Women: Your Body Is Not the Problem

I had a long drive on Sunday, and thought about my own experience. I remembered the coffee shop where an older woman in the church regretfully informed me that I wouldn’t be allowed to come to the beach with the Christian group. Why? I asked, confused.

She mumbled out a few incoherent sentences, and then said it would be too hard for the men, especially the married ones, to see me in a bathing suit.

I don’t even think I blinked.

I’m the girl who generally knows what to say and doesn’t shy away from confrontation. But the thing about that conversation was, her concern about me and my ‘boundaries’ with men confirmed what I believed about myself. I was bad. I was dirty. Disheartened that I couldn’t go on the trip with all the “good Christians,” I cried on my bike ride home.

How I wish I could sit down with my younger self and say, “You aren’t dirty. You aren’t bad. God made you beautiful and you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Since I can’t go back and tell myself, I’m telling you. Your body is not a problem. You are beautiful, not dirty. You are worthy of love. You have a beautiful body to glorify God. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

Have you ever felt your body was a problem? Has anyone ever blamed you for making men stumble? Speak up!