Have you ever wondered if God thinks you’re beautiful? If you’re like most women you want to look and feel beautiful. But instead you spend your time thinking about the “dont’s” and the “have’s”.
- I don’t have a small waist,
- I have a big belly,
- I have a big rear,
- I have cellulite.
Have you ever stopped and instead thanked God for the way you look before you’ve styled your hair, put on any make-up, or squeezed yourself into some spanx.
True gratitude for every square inch of your body has been proven to change the way you think and feel about your appearance.
It even changes the way you care for the amazingly beautiful you God created and the way you care for your body, will change your appearance.
Because of this I’m going to show you why and how to write a gratitude letter to your body.
Woman of God, life won’t be perfect because you’re thinner, prettier, or whatever it is you wish you were.
And when your thoughts are consumed with fixing something about the way you look and your mind tells you,
“If I lose 5 pounds I’ll be happier”
“If I get rid of this belly I”ll be able to enjoy my vacation”
You’ve created your own set of “If/then” statements that your brain has convinced you are true but are actually ugly lies.
So by the end of this post you’ll be able to put gratitude for your appearance into practice and begin reaping gratitude’s benefits.
Today, focus on and be thankful for what you do have. Because when you focus on and are thankful for the present, you’ll be able to change the future.
True Beauty
If you know me, you’d never know I struggle with body image issues. I wrote about it in this post here.
My fear of getting fat fed me so many lies about my appearance, value, and worth. I was aligning my ideas about body image and appearance with how media images convey beauty.
Maybe you find yourself unknowingly doing the same thing.
One of the Urban Dictionary definitions for beauty says “Being beautiful is having confidence in yourself and accepting your natural beauty. You don’t have to buy all these material things to be beautiful, being you is being beautiful enough.”
I’m so thankful God delivered me and I can now say I love every part of my appearance.
I know that being me, because of Christ in me, is beautiful. More beautiful than anything the media will ever convey my appearance should align with.
With that definition in mind and before beginning your letter, you’ve got to throw away societies media defined beauty ideals.
Start thinking about women you know and what makes them beautiful.
- Jot down the different characteristics and things you find beautiful about those women.
When I think of the women in my life’s appearances, it’s the things that flow from their heart that makes their appearance stunningly beautiful.
Maybe you’re one of the women I know. If not, know that to someone, you are that woman!
We’re going to look at the science of gratitude along with Scripture and then we’re going to write ourselves some gratitude sentences or a letter.
Download this: Your Gratitude Letter, for a gratitude letter writing guide.
The Science of Gratitude
Negative body image thrives on the principle of scarcity. You focus on what you don’t have or the things you have and wish you didn’t and it doesn’t work.
And guess what, throwing every attempt to take care of yourself out the window cuz it’s the Holiday’s won’t work either. You can tell yourself that January 1 will be the day everything changes but it won’t.
It wasn’t that magic day last year or the year before or the year before that.
Make today the day you begin practicing gratitude instead of your “dont’s” and “haves”.
Because when you’re unhappy with how you look, you’re more likely to become depressed, anxious, and develop eating disorders.
I don’t know a single woman who hasn’t tried to change the way she looks, thinking it’ll fix a plethora of different things about her life.
Most women think diets are the cure for all the negative appearance “dont’s” and “have’s”. But diets don’t work ladies (we’ll talk about that in the next couple of weeks).
So how do you fix all these things?
What does work is being thankful for the way God made you.
Study authors had women write three different letters to themselves and one letter worked.
When women wrote a letter to their body “showing gratitude for all of its functions — everything it does to help you get through every day” they had improved body image and satisfaction with the way they looked.
In a follow-up study they simplified the process and had women write gratitude sentences about their bodies. Guess what!
Body image and satisfaction still improved.
Since it’s the season of Thanksgiving are you ready to write a letter of gratitude?
Ready to start changing the way you think and feel about your appearance now? Why wait until January?
God doesn’t even promise us tomorrow, so you may as well enjoy and live every moment He gives you to its fullest.
Your Letter of Gratitude
Before you begin writing your letter of gratitude that thanks your body for all it does for you, I want you to spend some time in prayer and God’s Word.
Later, go back and listen to or read these posts here and here for more about praying without ceasing and meditating on God.
The below Bible verses all speak about your appearance and I want you to read them and write down everything you see in them relating to your appearance. (There’s a spot on Your Gratitude Letter for that.)
Beautiful Bible Verses
God created you to image Him in your own unique way.
No two people are identical yet we’re all God’s likeness.
When you wish something about your appearance was different, you’re saying God should have asked for help creating you cuz He obviously got some stuff wrong.
I know you’re probably saying “no, I don’t think that at all” and I’d counter and ask you “What’s wrong with how you look then?”
Yes, with each passing day life changes your appearance but those changes should be celebrated. They’re reminders that God wants to use you for another day.
Reminders that He used you yesterday and the day before that and the day before that.
Each wrinkle, grey hair, and sagging muscle is evidence that God’s not finished with you yet.
The changes to your breasts and belly after having children are trophies for the life you carried and nourished.
Woman of God – you are beautiful.
Your appearance was handcrafted by God. You are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the temple of God.
Know that full well. Know that.
Maybe you’re arguing...
“but I’ve got all this extra weight” or “yes, but first I’ve gotta lose 30 pounds.“
Whatever your argument, would you lay it aside and answer these questions for me?
- Do you feed your body the food it needs, the amount it needs, and the best food you can afford?
- Do you make a point of moving your body and being purposeful about taking great care of yourself?
If you can answer yes to those questions then you’re the size God wants you to be.
Yes, you may have been smaller x number of years ago but that was the past.
Life happened and no one’s body stays the same with each passing day.
Your body is something you were given to steward and all God asks of you is that you steward it well.
Steward it to the best of your ability and steward it the best you know how. The rest is in God’s hand dear friend.
Now for that letter.
I want you to grab Your Gratitude Letter and begin writing sentences about everything your body allows you to do in the course of a day.
You can write it as a letter to yourself or just a list of sentences. Both options are on Your Gratitude Letter.
Start at the top of your head and work your way down to the tip of your toes. Thank every last part of who you are for all it does.
Got parts of your body you struggle to appreciate?
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you why those body parts are the way they are, what their purpose is, or what happened that made them that way, etc.
After you’ve done that write some sentences thanking those parts of your body as well.
You were created to reflect God to the watching world.
Hold your head high, put a smile on your face, and shine like gold woman of God.
Your beauty is beyond compare and your appearance reflects Your Abba Father oh so well.
In Closing...
I pray this post and the letter you wrote to your body helped change the way you see yourself.
Now, take the letter you wrote, stand in front of a full-length mirror, and read it to yourself.
I’m serious!
It’s okay to do this when no one’s around to hear you (we can keep this between us).
I want you to hear the words you wrote and to see those different body parts as you read your letter of thanksgiving. Focus on nothing but thanking your body and appearance for all it does for you.
If you’re really struggling to feel valued, worthy, or beautiful, would you reach out to your pastor? They’ll be able to direct you to a great Christian counselor or someone at your church who can help you identify the lies Satan has attempted to cover your true beauty with.
Needing help with this isn’t bad.
Asking for help is a sign of strength. God doesn’t want you doing life alone and He doesn’t want you fighting life’s battles alone.
Satan wants you to keep it to yourself because he knows that as soon as you seek help, he’s toast.
If you don’t have a pastor, please reach out to us here.
We’d love to pray with you, talk, or help you find help.
Woman of God, you are strong. You are beautiful. Your appearance reflects your Abba Father oh so well. Shine brightly. Shine brightly.
Until next time, remember…
“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast the sum of them!” Psalm 139:13-17
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