Every time I focus too greatly on my body, it’s because I’m focusing too little on his love. Self-obsession is always an indicator of God-rejection.
So I’m praying for the wisdom to recognize the signs of self-obsession. I’m asking God to show me how my beliefs about myself are always tied to my beliefs about him. I’m focusing my attention on his beauty instead of my faults.
If you struggle like I do, here’s a prayer we can offer:
Lord, we need you.
You say we’re wonderfully made, but we have a hard time believing it. You say our beauty should not come from external adornments, but the world wants us to believe that’s what matters. You say you’ve loved us with an everlasting love, but we struggle to love ourselves at all.
We’re women who are struggling, God. We’re feeling ugly. We’re feeling old. We’re feeling past our prime. We’re feeling lots of things about ourselves, God, and most of them aren’t good. But we have a hard time talking about them, even with you. Because we know they’re superficial, and we want to please you with the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts. So we keep them to ourselves.
We know you have a greater plan for our lives than the size of our jeans. We know, God. But we forget. We know, but we still struggle.
So we really need you, God.
We need you to change our thoughts. We need you to remind us of your love. We need you to replace the lies with the truth.
We can’t do it by ourselves.
Help us to understand that beauty isn’t external. Help us know we have worth that’s incalculable. Help us know, Lord. Help us know.
We’re committing ourselves anew, God, to a right mindset and a healthy outlook. We’re confessing our sin to you and asking you to redeem our struggles for your glory. We’re taking this thing one day at a time, leaning on you every step of the way.
Because we can’t do it alone, God.
Do what only you can do, Lord.
Save us from ourselves.
Amen.
This article originally appeared JennieGScott.com.
