Jesus Ate Too

Last week at our Saturday morning woman's group, our conversation switched over to body image, weight gain, and general dissatisfaction over our appearances. One of the women in the group recommended listening to the Woven In Truth Podcast called IMAGE: Embracing the Jesus Narrative of Freedom podcast about this topic to perhaps offer a different perspective. 

After listening to it a few times, I realized how much I've put my own security in how I look instead of who I am in Christ and how my value is not tied to my size or a number on a scale. 

The guest speaker in the podcast, Patty B. Mata also has an Instagram site called Jesus Ate Too that offers her readers a refreshing, non-weight loss approach to health. She advocates wellness at every size, loving your body, freedom vs. fear when it comes to eating food, and embracing confidence in Christ. 

Using text memes to get her point across, her message is eye-opening and often humorous as it shows how we can take on the world's view of what our bodies should look like according to the unachievable and recreated images we see in magazines and movies.

If you've ever struggled with issues regarding body image perhaps you will find peace and freedom here, too.

Like a Weaned Child in Her Mother's Arms

                                                                                            Image by Anil Sharma/Unsplash.com

 Psalm 131 NLT

O' Lord, my heart is not proud nor haughty my eyes.

I have not gone after things too great nor marvels beyond me.

Truly I have set my soul in silence and peace.

A weaned child on its mother's breast, even so, is my soul.

I'm reading, Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland. Jr. and I love how the author captures the inner posture of trust in God as he describes the heart of David in Psalm 131. He surmises the psalmist has no concern for himself and is absent of anxiety because he has humbled himself and is willing to receive whatever provisions God chooses to give to him without angst or worry because of his total trust in Him. 

Furthermore, in the psalm, David compares his soul to a weaned child. Mulholland deduces that a weaned child no longer has any wants or needs because the term "weaned" means the child is no longer "at its mother's breast for its own food intake, or its own agenda- milk" but instead is simply content to rest in its momma's arms to receive whatever attention she chooses to give it." (Mulholland, p.93)

Once more, this metaphor depicts an image of someone who has total and complete trust in a loving and gracious God; a God who has provided perfect gifts for him, time and time again, who knows deep down, that He'll continue to do it just as before. A lifetime of trust.

Like the weaned child in Psalm 131, we can learn to accept God's perfect love and care for our lives without putting demands, conditions, or expectations on Him, as Mulholland so clearly stated in his book.  When we continue to love and serve Him without worry, trusting and submitting to His plans and His timing for things to happen, we will not only have peace but contentment, too.

Like the psalmist, we can completely trust God with our lives without the need to know or control the outcome of things. Instead, we can be confident in His purposes for us, knowing He will give us what we need at the right time. We are grateful for we serve an amazing and powerful God.

• 
  
• Mulholland, M R. Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity, 1993. Print.

The One

What do I have to do to find the one just for me?

Do I search high and low leaving no stone unturned?

Do I fret and ponder, toil and spin, or worry in a constant state of unrest?

No. Instead, I will believe.

I have done my part, and now I'm ready.

I will wait, watch and listen.

And when the right one comes along, I will act.

Thank you, Lord, for your indescribable gift given to the one you love.