Blog details

Are You Confident in God and His Design for Your Life?

Opening my latest weight training book for women, I felt a rush of endorphins. The before and after pictures and the visualization of another summer in my swimsuit motivated me to get control. I thought about my fit friends and what they would think of the new me. Would they say anything? The exact prescriptions of what to eat and how to exercise made me feel calm and in control.

I couldn’t fix my mom slowly losing her ability to walk, or my teenager’s anxiety, or stop one more major appliance or vehicle from breaking down. But this body of mine, the way my stomach hangs over my jeans, that I could fix.

Maybe you’ve been there too? Desperate for better health, anxious to control your life, and searching for the feeling of having done something right. Diets promise us all of that.

But diets go down like artificial sugar. They taste sweet at first but leave us bitter in the end. Diet culture has a way of creating emptiness. It promises what only Christ can fulfill—value, provision, and hope.

The average woman tries two diets each year. Shame motivates us to go fast so we can feel better. The problem with this approach is that fast doesn’t last. So, we must go slow to win at the lifelong journey of caring for our bodies. Gospel-centered habits are slow because we are not motivated by shame, but rather by gratitude for the bodies God gave us.