My body is beautiful and healthy.

What? It is. This is truth I have to tell myself over, and over, and over... and over. I didn't do any copy and paste business up there. Every time I say, type, read, and think those words up there, something in me changes. I am choosing to believe this truth instead of some lie about my body that will lead to death. Woah. Did she just say death? Yeah, I did that.

God tells us "I have set before you life and death.. choose life". Our options are given in black and white. There's no grey area when we're talking about life and death. Sometimes I convince myself the way I choose to think about my body is a less important decision. When I choose to hate myself or believe God made mistakes when he created me..that falls into the grey area, right? I'm not choosing DEATH.. geez. Calm down, Moses. But the truth is.. I AM choosing death because I am definitely not choosing life!

When I choose to believe truth over a lie, I am renewing my mind. Romans 12:2 says "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." To transform means to "make a thorough and dramatic change". Raise your hand if you need a dramatic change in your thought life (insert emoji with hand raised)! It doesn't have to be that complicated. We must identify the lies we are telling ourselves and replace those lies with truth. My go to truth is "My body is beautiful and healthy."

Do I always believe that, when I am claiming it over myself?

NAH!

Is that okay?

Yes.

You may wonder what's the point of telling yourself something you don't believe. But you're doing so much more than being a broken record. You are tapping into a spiritual world we can't see. Jesus is at war for us and when we claim His truth over ourselves it gives us unexplained power!

His power.

I believe our words hold more power than we will ever understand. Proverbs 18:21 says "Death and life are in the power of the tongue".

"Jesus said 'my people can have what they say' but 'my people are saying what they have" (Mark 9:23; 11:23, 24). Medical research has discovered that the part of the brain which controls human speech is connected to every nerve of the body. The words you speak about yourself can even affect your health." -Faith and Confession by Charles Napp.

This process will make you feel crazy at times, maybe even a little desperate. You know what? That's okay. Jesus didn't tell us following Him would always feel normal, or fun, or comfortable.

The enemy takes every opportunity to attack our mind when we're weak. Personally, my mind is WEAK before about 8:00 AM. Some mornings are easier than others, but I know every single morning I need truth at the forefront of my mind. I have to flood my mind with truth, or it will flood with dark lies. So, "My body is beautiful and healthy" is easy to remember, it's short, and it's dang true. Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). Speak your truth OUT LOUD. We need to hear ourselves speak truth about our bodies. James 1:26 says we can deceive our own hearts by our words. We sometimes believe only our negative words hold power, but let's not discount the power of good words!

No one else can do this for you.

If you're struggling to believe truth, and you're choosing not to renew your mind, I have a hard time feeling sorry for you. That goes for me too. If I'm not renewing my mind and I find myself in a pit, that is 100% my fault.

This is my challenge for you:

Ask God to reveal to you the major lies you believe about your body. This won't be easy. But as soon as you say these lies out loud or put them on paper, and open your heart to see the truth, you will.
Find biblical truth that speaks to you and weakens the sting of those lies.
Speak truth over yourself out loud and experience transformation.

I'd love to hear your truth statement and how it's transforming you!