Then, God enables the donkey to speak to Balaam. It asks Balaam why he is beating it and asks, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” Then God reveals the angel to Balaam.
The angel rebukes Balaam for beating the donkey and says, “The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.” After that, Balaam acknowledges he has sinned.
Bure said God showed her that she had been treating her body the way that Balaam treated his donkey. “And then God allowed my body to speak back,” she said, “and my body said back to me, ‘Have I not been the body that’s carried you all the days of your life? Am I not your legs that allow you to walk? Am I not your arms that allow you to pick up and feed yourself?’”
Bure’s body told her, “I don’t do anything that you don’t ask me to do. I follow you, and I’m obedient to you. Why do you hurt me so badly, and why do you talk to me so badly, and why do you treat me this way?’”
“And it was like this amazing revelation in my life,” said Bure, “and the weirdest story out of the Bible that God spoke to me about how mean I’ve been to my body, and yet I just never saw it that way.”
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“It’s this, like, beautiful, amazing thing that God gave me, and I get to drive it. I get to steer it,” she said. “But sometimes my body will react in ways because I’m not treating it right or well, and it tries to tell me that, you know?”
“It was so enlightening for me, and I was so grateful to God for sharing that with me, and since that time, it’s given me a whole different perspective of how I think about my body,” Bure continued. Now, when she wants to disparage herself, Bure thinks about how grateful she is to be able to do mundane errands or to lift her arms in celebration.
“I hope that that encourages someone today,” said Bure.
Comments on the YouTube video of the podcast and an X post from the conversation show that many people relate to the struggles the three women discussed. “Candace this is one of the biggest messages that needs to be out there,” said one X user. “It has taken me years and years to learn to love my body and to show kindness to it and to myself. [It’s] still a struggle from time to time but to see where I was 5 years ago to now-its astounding!”
“I am only 13 years old and this podcast has helped me so much,” said one person on YouTube.
“Candace….what an incredible use of scripture,” said another. “I hope it goes viral and speaks truth to so many suffering with body issues. Like me. Thank you.”
