Labels start out as little threads of self dissatisfaction but ultimately weave together into a straightjacket of self-condemnation

The spotlight never fixes our insecurities. It only magnifies what we thought popularity would cover up.

My body size is not tied to my happy. If my happy was missing when I was larger, it will still be missing when I get smaller.

I've realized this isn't as much about losing the weight as it is gaining truth—the truth of who I am in Christ and how I am made for more than this constant, self-defeating struggle. It's the truth that reminds me a scale can measure my physical body but never my worth as a woman. And it's the truth that God loves me the way I am, but He loves me too much to leave me stuck in a place of defeat.

I tried to prop up what was left of me so I wouldn't collapse into the broken place inside. Good grades. Achievements and accolades. Fun friends and good times. Boys who made me feel special. I tried to steady myself with anything that helped me feel better.

Struggling with my weight isn't God's mean curse on me. Being overweight is an outside indication that internal changes are needed for my body to function properly and for me to feel well.

am a Jesus girl who can step on the scale and see the numbers as an indication of how much my body weighs and not as an indication of my worth.

I have allowed myself to believe that to be stripped of all the props and pretensions and accolades and approvals is to be stripped of the best parts of me. When in reality what's best about me comes to the forefront when I'm closest to the way God created me, naked and unashamed. To stand naked and unashamed is the way of the garden life.

Just because you…achieve what you always thought would make you feel special does not fix that deep-down internal insecurity. External achievement never equals internal acceptance.

This wasn't really about the scale or what clothing size I was; it was about this battle that raged in my heart.

Most of what you encounter when you meet a man is a facade, an elaborate fig leaf, a brilliant disguise.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. (1 Peter 3:3—4)