Breaking Free from Body Shame: Dare to Reclaim What God Has Named Good

by Jess Connolly

that society is into scarcity but God is the giver of abundance.

Many of us might feel like we should be over this, like spiritual and emotional maturity should have enabled us to move past this place by now. And yet we’re still out here, all of us, overly exposed to a light that is not warm with grace, but rather judging what is not “right” about us.

We can believe the best parts of us are unseen and eternal and still deeply desire for the visible portions of us to be signed off on by the world as OK.

The way we view our bodies is not a shallow, surface issue for the immature or the vain. The way we view our bodies is a deeply spiritual issue because our bodies are made by God, in the image of God, and they are where we encounter God for now.

Perhaps the most essential move we can make in breaking free from body shame is to agree that God cares and wants to walk with us as we learn to love these bodies He made with intention. Maybe the most effective way we can begin this fight against the enemy is to say, “This matters. This is important. This is holy. This is worth talking about.”

You are in a good body. You were not meant to live in shame.

The truest thing about you is that you are made and loved by God. And the truest thing about God is that He cannot make bad things.

Do we believe God makes good things? Do we know what our bodies are for? Do we know what makes a body good? How do we agree with that truth in our daily lives? Do we want to live free from shame?

Our lives are so much more comprehensive, complex, and integrated that my brain can’t always process all the things at once. So I appreciate being able to go from room to room and ask, “What impact does God have on this room? What has He done here? Is He allowed? Does this space honor Him?”

The problem with being safe is that while it feels comforting, it’s not fertile ground for growth. When we’re comfortable, we tend to stay the same.

In a brave space, there is an invitation to be who you are, where you’re at, while being offered a challenge and room to grow. In a brave space, you accept the probability that you’ll feel uncomfortable, but that your discomfort will be productive. In a brave space, the tenderness and vulnerability you feel is ultimately productive because it leads you to growth.

If your heart was a house with many rooms, what room would represent your body? What does that room look like? Is it cared for or hidden? Is it visited often? Is God invited into that room?

I would say my body would be the boiler room If a house had that. If not, maybe the gym. The idea is that it'd be a room that's always working and moving.

What have you been told about your body? List the first three messages that come to mind.

1. It's to be stewarded and cared for 2. It's a weakness 3. It's better if my body stays the same and doesn't change drastically or for the worse

Is there someone in your life who loves her body simply because God made it? How has her friendship or relationship impacted your life?

I think of Mrs. Negley and Amanda Huron. Sadly, i can't think of anyone younger out who is a runner/active.

when did we stop believing grace compels us to change? When did we stop trusting the Holy Spirit to communicate appropriate boundaries through our freedom in Christ? Have we traded the message of freedom for even more bondage because we’re scared to let people navigate the complex waters of liberty in their own flesh?

If my hypothesis about this reason for avoiding freedom in our bodies is true, it’s wrapped up in a stronghold of fear that needs to be rooted out, both at the individual and corporate level. We will not find freedom and wholeness this side of heaven if our churches and communities teach women, overtly or subtly, to be disdainful of and/or fearful of their own bodies. Such fear contrasts starkly with the love God has for each of us and the fact that He created us in His good image.

we need instruction about what it looks like to love our bodies because God made them—not worshipping them or idolizing them, but worshipping Him with them.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)

He makes good things, and I believe that because He created my body, it is a good creation.

that Jesus invites us to bring the whole of our lives into the kingdom. So why is it that we tend to leave our bodies out of this equation? Too often, our bodies get left behind under the assumption that they are more “of this world” and less spiritual than the next? Yet our bodies are meant for the kingdom.

Your King loves your body because He made it, in His image, for His glory. Your King loves your body, not because it’s a tool with which He can get His work done, but because it’s a treasure where His Spirit is housed here on earth. Your King loves your body and gave His life so that you might experience Him in your body here and now and see your body restored in eternity.

What do you think God thinks about your body? What do you perceive is God’s stance toward you, as a whole person, in this very moment? If you and God sat down to have a conversation about your body, your image, what do you think He would say about it?

Your body image is the perception you have of your body. What’s wild is that when God looks at your body, He sees Himself. When He looks at you, He sees His own goodness and glory. And you need to know that God loves His image. God cannot see you without seeing Himself, and when He sees Himself, He sees glory.

In the kingdom, you are not the one naming your body good; it’s not your thought repeated over and over again until you believe yourself. You’re taking your cues and following the Father who created the universe.

What body image movements have you been exposed to? Which of these has been a blessing? What has helped

I've been exposed to body positivity for sure, but it often stems from a "strong and fit" over skinniness, rather then just appreciating the body regardless of performance or appearance.

How does it make you feel to know that God is not neutral about your body?

It brings hope, almost a hope that's too good to be true.

Do you agree that mainstream Christian culture has shied away from these messages? Why do you think that is?

Yes! I think it's because Christians don't want to seem too body focused or even say the body is beautiful. Meyung that's bc it seems worldly to do so. Maybe it's too ward off premarital sex. Probably both.

What’s your immediate response to the idea that your body lives in the kingdom? What would it look like to live as if the kingdom is real in your body today?

My first response is that it can't be true. But i want to believe it because it would be freeing!!!

The gospel tells us that we groan and are

burdened in these “tents” and we long for heaven and our resurrection bodies (see 2 Cor. 5:4). This is relieving news because we can let go of the idol of fitness and the idea of the perfect body. I am never going to have a perfect body here. The sooner I can make peace with that, the sooner I can focus on getting fit in order to be healthy and to serve God well, while looking forward to the day when my body will be effortlessly perfect in every way.

What God proclaimed as very good, the serpent declared not enough.

where do you suppose Jesus was at the moment of your misnaming? How did His face look? Where were His arms? Do you think that maybe, in His compassionate all-knowing power, there’s a possibility He thought about and prayed for this moment in the midst of that one, eagerly anticipating the restoration and redemption you’d experience?

What do you think about when you think of your own name? How do you describe yourself? What negative occurrence of naming comes first to mind?

I think of myself in the words that have been spoken over me, mostly the negative ones. I think about how I'm too much,Too dramatic, too weak.I feel the weight of the words that former teammates spoke over me in high school that my breasts were large and even my mom come into it on my curves and I remember her comments, though positive, when I went to the doctor and my weight was over 100lbs for the 1st time.I felt bigger than her and I felt bigger than I should be.

What kind of name-giver do you want to be known as?

I want to be known as a woman who up lips others, both in a appearance and character. I want men and women, for that matter, to see themselves as God sees them because of my words and actions.

the world will not be kind to my body, and therefore, it doesn’t get to speak into it.

And if God has named anyone good, let no one say otherwise.

You can walk away from a conversation wherein anyone’s body is being disparaged. You can use your voice to change the conversation. You can choose to no longer surround yourself with people who have such conversations if, after using your voice, they refuse to stop misnaming others.

Belonging to God is nothing like belonging to a human, even the very best human there is, because a human can’t love or lead or treat us the way He can.

The more time we spend thinking about what it means to be a woman who lives in the kingdom, who is defined and named by her King, the more uncomfortable we’ll get with belonging to the world and being labeled by it.

you want to talk about world-changing, freedom-fighting, warrior princess-type behavior? Look at the world and say, “This body was never yours to weigh in on in the first place.”

Many of us may have allowed this in our lives for so long, or we may have been taught it by example from such an early age, that we can’t even hear it anymore. Ask God to make you feel wildly uncomfortable anytime you participate in a negative conversation about anyone’s body.

This body is good. (Gen. 1:31). • I carry the peace of God in my body (Phil. 4:7). • This body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). • My body is worthy and valuable to God (Isa. 43:4). • I was created with intention, purpose, and creativity (Ps. 139:13–16). • I have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).

We break free from body shame by daring to actively agree that we don’t have to keep going in the broken systems of this world. Your body is good. God said so. End of story.

The curse reminds us that life is hard because it’s not supposed to be this way. It reminds us that the struggle is real and we’re not alone in it.

If it’s worshipful for you to give birth with an IV in your hand or alone in a field or surrounded by friends or in a hospital or in a yurt, you do you. But while you’re doing whatever you do, remember that it’s a moment to experience the presence of God in your weakness, not a moment to prove how strong you are on your own. You can be comforted and surprised by His power, even His power in you, if you’re not trying to beat the curse and prove something.

The healing, the hope of being off the hook from striving and holding all things together, is available to us when the setting is seemingly right and when it’s not.

more than we need our bodies to get better, we need to rest in the unshakeable truth that they were made good.

What are you getting your body ready for? Would you like to pull the lever and scream “stop” too? Would you like to stop trying to “get your body right”?

I'm trying to prep it for war–to be unbreakable so i am not vulnerable. But it's so exhausting. I want to be done with it.

What would it look like for you to let your body rest from the ongoing work of “making it better”? What will your soul say for your body when anything tries to provoke her?

Resting from trying to make my body better would look like taking true Sabbath and really exercising for joy instead of to punish my body or to deal with anxiety or to feel good about myself.

Can we treat our bodies like the good gifts they are? Can we declare them good, just as they are right now, and remember that the most important thing we bring to the table is our souls?