding some kind of speaking gig because you're afraid you're too big; you might be avoiding meeting old friends who knew you when you were in "top shape"; maybe you're hiding because you used to be the most put together person in church, but you're going through so much that you feel like you've just "let yourself go".
A lot of these things are based on what you perceive others will think of you. You start to focus more and more on the things you dislike about your body, and these things make their way inward. They start to hold you prisoner until you're "back in shape", or back to some old version of yourself.
What if there was a better version of you already there? The version who has been to the top of the highest mountain, with the most sought-after prize, but you lost it and realised life doesn't end... in fact, there's something better.
What would life be like if your body was given a new, more fitting position? A position like "my vessel" or "my mode of delivering my calling"? Wouldn't that open the doors to a new kind of freedom?
It can be very hard to imagine a life unaffected by the body, and I don't think it's necessary that we push the negative feelings and anxieties away, but perhaps we see them as something to keep us focused on our bigger why. You see, after visiting that sought-after place just for the sake of getting there, there's little there but the anxiety about losing it, so there has to be a better way to exercise and be fit.
When you use your body as your only vessel to carry out your calling, it behooves you to look after it as best as you can today, and part of that is accepting where you're at today. Sure, you might carry shame, or fear, but I believe part of our purpose is to model humility and be able to show our weaknesses and struggles. It's the false strength, or need to "only show up when you feel strong" that will keep you, the real you, locked away.
You don't have to be the past you, you don't even have to be the best you, you just have to be the current you ready to march forward, minus the control of an imperfect body, into God's calling on your life.
~ From a fellow Daughter Dear™
"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 than food, and the body more than clothes?" ~ Matthew 6:25 NIV
"But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." ~ 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV
"...She equips herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task] And makes her arms strong....
Charm and grace are deceptive, and [superficial] beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord [reverently worshiping, obeying, serving, and trusting Him with awe-filled respect], she shall be praised." ~ Proverbs 31:17 & 30 AMP
Definitely resonates!
1 Cor 6:19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
I had to add this verse too….we are so much more than the image of our bodies – we are the walking presence of God’s spirit.
So much! Thank you for adding this one <3