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.

He was handpicked to display the works of God.

There is an abundant need in this world for your exact brand of beautiful.

Don't we all long to see God at work? His activity around us, in us, and through us is the greatest adventure there is. The God of the universe wants to use you!

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (PSALM 139:13 — 14)

I'm not who that guy says I am. I'm not who that girl says I am. I'm not who social media likes and comments say I am. I'm not who the grades, to-do lists, messes, and mess ups say I am. I'm not who the scale says I am or the sum total of what my flaws say I am. I'm going to stop flirting with the unstable things of this world so I can fall completely in love with You. I am loved. I am held. I am Yours. I am forever Yours.

remember that there is an abundant need in this world for your contributions to the kingdom . . . your thoughts and words and artistic expressions . . . your exact brand of beautiful.

He assured me that He doesn't call the qualified, but He qualifies those He calls.

who that guy says I am. I'm not who that girl says I am. I'm not who social media likes and comments say I am. I'm not who the grades, to-do lists, messes, and mess ups say I am. I'm not who the scale says I am or the sum total of what my flaws say I am. I'm going to stop flirting with the unstable things of this world so I can fall completely in love with You. I am loved. I am held. I am Yours. I am forever Yours.

Why are we made for more?" We are made for more because we are children of God.

The gravity of living in a sin-soaked world will always try to hold us back from living loved. But if we will remember to return often to our Instructor . . . our Creator . . . we will discover His loving hands still pulse to continue making us. Tweaking us. Molding us. Filling us. And daily completing the good work He began in us.

We must let our identity, not our insecurity, be the first thing that walks into every situation we face—every decision we make.