Hidden Reflections

SO... WHAT'S HIDDEN REFLECTIONS?

"If you struggle, like me, to see that overflowing peace and satisfaction are found in being able to reflect the unfading and undefiled beauty of the Lord, rather than exhausting yourself trying to measure up (or should I say down) to a number on the scale… If you need to be reminded that your value has nothing to do with your size, I would like to come alongside you and encourage you as your sister who is right there with you. I need that encouragement just as much as you do. I need to constantly be reminded that I am not a disappointment to the Lord, but instead, I’m His little girl who He loves…and you are, too. Do you need that reminder, too? If so, I hope this blog, 'Hidden Reflections,' will help you to 'be transformed by the renewal of your mind (not by the renewal of your wardrobe)' (Romans 12:2)." ~Jonna

BLOG POSTS

05.01.24 // A MIND AND HEART MAKEOVER

Have you ever wondered what Adam and Eve, the first people God created, looked like? When I think of Eve, I always imagine that she was gorgeous. She had a perfect figure…better than Barbie. She probably had blond hair…though as I think about it, maybe it was dark brown… since the “chosen people” were Jewish. The only Jewish people who have blond hair got it from a bottle. In my mind she was tall, but again, being what would later be called Jewish, she was probably short. She had no blemishes…perfect sized arms and legs…flat stomach…and the list goes on. When God made Adam and Eve, it was the first time He called His creation, “very good.” So they must have been the first Ken and Barbie, right? But what made them “very good”? It wasn’t their physical appearance. It was this…They were made in the image of God. God breathed life into them. They had the character of God, the desire for relationship, the pursuit of love…stamped into their souls. Nowhere in the description in Genesis does it say what they looked like…only WHO they looked like. They were image bearers of God!

So, why do I get so caught up in having a beautiful outward appearance? Why is it so easy to look at the words of Psalm 139:13-16 that say we’re fearfully and wonderfully made, and think, “God, You must have forgotten me.” My soul does NOT know this very well. I used to joke, “I know there is no partiality with God, but when I see that woman over there with her perfect bone structure, I think…maybe there’s a little partiality.” But my friend, you and I both know that my joke was mixed with a little bit of accusation. If God shows no partiality, why did He make HER so “perfect” and me so NOT?

I was missing God’s purpose, God’s heart! He who let His own Son “have no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him” did not love His Son, Jesus, less (Isaiah 53:2-3). He had a purpose for His life. What if Jesus had said, “I know You sent Me to save the world, but I can’t do it until I get myself to look more like a majestic king.” I mean, if our value to God was dependent on our beauty, then it would follow that He valued the devil more than Jesus! While Isaiah 53:2-3 says that Jesus was not one of “the pretty people”, Ezekiel 28:17 says that Satan was “proud of his beauty and splendor.” Yikes! Maybe more than needing a beauty makeover with face creams and highlights, I need a beauty makeover of my heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

When I think of the women in the Bible, I see that some were very beautiful in appearance. Sarah was so beautiful that, even in her old age foreign kings wanted to have her. Esther was so beautiful that, among all the women in the land, a king wanted to make her his wife. But what God pointed out that was so special about Sarah in Hebrews 11, what they call “the hall of faith”, was her faith, not her beauty. And Esther’s beauty was used to fulfill a purpose way beyond being able to be a model on the cover of a magazine. Her beauty was used “for such a time as this,” to save her people the Israelites from utter destruction.

You know who I think of when I consider who was one of the most beautiful women to have ever lived? I think of Ruth. In the book that bears her name, her physical appearance wasn’t even described. But her character was so beautiful. She was completely devoted to the Lord and to her mother-in-law. She wasn’t even Jewish! She was from Moab, but she loved the God of the Jews. She was married to a Jewish man, but he died. Instead of wallowing in her sorrow and staying with her Moabite people, she refused to leave her mother-in-law, Naomi, who not only lost one son, but lost two sons and her own husband. Naomi told Ruth to go back to her people, and she responded, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you” (Ruth 1:16-17). That’s devotion. That’s beautiful.

Ruth went back to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem and worked hard to help provide for Naomi. She was selfless, self sacrificing, kind, hard working. And God blessed her. He provided a husband for her, a kinsman redeemer named Boaz. They had a son named Obed, who happened to be the grandfather of David. Ruth’s name is in the lineage of Jesus!!! When I sing the song, “Hymn of Heaven,” and sing the words, “And in that day we join the resurrection, and stand beside the heroes of the faith,” I always think of Ruth. I want to stand by Ruth. She was the posterchild for Proverbs 31:30, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears (worships) the Lord is to be praised.” She was God’s definition of true beauty. Her adorning was “the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3:4). Imperishable beauty.

The same God who had a purpose for Sarah, Esther, and Ruth, has a purpose for you, my friend. How do I know this? He says so, and He doesn’t lie. He says in Psalm 139:14 that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and He says in Ephesians 2:10 that you are “His workmanship, His poem, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” He has a plan for your life, and it’s way bigger than making sure you are revered by the world’s standard of beauty. His purpose for your life impacts eternity.

So why not seek the purpose He has for us while we’re still here on earth, rather than being caught up in seeking earthly beauty that fades? Do you know what happens when we are intently focused on making our appearance fit a mold that never came from God’s plan for us? We get sidetracked and miss the purpose He does have for us. We also get anxious and stuck in trying to either achieve a certain standard of beauty or maintain it. It’s not wrong to try to look our best and take care of ourselves. It’s wrong to make that the purpose of our lives. God has so much that He wants to do in us and through us. Are we missing it because we’re too caught up in a standard of beauty that was never authored by God?

You may say, “I know, Jonna, but what do I do? I don’t want people to judge me!” I want to encourage you to write 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 on a notecard and pray through it as often as you need to. It says, “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.” There is so much to learn from this passage!!!

You and I don’t need to worry about what other people think of us. The One who fearfully and wonderfully made us says we are His wonderful work. He has a purpose for our lives…and it starts with just being in relationship with Him.
You and I don’t need to judge ourselves! We can stop condemning and shaming ourselves. Our opinion of ourselves is NOT the most important opinion.
The only One’s opinion that matters is the Lord’s, and when He comes to bring to light everything that’s hidden in darkness and expose our hearts, we will receive His COMMENDATION, not condemnation.

God is ready to tell you how much you matter to Him! His focus will not be on all that’s wrong, it will be on whatever is right. People don’t do that for each other. You and I certainly don’t do that for ourselves. When you think about it, not only is God’s opinion what matters the most, it’s the kindest and most merciful of all the opinions. God sees you as you are. God loves you as you are. God doesn’t leave you as you are. He makes you more beautiful…like Ruth. The wonderful thing about the beauty makeover God wants to give us is, we will become more beautiful with age as our hearts become unblemished, without spot or wrinkle, filled with His splendor, and more and more holy (Ephesians 5:26-27). That’s beautiful.

This is about a makeover of the heart and mind…letting the truth of what God calls beautiful replace what the world calls beautiful. It won’t happen overnight, but it will be worth continuing to fill your mind with His truth. Was Eve beautiful? Maybe. Probably. Does God love the “pretty people” more than you or me. Absolutely not. Was Ruth beautiful? I don’t know what she looked like, but in God’s eyes, she was absolutely beautiful. Does God love Ruth more than you or me? No way. I pray that you and I will let Him give us His beauty makeover…so that we bear His image more and more purely.

Blessings,
Jonna

04.15.24 // it is well with my soul

I LOVE to look up scripture on specific subjects. I do an internet search… “What does the Bible say about ______?” I have all kinds of lists of scriptures for hope, courage, the love of God, the kindness of God, His grace, my attitudes, my words…and the lists go on. Well, I have had “gut issues” for years, probably due at least in part to all the food restricting and overexercising I’ve done throughout the years. I have been treated for them several times…and I’m currently being treated for them again. Now I’m trying to learn the balance of being healthy so that I can focus more attention on honoring the Lord, rather than seeking health as my whole goal in life (which is really code for “being thin”).

So out of curiosity, I looked up, “What does the Bible say about being healthy?” I was kinda surprised to find that most of the scriptures that popped up were focused on spiritual health rather than physical health. I came across one tiny little verse that put it all in perspective for me…in one of the smallest books of the Bible. 3 John 1:2, “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, AS IT GOES WELL WITH YOUR SOUL.” WHAT??? John was writing to his friend, Gaius, and this simple little verse showed me that well being and physical health are often directly tied to soul health. In the original Greek, John says, “I pray concerning ALL things that you’ll PROSPER, and be in good health, JUST AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS.” This tells me that if our souls are not doing well, it really doesn’t matter how physically healthy our bodies are.

Truly, let’s just say you registered your perfect number on the scale and you fit into the exact size you wanted. If you’re aging like me, maybe you also had no gray hair or wrinkles. BUT your soul was not well. You were struggling with hopelessness and doubt, with fear, with anger, with a desire for escape. How much would it matter that you looked good? Would you even notice? Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:8, “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” How often have I looked at that verse and said, “See? I’m supposed to take care of my body!!!” But that was really an excuse for, “I get to make my body praise worthy.” The whole point of Paul’s statement to Timothy is that having a healthy body (which may have nothing to do with looking perfect) is good, but godliness…soul care…is what has value for eternity.

How do we care for our souls??? And how does that affect our bodies? Please allow me to share with you just a few of the scripture I found that tie our souls and bodies together.

Proverbs 3:7-8 ESV ~ “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” When your soul is not doing well, doesn’t it feel like your whole body is suffering? Because it is!!! What helps your body and soul enjoy healing and refreshment? Not being wise in your own eyes. Not trying to take matters into your own hands.

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to how I eat or exercise, I have OFTEN completely left God out of it. Why? I don’t know! Maybe I thought He didn’t care, or maybe I didn’t want Him involved because I wanted to be in control…But I can promise you this…leaving God out of anything never goes well. Proverbs 28:26 tells me why. “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a FOOL. But he who walks in wisdom (the fear of the Lord) will be delivered.” Fear the Lord…that means, worship Him, and we will be delivered from those gnawing feelings that eat away at our souls.

It is only by fixing our eyes on Jesus that we can turn away from evil. Proverbs 16:6 says, “By the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil.” It is only by worshiping Him that we have the strength to stop trying to do things in our own strength. This verse is saying that you and I cannot turn away from doing things in our own strength without the Lord. By learning that and turning to Him, we find healing to our FLESH…the body, and refreshment to the bones. Our bodies need soul care way more than they ever need self care.

Proverbs 14:30 ESV ~ “A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.” A peaceful heart means life. An envious heart is rottenness to the bones. That word for bones also means “substance.” Being envious brings rottenness to the core of our beings. Do you ever find yourself looking at someone else and thinking, “I want what that person has”? I know this sounds weird, but to this day…45 years after my 10 year old “boyfriend” told me, “You aren’t fat, you just have fat arms,” I notice everybody’s arms and have literally envied other women’s arms!!! No matter how many times I stare at my arms in the mirror hoping they’ll look different, wishing they looked like someone else’s, my desire for the “perfect” arms will never be what I need in order to have peace. The peace and contentment I need can only come from a heart that is secure in the Lord. Being content in the Lord, having a peaceful heart, will not just be good for our souls, it will bring life to our whole bodies. God is a holistic God.

Proverbs 16:24 ESV ~ “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Gracious words, kind words given and received, are like a honeycomb…sweet yumminess. Ephesians 4:29 says that gracious words are words that build up. When we are looking for ways to build each other up rather than tear each other down, it not only affects our relationships…it affects our soul and body. Think about it. When you say something to encourage another person, and you see them light up with a smile, it not only infuses them with joy, but it brings joy to you as well. But even if you feel justified in a moment when you speak words that “put a person in his place,” doesn’t it weigh down your whole body? Don’t you walk away from the conversation feeling yucky? Everything that God calls us to do is always for our good…because God is good. He knows that being gracious will bring health to both our bodies and our souls.

I don’t know about you, but as I look at these passages, I realize that our health is far more dependent on where our soul is with the Lord than it is on what we’re eating or how much exercise we’re getting. Don’t get me wrong. I believe it’s important to eat foods that nourish our bodies. I also think God made our bodies to be most physically effective when we move them through some form of exercise, even walking. God made us to need food and movement. But what’s even more important is the state of our souls. And that is dependent on our relationship with the Lord. It is in HIS presence that we find fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11), not in that pair of jeans we’re hoping to fit into someday.

Based on all these scriptures, what conclusions can we draw about how to pursue “soul care” over self care?

From Proverbs 3:7-8 ~ Fear the Lord. To fear the Lord is to worship Him. Take the time to understand why He’s worthy of our worship…and then tell Him what you find. Sit at Jesus’ feet and worship Him.
From Proverbs 14:30 ~ Recognize when you’re comparing yourself to other people and wishing you had what they have, and surrender that to the Lord. Ask Jesus to help you find your contentment in Him and nothing else.
From Proverbs 16:24 ~ Ask the Lord to help you to extend grace to others as you have received grace from the Lord. If you ever struggle to understand what that looks like, go back to the gospel. Rather than judging others and comparing yourself to them, seek to show them grace.

I’d like to offer you a challenge: When you’re reading scripture, whatever the scripture is, please specifically look for what whether or not God says that pertains to changing your appearance. And then look to see if He says anything about letting Him change your heart in the way you love Him and others. As I was looking at scripture recently, this is what dawned on me…There is so much more value in focusing on the things that matter to God…my heart…than the things that trip me up about my appearance. Cooperating with the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts to be like His is so much bigger and, honestly, more satisfying, than trying to be happy about what we see in the mirror. It’s soul care.

My prayer for you as you go on with your day today and every day, is that all will go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul…as you sit at the feet of Jesus, find your contentment in Him, and then extend the grace you’ve received from Him to others. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and SOUL and BODY be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; HE will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

Blessings,
Jonna

04.01.24 // come to me

Imagine you went alone to a beautiful island…The moment you step foot on this island, you think, “This must be what the Garden of Eden was like, with its beautiful flowers, lush fruits from the trees, wild life everywhere, waterfalls, and beautiful sky.” It takes your breath away. You are surrounded by peace. After a few minutes of taking it all in, you realize you’re not alone on this island. There, waiting by a lake being fed by a gentle waterfall, is Jesus. As you walk to Him, you realize that you’re not walking alone. The Holy Spirit has His arm around you, and He’s gently leading you to Jesus. You get to the pond and stand in front of Jesus…and you notice that the Father is right next to Him, smiling. Jesus takes your hand and looks into your eyes and says, “Sweet girl, come to Me. I see that you’ve been weary and burdened, but I want to calm your heart. I want to give you rest.”

Can I ask you something? What would you be thinking in that moment? What would you want to say to Jesus? What do you need rest from? What is making you weary and burdened? If Jesus is offering you rest from all the expectations you’ve placed on yourself to look a certain way or eat a special diet to achieve that appearance, will you let Him give it to you? It almost seems crazy to me to turn that corner into thinking about my appearance or what I do to get that appearance. It seems so trivial in that moment, and yet it’s something that so easily takes control of my life.

Truly, if you were alone on that island with Jesus…no other person around…would you even care about your appearance? Would you be worried about eating too much, or not eating foods that were on the “naughty” list? Wouldn’t those expectations you put on yourself fade away in the beauty of being near Jesus? He certainly isn’t looking at you and expecting you to change your body in order to be worthy to come to Him.

The truth is, in Matthew 11:28, He DOES say to you, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” He goes on to say, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

What is a yoke? A yoke is a farming tool that goes around the necks of two oxen (or other animals), to use their combined strength to plow a field. And this may be partly what Jesus meant, but a yoke also meant something else to the Jews. Every Pharisee had a yoke, which was a compiled list of their own rules that they demanded their disciples must follow, and every good Jew followed a Pharisee. These yokes were often impossible to carry out perfectly because the Pharisees made demands that were motivated by self pleasure and power. Jesus was saying to the people, “The Pharisees put yokes on you that MAKE you weary and burdened. I don’t. The yoke I give you will never be anything that I don’t model, unlike the Pharisees who demand allegiance to rules even they can’t uphold. The yoke I give you is easy and the burden you feel with Me will be light.”

Jesus said, “Come to ME.” What is so special about Jesus that coming to Him would be better than pursuing anything else? He says it right in the passage… “He is gentle and lowly in heart.” In Dane Ortlund’s book, “Gentle and lowly,” he points out that this is the only place Jesus describes His heart.

He who is the Creator of the world is gentle, not harsh. He is lowly, humble…He does not use His power to domineer, but to give rest. He is the God of peace. He offers peace. He is the God of love, and He proved it on the cross. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the one who paid our enormous debt that we couldn’t pay. He is the living God. He is the one who gives us new life in Him. He has all authority, all power, all wisdom, and complete unconditional love. There is no one with more authority, power, wisdom, or love than Jesus. And there is no one more gentle and humble than Him. So when He says, “Come to ME,” He is the safest place to be!

When Jesus said, “I will give you rest…for your soul” it was NOT an empty promise. Jesus is the SOURCE of our rest…our peace. Isn’t that what we long for? When you think about that thing that you continue to pursue, at the end of your pursuit, once you’ve “arrived,” isn’t it rest that you’re looking for? The problem is, if you’re pursuing anything other than Jesus for your peace, you will never “arrive.” Even if you achieve the perfect body, once you get there, there is no rest…because then you have to keep striving to keep it…and the rules keep changing. Jesus is the only one who can offer rest and truly give it, because His rest is NOT dependent on your work to get there. Jesus didn’t say, “Come to Me and I will tell you all the hoops you have to jump through to achieve peace and rest.” He said, “Come to Me and I will GIVE you rest.”

I can tell you why I have pushed against His rest over my pursuits so many times…If He is the source, He gets the credit. I have wanted glory and honor for myself. Think about it…In your pursuits and all the endless striving to achieve your ideal image, who gets the glory? The is an empty pursuit.

Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus DOES have things He wants us to do. He has a purpose for our lives. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are HIS workmanship (His poem), created in Christ Jesus for good works which He prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God has a purpose for your life. Thats exciting! His yoke of rules for you to fulfill your purpose is “easy” and the burden He has on you is “light.” Why? Because you never do it alone. From the moment you A-admit that you need a Savior, B-believe that Jesus is your Savior, that He died to pay the debt for your sins and rose again, and C-confess that He is your Lord, your Master…the moment that happens…the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in you and seals you as a guarantee that you have already arrived…your salvation is secure. The Holy Spirit now helps you in your weakness and guides you through all His paths which are “steadfast love and faithfulness” (Psalm 25:10). Everything you do for Jesus from here on out is done in gratitude of His grace, and never in order to earn His favor.

How do I KNOW that everything Jesus promises, He delivers? All I have to do is look at the gospel. It was not me who hung on that cross. It was Jesus. Jesus stepped down from His throne in heaven, lived the perfect, sinless life that I could not live, and humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross…and then rose again on the third day…ALL for the joy set before Him…to glorify the Father AND to do for you and me what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus is the living God, with nail scarred hands, who says to you and me, “Come to Me and I will give you rest.” No one else can genuinely say that because no one else has the power to offer it.

Every religion except Christianity places massive yokes on its followers. They tell you how you must EARN salvation. Christianity is the only “religion” in which God pursues us and earns salvation for us. Make no mistake…Diet culture is a religion. Its god is the idol of beauty. The religion of diet culture is no different than all the other religions. It demands that you and I practice and perfect all kinds of rituals to make ourselves worthy. Instead of giving lasting hope it makes promises of perfection that can never be reached. While Jesus says, “Come to Me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest,” diet culture says, “Come when you’ve achieved what I deem worthy, and then I will change the rules.”

In diet culture, salvation is a perfect body, and you can lose your salvation. With Jesus, your salvation is secure. In diet culture, the blessing is the ability to eat anything you want without gaining weight…or the ability to eat all the “good” foods without being tempted to eat the “bad” foods. With Jesus, the blessings are endless…They start with forgiveness, favor, and unconditional love. Diet culture offers rest when you achieve your goal, but it never delivers, because there is always one more pound you can lose. Sometimes you find that the yoke is too hard and the burden too heavy and you break out and do all the things that completely sabotage your pursuit. You blame yourself. But you were going after the wrong goal. The goal in the Lord was never to give you the ideal beauty image. The goal in the Lord is to transform your life so that you beautifully reflect the image of God, which is so much better and has such deeper meaning. You are an image bearer of Jesus Christ.

In Christianity, Jesus is our salvation. Salvation in Him secure. It is a new self created in His likeness. The more you grow in Him, the more you will look like Him…with joy, peace, contentment, love…and yes, rest. The blessing of being with Jesus is unconditional relationship with Him…a life of peace, hope, joy, and rest…and complete acceptance with no fear of Him changing the rules. “He is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

So can I ask you…What “yoke” have you been following? What rules or rituals do you follow to the point that you are willing to sin to do them, or if you can’t do them for some reason, it ruins your whole day? Are those things that God has told you to do in scripture? If the answer is no, can I ask you to join me in pursuing the truth of God’s word? God does not want to shame you. He wants to give you rest.

You may be saying, “Yes, Jonna, I want that, but I am not on an island and everything around me is not peace, but noise.” I agree with you. It’s hard. But…every time you get away to be alone with the Lord, you get time with Him…in His presence. That’s the way this pursuit of the wrong yoke changes. It’s not by beating yourself up for doing it wrong and wanting the wrong things. It’s all about being alone with Him, even if you only have a little bit of time before the cares of the world step in. So many people think, “I want to spend time with Jesus, but I’m too busy.” But it’s really, “I’m so busy that if I don’t get away even for a little bit of time with Jesus, I’ll never make it through this day.” There was a commercial for bath bubbles years ago, where a woman was being inundated by all the craziness of life, and she would get so overwhelmed that she would cry out, “Calgon, take me away!” The next scene would be her sitting in a bubble bath in the middle of a meadow with a peaceful smile on her face. I want to encourage you (and me) to say, “Jesus, take me away…with You…even if it’s just for a little while.” He will give you rest…He will be your peace.

Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” And He said in John 16:33, “I have said these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Will you meet with Him on that island every time you need to be reminded that your peace and rest are in Him? The noise of the world will try to block out His voice. The Pharisaical diet culture will try to stop you from hearing Him just as much as the Pharisees did everything in their power to stop the people from hearing Jesus. But those who choose to “come to Him” will find rest for their souls. Will you come?

Here is some scripture you can dwell on when you meet with Him…and when the voices are screaming…

Matthew 11:28-30
Hebrews 4:14-16
1 John 1:8-2:2
Colossians 2:20-3:4
Ephesians 2:8-10
Matthew 6:25-34
Philippians 2:5-11

If you want to memorize a passage to cry out to the Lord in those moments when you can’t get away, please consider ~

Psalm 118:5-6 ~ “Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

Psalm 34:4-5 ~ “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.”

Psalm 16:11 ~ “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Know this, for all who love Jesus, you are already CHOSEN and CHERISHED by Him. Now the choice is…to choose and cherish Him.

Blessings,
Jonna

03.15.24 // WHAT'S THE PURPLE?

When you consider your appearance, what do you think about? Would you use the same types of words you use for yourself to describe a friend? Do you get anxious about your body or the food you eat? Have you ever, like me, had a day where you ate things you defined as “bad”, so you woke up the next day completely fixated on how you’re going to make the rules more intense so you never do that again? Like me, do you find that it doesn’t work?

Today I want to walk through a passage with you that will hopefully help us remove those anxious thoughts that derail us and often work as an obstacle to experiencing the love, peace, and joy of God…and replace them with biblical truths that remove those obstacles. We HAVE to replace the thoughts. If we just say we’re going to stop thinking the way we’ve always thought, it won’t work. For example, if I say to you, “Whatever you do, don’t think of the color red,” the first thing that’s gonna happen is you’re going to think of the color red. In fact, the more you try to stop thinking of the color red, the more red is going to be on your mind. But if I say, “Don’t think of the color red. Instead, think of the color purple,” then you have something to replace red with. So, if red comes to mind, you know you can replace it with purple. Believe me, red will not give up without a fight. But you will have the victory…one battle at a time…if you don’t give up.

So…what’s the purple? In Philippians 4:4-9, we find some great shades of purple. Let’s walk it verse by verse and see what we can find…

Vs. 4 ~ “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice.” In his letter to the Philippians, Paul brings up rejoicing 16 times in a total of 4 chapters making up 104 verses. That’s a lot! What is the obstacle to rejoicing when it comes to honoring God with our bodies? We’re too busy focusing on what’s wrong with our bodies. I read the words from Psalm 139:14, that I am “fearfully and wonderfully made,” and I either think God forgot to do that for me, or that He did fearfully and wonderfully make me, but I messed it up. These are the “red” thoughts that have to go.

Instead, rejoice. When we wake up “feeling” fat, rejoice IN THE LORD. Feelings are so fickle. I can look in the mirror in one minute and think, “Ugh, I hate the way I look,” and then 5 minutes later see my reflection again and say, “It’s not that bad,” only to revert back to my self-disgust the next time I see my reflection. Why am I frustrated? I want to be able to rejoice IN ME, not IN THE LORD. The real reason to rejoice is not achieved when we have that “perfect” body. It’s also not achieved because we’ve decided to completely let our bodies go and eat all the things. The real reason to rejoice is because you and I are a child of God. If you know Jesus as your Savior, you will spend eternity with Him, and no matter what happens, your eternal future is secure. Can having your ideal body image offer you that kind of hope?

So…replace the thoughts of frustration over your appearance, or even rejoicing over your appearance…with finding joy in the fact that you belong to Jesus.

Vs. 5 ~ “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;” A better translation of this verse from the Greek would be, “Let your GENTLENESS be known to everyone. The Lord is NEAR.” What keeps us from being gentle? Panic. Why would we panic? Fear that our measure of being approved cannot be attained. But the answer to that is, we may need to adjust our measuring stick, because…“The Lord is near.” He’s the reason we don’t have to panic. He’s right here with you. He makes you gentle. It doesn’t say, “Let your perfect appearance be known to everyone. The Lord will only love you if you look a certain way.” The Lord doesn’t love us for any reason other than that He loves us. We don’t earn His love. We have His love. That’s why we can be gentle…at peace…secure. The One whose opinion matters most is right here with you.

So what’s the red? Fear of not being enough…panicking that we haven’t measured up…needing the approval of man…not realizing that the Lord’s opinion is what matters, and He is the one who stays closest to us. Does God’s opinion of you matter more than your opinion of you? I know for me, I had to confess this to the Lord. My opinion was more important to me than His. Ugh! I was totally seeing red!!!

What’s the purple? Security…Gentleness that comes from the assurance that the One who is closest to you is the One who loves you the most. We often feel like we have to hold ourselves back from people because if they knew everything about us, they might not want to be with us. But God knows EVERYTHING about you. Psalm 139 says He knows your thoughts, He knows what you’re going to say before you even begin to form the sentence, He SEARCHES out your paths and your lying down. He knows you better than you know yourself. When your thoughts want to go to the red and panic, you can replace the red with the peaceful hope of purple, reminding yourself that the One who knows you most, loves you most…and He will never leave your side. With God, we find lasting fulfillment. Seeking body perfection only brings anxiety, because even when we achieve a goal, we either realize it’s not enough or we have to work and work to keep ourselves looking a certain way. With God, even when we fail, we have immediate forgiveness. With diet culture, we have to work and work to make up for failing or face condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1), not even condemnation over our appearance!!!

Vs. 6 ~ “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Oh my goodness! How many times have I let this verse cause me more anxiety because I realized I was anxious…and this says not to be! This verse has the red and the purple built right into it!

The red is…don’t be anxious. How many times have I let a desire to wear a certain size, look a certain way, or follow a specific eating plan caused me a ton of anxiety? If I just keep telling myself, “Don’t be anxious,” there is no way I’m going to be anything BUT anxious. Anxious over food, anxious over clothes, anxious over what other people must be thinking, anxious over having my picture taken. I could keep adding things to that list, but you get the point.

Like I said, the purple is built right into the verse. You and I get not just one, but THREE things to replace anxiety with. First, no matter what it is that’s causing the anxiety, have a conversation with God. That’s what prayer is…talking to the Lord about the situation. This says to pray IN EVERYTHING…every situation. We so often feel like God doesn’t care about this stuff and we shouldn’t bother Him with it. BOTHER HIM. He actually doesn’t get bothered by anything we bring to Him. Isaiah 40:28 says, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does NOT faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” He UNDERSTANDS our struggle.

Second, take that prayer a step further…to supplication. The Greek word for supplication means, “a heartfelt petition stemming from deep personal need.” It’s earnestly crying out to God and asking for help. Help to overcome the anxiety. If you’re like me, you may have thought the answer to your anxiety is to lose weight or be able to stick to a restricted diet. God may have something completely different in mind. It’s a matter of crying out to God and saying, “Lord, I don’t know how to think about this. Please change my thinking so that it aligns with Yours.” Just watch, little by little, from one degree of glory to the next, you will see God transform your thinking so that honoring His name becomes a higher priority than honoring your scale. Yikes. Does that sound harsh? Maybe…but I know for me, the scale was the false measure of my righteousness for years, not the true free gift of righteousness that comes through Jesus.

The third purple replacement for the red thoughts of anxiety is thankfulness. God wants us to talk to Him, to cry out to Him, and to thank Him. Sometimes when we’re feeling anxious, the last thing we want to do is thank Him. I know for me, anxiety gets my heart racing, I breathe faster, and I can’t think straight. So, replacing the red with purple might look something like, “Lord, I need You! I’m in distress. Please, please, please help!!!” How do I turn that to thankfulness??? Sometimes, I’m calm enough that I can just pray about reasons I’m thankful, but sometimes my mind can’t even think of one verse to latch onto. That’s when I go to the ABC’s. I just take one letter at a time and thank God for an attribute. You may have heard me say this before, but it’s still true…and sometimes it needs to be repeated. I might say, Lord, thank You that You have A-dopted me. You give me B-reath. You are so C-ompassionate. You D- eliver me from my fears…and so on.

Sometimes, the biggest thing we have to overcome is not the anxiety, but the desire to stay anxious. It’s easier to be anxious. But anxiety left to itself will only breed more anxiety. God has something better…the promise of vs. 7.

Vs. 7 ~ “And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” With anxiety comes more anxiety. By laying our anxieties before the Lord, He replaces our anxiety, even about our weight or diet, with peace. This isn’t just any peace. This is peace that goes beyond anything we can understand. It’s supernatural. It guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. It guards our hearts so that we learn to love what HE loves and hate what HE hates. Our hearts are where we find the source of our desires and choices. His peace guards our hearts so that even our desires change, so that we make choices that bring more peace. The choice may have absolutely nothing to with what you put in your mouth. It may be a choice to love someone by eating something they made for you even though it doesn’t fit with your ideal of what a perfect food is…as though food was either morally good or morally bad. I don’t know if you’re like me, but I can’t count the number of times I went to dinner with a friend or had a family holiday meal where I was more focused on the food than loving and enjoying the people I was with. God is teaching me the peace of loving the people I’m with and seeing food just for what it is…food.

God guards our hearts and He guards our minds with His peace. He guards our minds by renewing them so that we THINK differently. We dwell on different thoughts. We’ll get to that in vs. 8.

What’s the red? Trying to find peace in having a perfect body image or eating all the “right” foods. It’s thinking that if we could just lose those few pounds or stop eating that certain food, everything would be okay. It only breeds more anxiety, because our hearts are set on the wrong desires, making the wrong choices…and we can’t get our minds to stop dwelling on the things that breed the anxiety.

What’s the purple? Letting God’s peace guard and protect our hearts and our minds by focusing our attention on what’s true…which takes us to verse 8. Vs. 8 ~ “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” To rejoice in the Lord always, to be gentle to everyone (even to our bodies), to be free of anxiety, to be in constant conversation with God, to be honest with Him and thankful…all take a choice…The choice is where we place our thoughts. Vs. 8 is all purple. As we look at this list, it’s really important that we think of the things that are biblical and not based on our opinions. Our opinions may feel true or just, but they may not be. Jeremiah 17:9 says our “heart is deceitful above all things.” We NEED God’s word in order to know that we’re thinking correctly.

So BIBLICALLY think about the things that are ~

True ~ In relation to our bodies, what’s true? We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14), God cares more about our hearts than our appearance (1 Samuel 16:7), our righteousness is not found on the scale but as a free gift from Jesus (Romans 5:17).

Honorable ~ If you look up scripture about honor on the internet, you’ll find that it’s all about how you treat the Lord and others with dignity and integrity. None of it is focused on how you look. Even 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body,” is all about doing things for HIS glory, not mine or yours. Think about the things that bring Him glory and love others.

Just ~ Think about the things that God says are right, things that please Him. Psalm 19:14 says, “Let the words of my mouth and the mediations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” When you’re stuck on a thought, ask, “Is this thought from the Lord? Does it please Him?” If it isn’t pleasing to Him or from Him, ask Him to help you think about what is. Believe me, I know…we can’t do it without His help!

Pure ~ The Greek word for this is “holy.” Are your thoughts holy before God? If you were in a conversation with Him, would He say, “Yes, this is exactly the way I want you to think”? If the answer is “yes,” wonderful. If it’s “I don’t know,” assume that it’s not and ask Him to help you think differently. If it’s “no,” ask Him to help you to think like He thinks. Use His word to do it.

Lovely ~ The Greek word for this means, “extending toward affection, dearly prized.” Now…the world teaches that we should think of our bodies this way, sort of. We’re taught to strive to get to a place where we can dearly prize our bodies. But God wants our treasure to be in something that will never fade. As I get older, I realize this body absolutely does fade. But His word remains forever. It never fades. What He calls beautiful only gets more beautiful with time and attention…and that is a gentle and quiet spirit. What can you meditate on that helps you grow in gentleness and contentment? I promise you, the answer will never be your body. It’s always found in Him.

Commendable ~ Think about things that are honorable, thought of or spoken of in a “kindly spirit.” Is that how you typically think of your body? It’s not how I think of mine…not without the Holy Spirit’s help. Honestly, the answer may not be to try to talk ourselves into thinking with a “kindly spirit” about our bodies. It may be to focus on other things completely. In fact, it’s probably a good idea NOT to focus on our bodies. Our bodies are jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7). We don’t need to spend all our time thinking about our jars. Jesus is the treasure we hold inside our jars. When Tim asked me to marry him and gave me a ring, I can promise you…the thing I kept staring at was NOT the box it came in.

Excellent ~ There are only 5 occurrences of this word in the original Greek. One of them really caught my attention. It’s from 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the EXELLENCIES of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” So…think about the things that remind you of who you are in Jesus…chosen, His royal priest, holy before Him, belonging to Him…thinking about how awesome it is that He called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Believe me, if you and I are dwelling on these thoughts rather than whether or not we can fit into a size whatever, we will find that the purple is WAY better than the red. (I’m sorry if your favorite color is red. It’s okay to pick different colors. J)

Worthy of praise ~ Again, my friend…how often do you think about your body and NOT think words that have anything to do with praise. We are definitely NOT called to worship our jars of clay, but we’re also not called to trash them with our actions OR our words. This body is a gift from the Lord. And you don’t have to praise your body. In fact, this is a reminder to me that the only person who is worthy of praise is Jesus Christ. Think about HIM. Think about His body, broken for you…not to shame you, but to inspire gratitude. This life is not all there is. We will someday spend eternity with Him. We get to live in the purple forever.

The lyrics to a worship song we sing at church come to mind, “Praise Him like we’re there in glory. Here and now He’s just as holy. Jesus, He’s so worthy of it all.” Yes, He is worthy of praise. Someday, we will have our transformed bodies in heaven…but the exciting thing won’t be that we have our new transformed bodies, the exciting thing is that we’ll get to live with Jesus forever…free from all anxiety…free from anxious thoughts...free from misplaced desires…The red that once existed will be gone… “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

Vs. 9 ~ “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me - practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” And now we come to the final call for how to experience God’s peace over anxiety, how to replace the red with the purple…PRACTICE THESE THINGS. It’s not a one and done thing. We have to keep doing it over and over. Practice it. It will be worth it. The God of peace gives us His peace, and He guards our hearts and minds with His peace. He is near. You will never have to do this alone.

What’s the call? Do this…replace the red with purple…over and over again. You will never regret it. “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” It’s a journey. It’s a practice. It’s worth it. You are not alone.

3.1.2024 // here we go again!

Ugh!!! It’s been one of those days! I saw myself on video, and that same old message started screaming in my head! “You look terrible!!! What have you done to your body?” Panic. Do I go back to the old ways? Do I become a slave to the scale again? Do I pull out my food scale and start weighing all my food so that I get the exact macronutrient percentages? Will that even work?

If I’m being totally honest here, I’m writing this post because I NEED to go back to these truths over and over again. The desire for the perfect pants size continues to pull at my heart. I am “lured and enticed by my own inordinate desire” to be thinner…but that desire “gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown it brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).

Right after those two verses I just quoted, James says, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” I used to talk about those verses with my daughters when there were things they wanted, not bad things…just things. I would say, “If this thing you want is from God, it’s good and perfect, and He will give it to you because He doesn’t withhold good from us. But if it’s not from God, it’s not good and it’s not perfect, and you don’t want it. Not in the long run.”

It’s so much easier to say those words to someone else than it is to live them. But I need to go back to them over and over. If God thought wearing the size I aspire to would be good and perfect for me, I would be that size. Can you say with me, though, if the size we want is not in His plan, it’s not good and perfect and we don’t want it? If being a few pounds heavier makes us more effective for His kingdom work, are we willing to accept that? If our bodies are at a place where the number on the scale won’t budge, are we willing to still live for His honor and glory rather than swinging to the other end of the pendulum and eating everything in sight?

Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom Christ has set you free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Wow. I bet Paul wrote that because we are so prone to submit to a yoke of slavery. My friend, Christ has set you and me free from the slavery of diet culture. Seriously, where in the Bible does it tell us the formula for how much we should weigh and how many calories we should eat? Christ has set us free from slavery. Stand firm…because your flesh, the world, and the enemy of your soul is going to keep trying to put you back into bondage.

“Jonna, are you saying it’s wrong to want to be healthy?” No, I’m saying that it’s enslaving and condemning to live by a standard given by the world of what makes us valuable. I’m saying the religion of diet culture IS another gospel, and it’s not from the Lord. What is diet culture, you ask? According to Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, diet culture is a system of beliefs that ~

Worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue, which means you can spend your whole life thinking you’re irreparably broken just because you don’t look like the impossibly thin “ideal.”
Promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status.
Demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others, which means you’re forced to be hyper-vigilant about your eating, ashamed of making certain food choices, and distracted from your pleasure, your purpose, and your power. (I would say here, it distracts you from God’s pleasure, God’s purpose, and God’s power…which is way bigger than mine. Even Christy Harrison, who doesn’t know the Lord, recognizes the slavery of diet culture.)

It’s not just about being on a diet, it’s making the way you eat and how you pursue it your religion. It’s “a different gospel.” Paul said in Galatians 1:6, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—” A few verses later, he added, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” This desire to please man (or self) rather than God is such a huge temptation for me! But Jesus has set you and me free! We don’t have to be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. I’m not talking about freedom to eat everything in sight. I’m talking about freedom to not equate your body with your righteousness or value. You’re more than your body. Eating to take care of your body as God’s temple is a good thing. But eating to worship your temple is slavery and sin. I know, because I did it for decades, and the lure of going back there entices me all the time.

To help give a little more perspective to this, I’d like to quote Galatians 5:2-9 in my own words. In the original passage, Paul was telling the believers that they had falsely chosen a different gospel that lifted up a rule for gaining their righteousness…circumcision. It was doing the same thing that diet culture does with us today…misplaces our worship, promotes something other than faith in Christ as a way to attain value, demonizes and shames us about things that don’t come from God. So, in my “translation” of these verses, I will not be using the word, “circumcision,” but inserting the rules from diet culture that get us tripped up so that we miss the grace of God.

Galatians 5:2-9 paraphrased ~

“Look: I, Jonna, say to you that if you accept diet culture’s rules for your righteousness and value, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts diet culture’s rules that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You have to do it all…exercise 2 hours a day, weigh your food, count your macronutrients, weigh yourself daily, cut out food groups, only eat in a specific window…it’s exhausting and often, it throws you into moments of bingeing because you’ve restricted to the point that your body fights back…and then you feel shame!!! You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by your appearance; you have fallen away from grace…Know this: His favor rests on you regardless of your size. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. We wait for the hope of righteousness, not the hope of a smaller size. For in Christ Jesus neither heavier nor thinner counts for anything, but only faith working through love. God celebrates your heart, not your size. You were running well…the race that is set before you, with your eyes on Jesus. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Your value is not measured by the number on the scale. This persuasion is not from Him who calls you. God never told you that your appearance has to be perfect. In fact, He said that He doesn’t look at the outward appearance, but at the heart. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Even if you think focusing on diet or exercise for your worth just a little bit won’t cause damage, it will. It will spread through your mind so that it’s all you can think about.”

Is it wrong to eat healthy? No. Is it wrong to obsess about healthy? Yes, because when we obsess about it, it becomes more important than our relationship with God. Is it wrong to be thin? No. Is it wrong to think that our value is tied up in being thin? Yes. You are more than the number on the scale. God gives us value that isn’t dependent on our appearance. Is it wrong to exercise? No. Is it wrong to obsess about exercise so that you can control your appearance? Yes. Is the answer to just eat everything in sight or stop exercising? No! That’s ALSO choosing another gospel. And like all other gospels besides the Gospel of Jesus, it’s all about honoring self.

Honoring God WITH our bodies vs. honoring our bodies is a fine line, but a very important one. The difference between honoring God with your body and honoring your body may not even be completely noticeable on the outside, but it’s found in the motives of our hearts.

If you read this and think, “This is me. I’m choosing another gospel! How do I stop?” I want to encourage you to cry out to God and ask Him for help. One of the sneaky little lies we start to believe when we embrace “another gospel” is that we have to leave God out of this area of our lives. But He doesn’t want us to do that! Ask Him to help you understand how to honor Him with your body and not honor your body to the point that you forget Him. So often, it’s not that God isn’t interested in helping us, it’s that we don’t want His help because we’re afraid of what that will lead to. If I choose God over diet culture, will He make me fat? That’s the fear. God has something so much better for us than the gospel of diet culture. For freedom He has set us free! With His help, we can learn not to be burdened again and again and again by the slavery of diet culture. The wonderful thing about the Gospel of Jesus is that it starts with relationship! There is no relationship with the gospel of diet culture. Just an elusive voice that demands allegiance and condemns all our efforts. But with Jesus, we have relationship, communication, love. He cares about EVERY aspect of our lives, even this one.

So that’s my one tip for you today…Bring it all to the Lord. Confess where you’ve placed higher importance on your appearance than on your one true God. Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but she who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” Ask Him to lead you to the truth and freedom of honoring Him with your body. He says, “Come to Me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke (my way of thinking and doing) upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). My friend, seek the Lord and enjoy the peace and joy and rest that comes with His gospel. No shame from Him. No demonizing. Only grace.

2.15.2024 // Do all to the glory of god

I look at the verse and scratch my head. What does it mean? “Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” How do I eat to the glory of God? I look back on lists of scripture I’ve put together in the past, and I realize I was unknowingly taking some scripture way out of context in order to justify restricting whole food groups and making rules about how many calories I could consume. If I went over my allotted portion even by a fraction, I considered it sin and felt shame. Is that what eating to the glory of God is supposed to be? Following a bunch of rules? Taking out food groups that He created? As I’ve started opening my eyes to what God is truly saying, I realize that I’ve been thinking all wrong.

So…what DOES His word say about what I should eat and how I should eat? It really doesn’t say much at all!!! It’s way more about our attitudes with food than it is about what we actually eat. Body Image Coach, Heather Creekmore says, “Concepts espoused by diet culture come from people, not scripture.” Let me show you some things I found as I actually stopped inflicting scripture with my opinion and just looked at what it says.

First, as is true of so many things in life, food is meant to give us a deeper understanding of the Lord’s character. Here are some passages ~

Isaiah 55:1-2 ~ “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” I don’t think God is speaking of having a food pantry for us in heaven. He’s telling us how He wants to satisfy us…and it doesn’t cost us anything. I also notice that he doesn’t say, “Come and I will give you the best kale you’ve ever tasted.” He talks about delighting in RICH food! That may even include chocolate! (Or white chocolate for me...or even kale if you really love it. Personally, I LOVE roasted brussle sprouts.)
Psalm 63:5 ~ “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.” If we’ve never tasted fat and rich food, how will we ever understand what it means to be satisfied?
Psalm 34:8 ~ “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” To taste good food is to get a taste of what it means to know that the Lord is good. Picture your favorite food at the holidays. Imagine taking the first bite of that food, how your mouth was filled with that savory joy and you couldn’t wait to taste the next bite. That’s the kind of taste God wants us to experience with Him.
1 Peter 2:2-3 ~ “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” Think about a baby, rooting his little lips, fussing and crying, until his mama finally gives him that milk…how his whole little body calms, his tears stop…he’s satisfied with its goodness. That picture is what the Lord uses to show us how to be satisfied with the Lord’s goodness.
John 6:35 ~ “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.’” Do you know what it feels like to be so thirsty you feel like you can’t make it another minute without something to drink? Or to be so ravenous that you feel light headed and sick to your stomach? Jesus says He is what we need. With Him, there will always be a steady flow of the spiritual nourishment we need.

These are just a “taste” of the passages that use food to point us to Jesus. So…why would our culture give us such a skewed understanding of food? I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the one behind the world’s culture, the devil, would try to condemn bread when Jesus called Himself the bread of life. He tries to condemn food…because God calls food good, and he tries to destroy or distort anything God calls good.

Does God call food good, though? Don’t take my word for it. See what the following passages have to say about food itself. ~

Deuteronomy 26:9 (Speaking of what God did for the Israelites when He delivered them out of slavery in Egypt) ~ “And He brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land FLOWING with milk and honey.” That’s dairy and sugar!!! It was a gift, a blessing, not a punishment.
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 ~ “I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.” Food is God’s gift to man??? Yes, it’s a gift!!!
Ecclesiastes 9:7 ~ “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine (I interpret that as tea…hahaha) with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.” What? God wants us to eat with JOY??? And He APPROVES of us eating???
Proverbs 24:13-14 ~ “My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” Ohhhh…honey is good and sweet…and it helps me to see that God’s wisdom is good and sweet. So it’s not that I should AVOID honey. It’s not that I should HOARD honey. It’s that I should let honey point me to the Lord.
Psalm 136:25 ~ “(It is) He who gives food to all flesh, for His steadfast love endures forever.” Whoa! The food we eat is a reminder of God’s LOVE that endures forever!!! Is that what you normally think of when you bite into your meal?
Nehemiah 8:10 ~ “Then he said to them, ‘Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’” God had Nehemiah say this to Israelites who were grieving over their sin when hearing the words of the Law. God comforted them with food! He told them He was joyful over them, and He told them to eat the fat… because it was a holy day to the Lord. Do you know that there are actually a lot more passages about feasting in scripture than there are about fasting?
1 Timothy 4:1-5 ~ “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” Diet culture requires abstinence from foods that GOD CREATED to be received WITH THANKSGIVING by those believe and know THE TRUTH.

How do we glorify God in our eating and drinking? We recognize that He’s given it to us to show us His joy and His love. He’s given it to us as a gift. And we glorify Him by receiving it in prayer…thanking Him for it and recognizing that it’s made holy by the word of God and prayer.

You may be thinking, “Wait a minute, Jonna. You have to be so careful. If you let people think they can enjoy their food and even eat dairy, bread, and sugar…who knows what kind of crazy things will happen!!! Paul spoke to something like that in the book of Galatians. People were trying to create rules because they thought people would go crazy with their freedom in Christ and just start sinning. In Romans he talked about how we’re not under law but under grace, and people were concerned that he was giving them permission to sin. But Paul knew, living by rules for our righteousness is not what gets us any closer to God. AND living selfishly as though we’re entitled to our freedom will not get us any closer to God. The question is not about what we eat, when we eat, or how much we eat. The question is about what our attitude is IN our eating. Can you receive God’s wonderful gift of food with thanksgiving? Can you believe that He WANTS you to enjoy it as His gift to you? Can you let your meals point you to the beauty of Jesus?

Remember what Jeremiah said about intimacy with God in Jeremiah 15:16, “Your words were found and I ate them. And Your word became to me a joy, and the delight of my soul.” Jesus wants you to savor His word with joy and delight as you savor food.

Remember what Jesus said to you and me in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and EAT WITH HIM and HE WITH ME.” Jesus wants to eat dinner with you!!!

I’d like to give you a challenge as you approach your meals whenever possible. It’s a challenge I’m taking, and I’ll be honest…it’s really hard for me to do. Here’s the challenge…

When you sit down for a meal…first of all…sit down for the meal…and then take one minute to take slow deep breaths to calm your soul.
As you do, invite the Lord to enjoy the meal with you. Tell Him that you’re ready to receive it with thankfulness.
While you eat, talk to Him about what you’re tasting and what you’re thankful for. And enjoy the people you’re with, too!
Ask the Lord to help you understand His view of the food you eat.

Let’s let food nourish us so that we have energy to serve the Lord. And let it be a reminder to us of the goodness, generosity, and provision of the Lord…as we eat and drink and glorify Him.

Blessings,
Jonna

PS. I recently finished a 12-module course called “Freedom from Body Shame” with Heather Creekmore. She has a podcast called, “Compared to Who.” She invited me to join her on her podcast so that I could share my story. If you’re interested, please feel free to click on the following links. The first half of the interview aired on February 2nd and the second aired on February 6th. I’d love to hear your thoughts, and if you feel like you need more help to overcome your struggles, please reach out. I’d love to talk to you about it.

February 2nd ~ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/compared-to-who-body-image-for-christian-women/id1448403677?i=1000643923537

February 6th ~ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/compared-to-who-body-image-for-christian-women/id1448403677?i=1000644336687

2.1.2024 // A Psalm to the Lord, NOT to my Idols

I love the psalms. They’re so honest. They’re filled with every emotion, and they reveal what’s in my heart. Sometimes I’ll look at a psalm and realize that I’ve been saying the words to the wrong god. I’ve been devoting what belongs only to the one true God to little g gods…idols…things that take precedence over God in my heart. My natural inclination is to just heap more shame on my head when I realize what I’m doing…shame that I can’t please my little god, and shame that I’ve been trying to please the wrong god. But shame only keeps me from going to my God. That’s not His desire. He wants relationship with you and me.

I’d like to share with you how I use a psalm to pray to the Lord and surrender my idols to Him. He is so faithful to help us crush those idols and find the freedom, peace, and joy in Him that only comes from Him.

But first, how do we know if something is an idol? We don’t typically have a carved image somewhere in our house that we bow to everyday, but be sure…the unseen idols are just as prevalent as if we did. Here’s how we can know what we’re placing as too high of a priority in our lives. How would you answer the following questions?

What does your mind dwell on when you’re not intentionally thinking about something?
What do you most tend to spend money on, or would spend your money on if you could?
What is so important to you that you’re willing to sin, to dishonor God, to get it?
What would cause you to sin if you had it but it was taken away, even for a while?

As I ponder these questions, I know that one idol I need to continue to crush is my body image. I spent years trying to discipline my body with how I ate and exercised so that I could BE that carved image, an image I would never achieve. I thought about it all the time. I spent money on supplements and special foods. If I couldn’t exercise for whatever reason, I got angry and panicky…as if missing one day of exercise would ruin everything. Even with all the work I put in, if I did achieve my goal, I would have to change it because I realized that my goal wasn’t enough. That’s the thing about idols. They always demand but they never deliver. It’s exhausting!

So today, I would like to let you in on my prayer to the Lord about this, using Psalm 63. And then I’d like to encourage you to examine your heart, see what idols try to steal your worship, and offer your own psalm of prayer to the Lord.

Psalm 63 ~

Vs. 1 “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

O God, I have not treated You like my God. I have gone after other gods. I have earnestly sought after having that perfect body image. My soul would thirst for fitting into those jeans. My flesh would faint from cutting back calories so that I could achieve my dream. It was empty. It WAS a land without water.

Now that I recognize it, please help me to seek You with my whole heart, to thirst for You, knowing that You say, “If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink.” You are the well that never runs dry.

Vs. 2 ~ “So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.”

O Lord, when I looked upon the god of physical beauty in the sanctuary of the gym, I would behold its power and glory and only feel panic and shame…because I was never made to live for physical beauty. I was made to live for You.

When I look at You I see loving power, grace, and Your glory that crowns me with steadfast love and compassion. My idol never offered me compassion, only judgment.

Vs. 3 ~ “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”

Your love is better than a perfect body. Your love is better than perfect health. I could fill in the blank with anything, and Your love would still be better. So let my lips praise You.

The idol of physical beauty never offered me love. It demanded perfection. You loved me before I even knew what love was. Even when I’ve run after other gods, You still loved me and waited for me so that You could be gracious to me (Isaiah 30:18). Let my lips praise You for Your faithful love.

Your love is sacrificial, it’s patient, it’s undying. What could possibly be worth more?

Vs. 4 ~ “So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.”

I tried to bless the religion of beauty. I tried to lift up my hands, but it continued to say that I wasn’t enough. I wasn’t worthy. You receive my weak blessings. You see my hands lifted to You and You smile. Let me keep running to You.

Vs. 5-6 ~ “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;”

My soul was never satisfied by trying to serve my body image idol. Fat and rich foods were sin according to the religious rules of beauty. You say I can be satisfied. You let me taste fat and rich foods so that I can experience Your goodness, the priceless gift of knowing You.

When I would meditate in the middle of the night on what I could eat the next day or what exercise routine I was going to attack, I would only have worry and anxiety. What if it wasn’t enough? But when I meditate on You, on Your kindness and goodness, Your authority and power, I find myself drifting off into sweet sleep, knowing that You keep me safely through the night.

Vs. 7-8 ~ “for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

Diet culture has never been my help. It’s only given me expectations I could never live up to. I asked You to help me to be better at living for my idol. You said You had something better for me…freedom from shame.

To know You and to experience Your help only makes me want to cling to You that much more. As an eagle mama places her wing over her babies for protection, You place Your wing over me. As I rest in Your shadow my anxiety is replaced with joy. My desire for physical beauty is slowly being replaced with a desire for the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in Your sight is very precious. O Lord, I want to be beautiful to You. It’s a deeper, eternal beauty that never fades with age.

Vs. 9-10 ~ “But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals.”

The religion of physical beauty is not my friend. It uses fear to make me think I have to do things that You never told me I had to do. The beauty idol is broken into pieces in Your presence. It seeks to destroy me but it will be destroyed.

Vs. 11 ~ “But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.”

O Lord, let me take joy in You alone, not in an idol that has no power or authority or love. You will stop its lies. I will exult in You, and not in the lies. Please help me to crush the lies.

That’s my heart, my friend. It’s a daily battle to crush this beauty idol that keeps trying to rear its ugly head. But with every little victory, the lies become more clear and the truth becomes more beautiful.

Now it’s your turn. One of the things that keeps us from taking this idol to the Lord in surrender is that we think it’s too silly, too crazy that it’s so important to us. It’s embarrassing. But He already knows the struggle, and He wants to help you overcome the struggle. As you come to Him, I pray that you will find His love to be more vibrant, more present in your life than you ever expected, that His love is even better than life.

Imperishable Beauty Blessings,
Jonna

1.15.2024 // heartwash

I was praying for my grandsons the other day and thinking about how thankful I am that their parents are so faithful to teach them about Jesus and to pray with them. Then I got this crazy thought… “I bet some people would accuse them of brainwashing their kids.”

As I thought about it, I realized something really important. The word is “BRAINwash” not “HEARTwash.” You can fill a person’s MIND with anything, but it isn’t until the person embraces the truth in her heart that it is embedded. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your HEART with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” In Matthew 6:21, Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your HEART be will be also.” So…my kids can teach their kids ALL about Jesus. But at some point, my grandkids will have to decide whether or not they will embrace the truth of scripture in their hearts.

Why do I bring this up? Because I was brainwashed. And I wonder if you were, too. I was told from the time I was a child, whether it was through observation of what people responded to or magazine pictures or how people were treated based on their appearance, that I would not be valuable unless I fit the ever changing mold of what was considered beautiful. And somewhere along the way, my heart embraced it. I created an ideal body image in my mind that was unattainable…and yet it demanded my allegiance.

Other women grow up in the same kind of environment I did and don’t have the same response…because their heart doesn’t embrace the message being pushed by our culture. Believe it or not there are actually living, breathing women who are comfortable in their bodies, who don’t cringe when they see pictures of themselves, and who don’t make it their life’s mission to perfect their appearance…or live in shame because they know they can’t…and they come in all shapes and sizes! How is that possible??? Their hearts have not bought into what their minds have been told. They have chosen to believe a different narrative.

I thought if I could just get my body to that target of the perfect weight and the perfect look…to be trendy, but not draw too much attention to myself…I’m a Christian woman after all…THEN I would be able to rest and be content. But it doesn’t work that way. Once we achieve our goal, we realize we’re not satisfied, so we have to go after a new, more stringent goal. It’s a never ending mission…and it never brings the satisfaction we wanted. It certainly never did for me.

As I racked my brain over this shattering struggle…wondering how in the world can I get over this lie that I’m believing about what makes me valuable…I realized that all the knowledge about the truth in the world will not change me. It contributes to the change for sure…but it isn’t until my HEART anchors into that truth that I will finally be free.

So…if the brainwash of outward beauty perfection took years of listening to the world’s view of beauty and then pursuing more and more knowledge about it, then I have to conclude that it’s going to take a long time to pour ourselves into listening to and studying the truth of God’s word…and rejecting the lies over and over again…Most importantly, we have to keep surrendering ourselves to the Lord and asking the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts to be like Jesus…to love what He loves, to embrace what He says is valuable. And somewhere along the way, little by little, God will change our HEARTS.

Let’s not miss the fact that there is a spiritual component with the enemy. He hates the idea of our minds changing, because as long as he can keep us focused on the lie, we will be less effective for the kingdom of God. He whispers accusations and manipulations to us. He works with our own desires to get us distracted from what really matters. He’s really good at it. But “greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

So what do we do? Do we throw out the mind? No. Romans 12:1-2 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your MIND, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” So, yes, we allow our minds to be renewed. But we do that by embracing the truth with our hearts. Your mind will only be changed when your heart is transformed. Your heart will only be transformed when you set your mind on what’s true. Oh…and by the way, your heart will not be transformed by you. Your job is to turn to God and fix your eyes on Him. The Holy Spirit is the One who transforms you. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that He transforms you one degree of glory to the next as you turn to Him and behold His glory. Yes, that means that the change comes little by little.

There are two really important things to remember about this. First, heart change is not a one and done thing. You are in a war, with many many battles. This struggle will not be overcome with one decision. The decision to turn to God is the turning point, but know that your heart change will be little by little. Prepare yourself for that, and then you won’t be surprised or ashamed when you see the struggle returning over and over again. The good news is, the more battles you face, the quicker you’ll learn to turn to the Lord, and the better you’ll get at fighting off the lies. Second and even more difficult, your feelings can only indicate where your heart is, but they cannot rule your heart. Feelings love to attach themselves to the heart, but they will take your heart on a very scary rollercoaster ride. The way you get it from your head to your heart is by acknowledging your feelings to the Lord, but engaging your MIND with the truth of His word.

Have scripture ready so that when your feelings fight to take over, you can speak the truth to your heart…over and over again. Believe me, I am writing this to you today because I NEED to be reminded of it. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been tempted to go back to my old way of thinking…and I know the war is not over for me. But every time I’m tempted, I cry out to the Lord and tell Him I’m struggling, and He gently brings me back to Him and the truth.

I want to encourage you to go through the scriptures about your heart listed below. You may even pick a few to memorize for those surprise attacks when you need something to help you fight off those blindsiding temptations. For each scripture ~

Ask the Lord to help you learn what He wants to teach you.
Rephrase them in your own words.
List the verbs (action words) and write down which ones are talking about God, and which are about you.
Write down what you see that makes God worth loving.
Write down what you’ll apply to your life.
Write down what fears you have or what obstacles are in your way.
Write a prayer to God, telling Him what you learned.
Meditate on those words over and over again.

Scripture ~
Psalm 19:14
Psalm 51:10
Psalm 86:11
Psalm 119:10-11
Proverbs 3:5-6
Proverbs 4:23
Proverbs 27:19
Jeremiah 17:9/Hebrews 4:12
Jeremiah 29:13
Matthew 6:21
Romans 10:9-10
2 Thessalonians 3:5

What do you think? Are you up for the challenge? I’d love to hear from you about it!

Blessings,
Jonna

1.3.2024 // treasured resolutions

Happy New Year!!! Can I ask you something? Are you like me? Do you like to make New Year’s Resolutions? Some people don’t like to make them because they know they’re almost impossible to stick to. I still like to make them. But before I make resolutions, I like to look back on the year that is ending and think about the blessings that came over that year. What did the Lord do? What were the accomplishments? What am I thankful for? Where did I grow? Where do I still need to grow?

A few years ago, when I was thinking of my blessings and my resolutions, I realized something interesting. None of the blessings I listed had anything to do with what I ate or what size I wear…but most of the resolutions had everything to do with what I ate or what size I wear? If the blessings, the things that really matter to me, don’t have anything to do with my body, should I put all my energy into resolutions that do?

As I think of my blessings, and my resolutions, one passage comes to mind. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). What I realized as I thought about my blessings and my resolutions and this passage, is that my blessings are all about treasures in heaven, and my resolutions are all about treasures on earth! But the things of earth…having a perfect body, knowing how to beat my body into submission and eat all the right foods…they fade away. I especially realized this as I was checking out my profile to make sure my hair was laying correctly on one side, and I saw what they call the “turkey” coming down from my chin!!! As I get older, I’m watching thieves break in and steal my youth right out from under me!!!

But the wonderful thing is, that’s not what God treasures and that’s not what He wants me to treasure. I don’t know about you, but I have been so programmed by the world that I have thought my own value is staunchly rooted in my appearance. I noticed this as I was asked to be in a picture at a baby shower just recently. This wonderful young woman who I love and had prayed for since she was in junior high, and her husband, had finally been able to adopt a sweet baby after 2 ½ years of waiting, and when I was asked to be in a picture to commemorate the celebration of this little one, I just wanted to stand in the back so that I wouldn’t be seen. After praying about my dread of that picture, I saw that what really matters is not that I either do or don’t look aesthetically pleasing for a photograph…but that the love and joy of Jesus exude from my face. Isn’t that what God treasures?

God’s treasure for us is to present us holy and blameless before Him, with His light shining through us…no matter what size we are or how big our bones are. I bet when we get to heaven and see Him in all His beauty and majesty, we won’t be asking HIM to step on a scale to make sure He’s valuable enough. And He won’t be asking us to do that either. My friend, He treasures YOU, not for what you look like, but just because He loves you. You are more to Him than a photograph.

Some might feel very uncomfortable and say, “Jonna, stop saying these things. You’re giving people permission to just eat everything in sight and be fat!” No…I’m saying that we need to shift our focus. When the church was first formed, Jewish believers were telling Gentile believers they had to live by the Jewish law in addition to Christ’s gift of salvation. They argued that you can’t tell people they get to live by grace because they’ll abuse it and say they have freedom to sin! Paul argued that God’s grace gave us the freedom to live for Him, and the strength to turn away from sin. It’s the same thing here. Setting our treasures in heaven with Him gives us the freedom to honor Him with our bodies, without the constant shame and condemnation of diet culture’s accusations that we’ll never measure up. When we treasure what God treasures, we don’t swing to either side of the pendulum ~ living by all kinds of rules on one side and throwing out all the rules on the other side. No. We choose to live by grace, with our treasures focused on the treasures of heaven…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

What is real self control? It is walking by the Spirit so that you and I can keep our eyes on the treasure. It may have nothing to do with restricting foods or making ourselves exercise, and everything to do with keeping our minds from focusing on the moth eaten, rusty treasures of earth…Spirit driven self control is intentionally focusing and refocusing our minds on the Lord when our temptation is to focus on ourselves. I promise you, it will take so much Spirit driven, fruitful self control to NOT wrap our treasures in what the world values, and to put our heart’s treasures in what God values. It took however long it’s taken for you to get to this spot you’re in. Getting rid of earthly treasures will not be done without a very intentional, persistent fight. So often, instead of getting rid of those treasures, we try to cover up the moth and rust with more earthly treasures. God has something so much better for us.

How do we know if our treasures are in heaven or on earth? Let me answer that with a question. If an angel appeared to you today and said, “I have been sent by God to give you a choice. You can have the perfect body, eat everything you want without gaining weight, and have perfect health…but you won’t have peace or contentment OR you can have constant peace, joy, and contentment in the Lord, but you will weigh more and not have the perfect body (by the world’s standards)”, which would you choose? Your true answer to that question will help you see where your treasure is. I know you know the right answer, but are you a little tempted to pick the perfect body? I know my mind goes there. But then I have to take those thoughts captive, confess my need for help, and turn my attention back on the Lord…and then the peace floods back in.

So, my friend, as you start this new year of 2024, will you take a challenge with me? And please, feel free to hold me accountable! This getting rid of earthly treasures is SO HARD!!! But WORTH IT!!! Here’s the challenge…

Memorize Matthew 6:19-21. Ask the Lord to expose your earthly treasures that your heart is set on. Then ask Him to help you surrender those earthly treasures to Him in exchange for His heavenly treasures.
As you study scripture, always compare what it says about God with what you think you’ll get from achieving perfect health or a perfect body. Talk to the Lord about it. See if it’s worth it to hold onto those earthly treasures that waste away.
Consider your blessings from the last year. What really matters?

As I consider my blessings from this last year, I realize that the only blessing that has anything to do with my body is the blessing that the Lord has been helping me to release those earthly treasures so that I can anchor my heart on things that are so much better. All of my other blessings have to do with what the Lord has done in my life, and the people He’s put in my life.

Here is a list of my resolutions as I look forward to 2024. I’m going to print these resolutions and put them on my bathroom mirror so that I can be reminded of them every day.

My resolutions for 2024:

I will consistently read His word and look for the reasons it’s better to set my heart and my treasures in heaven rather than according to what the world defines as worthy.
When tempted to focus on my body, I will ask the Lord to help me to have what He calls “imperishable beauty,” a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4).
When tempted to check myself in the mirror or feel my stomach to see whether it’s flatter or fatter, I will ask the Lord to help me to remember that I am chosen and cherished by Him…unconditionally…and drop my arms!
I will walk in the steps of Jesus’ example by the power of the Holy Spirit, and ask Him for the fruit of self control, so that I am able to recognize when I’m focusing on earthly treasures, confess it as sin, and use the Spirit’s fruit of self control to turn my heart and my focus back to Him and the imperishable, unfading, and undefiled treasures of heaven. (I will know when my mind is set on earthly treasures because I will feel anxious, afraid, hopeless, angry, or out of control. I will know when my mind is set on the treasures of heaven with the Lord because I will have peace and joy.)
I will say to the Lord every day, “I am Your servant. Whatever You want this day to look like, I will serve You (and not me).”
I will choose to make every single day about magnifying the Lord and lifting His name high, and not my own name…even when the day is hard.
I will choose to take joy in the Lord every day, and not spend my energy trying to take joy in myself…no matter what the cost.

Can you imagine if you join me on the challenge and the resolutions, and we are able to get rid of those earthly treasures and embrace the heavenly ones? What will our blessings look like at the end of 2024??? Oh my friend, I hope and pray you’ll say with me, “Challenge accepted.”

Heavenly beauty blessings,
Jonna

12.15.2023 // time to make the donuts

“Time to make the donuts.” Does that sound familiar? If you were born after 1984 it probably isn’t. But for me, I immediately hear Fred the donut man in the Dunkin Donuts commercials saying in his exhausted voice as he stumbles to the door, “Time to make the donuts” over and over again. I imagine him being so excited when he first got the job to make the donuts…and then getting a little more tired each year as the excitement was replaced with obligation. Why do I bring this up???

It’s Christmas season…a time when we celebrate what the angels said to the shepherds in the field the night Jesus was born, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” Glory to God…peace. Celebration. But…is that what we celebrate? Glory to God? Peace? Or does this season become one of the most chaotic times of the year where we forget the glory of God and we have no peace? Does it become a time when we’re more worried about the weight we will gain from all the feasting, than feasting on the fact that God is good? Do we miss the peace of God and replace it with the chaos of buying presents, wrapping presents, going to parties, fear of weight gain, looking good in our Christmas sweaters, and all the things? Are we saying like Fred, “Time to make the cookies” or “time to wrap the presents” in our exhausted tone???

Okay…yes…it’s easy to get caught up in the chaos…so what do we do about it? I believe it doesn’t start with DO, it starts with BE. BE in His presence. Set your mind on Him. One of the hardest things to overcome in following the Lord is the false belief that we have to earn God’s favor. I mean, the verse says, “Peace among those with whom He is pleased,” right? So…what do you have to do to please Him? The answer lies in one word…faith.

Glory to God and peace with Him cannot come without faith. It is completely against everything we’re being taught in this world. We are supposed to do everything we can to earn glory for ourselves, and we think when we accomplish that elusive goal that we can’t even put our finger on to define, then we will have peace. But just imagine what your life will look like if everything you do and think is anchored in the absolute security of knowing that Jesus is who He says He is…that your value is not based on looking a certain way or living up to an impossible standard…whatever that standard is that you’ve set in your mind.

What is this faith? A lot people, whether believers in Jesus or not, have signs up that say, “Believe.” But…believe in what??? It’s not just faith. It’s where your faith is anchored. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It’s the assurance that, though we can’t see God, He is there. He is sovereign, powerful, wise, good, holy. He is love. He loves you to the point of death. It’s assurance…being absolutely convinced. It’s conviction…the inner man, deep in my soul, I can’t be moved from this spot persuasion that God is who He says He is, and does what He says He will do. Hebrews 11:2 says, “For by faith the people of old were commended,” because “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). The people were commended for their FAITH, not their perfectly decorated cookies. Here’s what blows me away. The rest of Hebrews 11:6 says what we need to anchor our faith in… “For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him.”

To believe that God exists is to believe a lot more than just that He’s out there somewhere. It’s to believe that He is everything He says He is. It’s to believe that what matters to Him is what matters…so the things that the world teaches about what matters don’t really matter. The world teaches that you have to look a certain way, that you have to be all about making yourself worthy of receiving glory…In this season, it’s about making sure you make the perfect food, buy the perfect gifts, wrap the perfect presents…all the things. But what matters to God is that you just love Him and His people…which you can’t do without faith in Him.

To believe that God rewards those who seek Him…now this a challenge. I find it to be a challenge in two ways. First, it’s a challenge because I find it hard to believe that He likes to reward me. But Psalm 31:19 says, “Oh, how abundant is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear (worship, trust, believe) You and worked for those who take refuge in You, in the sight of the children of mankind!” Do you believe that God WANTS to lavish you with goodness from His massive storehouse of goodness? If you and I believe that, how will it change the way we handle all the pressures of life? Will we trust that He will either provide us with what we need or help us to see that we don’t need some of those things that we think we need?

The second challenge for me from this verse is that He rewards those who SEEK Him. He rewards those who seek HIM. What are you and I seeking? The perfect body? The perfect appearance of having it all together and being the woman who does it all? Are we seeking glory to GOD in the highest, or glory to ME in the highest? Are we seeking our own way to find peace, or His way?

Okay…so say you and I want to have this faith so that we can give God glory and experience His peace…How? I’d like to look at 2 passages with you to understand this better. The first is Romans 4:20-21, “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith AS he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” This is talking about Abraham. He grew strong in his faith AS he gave glory to God. Not…God gave him faith SO he gave God glory. The way we grow in our faith is by giving God glory. That’s hard! Sometimes it feels like it’s jumping off a cliff. But I promise you, my friend, God is always there to catch you. There will never be a time when you’ll seek to give God glory and He won’t be there to do something amazing as He grows your faith. Can the world deliver on promises like that? No way.

Well, how do we give God glory??? I believe the 2nd passage answers that question. Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” The way we give God glory is we lay aside every weight. This is NOT talking about the number on the scale, but about every weight that keeps us from running to Jesus. In fact, sometimes the weight we need to lay aside IS worrying about the number on the scale.

We also give God glory by laying aside sin which clings so closely. Your flesh WANTS you to cling to sin. It is completely opposed to God. Your flesh WANTS you to think that you have to do all the stuff perfectly, that you will be more valuable as you do. But as you lay all that down, you will find that it’s easier to fix your eyes on the finish line…where Jesus is…and run with endurance…to HIM…in FAITH. What faith? The faith that He has given you…and is now perfecting in you as you run to Him. It’s His literal Christmas present to you…faith.

It's such a beautiful mutual relationship. We run to Jesus, giving Him glory, in faith…and He strengthens us in that faith…He always has…even when it meant going to the cross. He considered it a joy because it honored His Father and it brought us to His Father…into beautiful relationship.

Does all this mean that we don’t buy the presents, wrap the presents, make the cookies, and all the stuff? No. But it means that we do it with a whole new perspective. It’s all about deepening our faith in Him, giving Him glory, and even experiencing His peace in the process. Yes, it’s possible…with Him. So instead of tiredly saying, “Time to make the donuts,” I pray that you and I will be able to sing out with the angels, “Glory to God! Peace!”

Beauty plan:

As you go through this season, take time to read God’s word with fresh eyes. Look for reasons to give Him glory, and reasons to rest in His peace.
When you find yourself getting tired or feeling the pressure of perfection, take a moment to tell Him that you need His help to receive His peace. He wants you to have it. He will give it generously.
When you start to feel the anxiety or worry over the foods that you “shouldn’t” be eating, instead focus your attention on caring for the people who you’re getting to share the meals with.
Have a Merry Christmas, celebrating our Savior. I wish you peace.

Merry Christmas Blessings,
Jonna

12.1.2023 // choices

In Luke 10:48-52 we get a little glimpse into the lives of two women that Jesus loved very much. This is what it says, “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’”

Can you imagine the scene? I don’t know how many people were there, but I’m sure there were a lot more than just Jesus, Martha, and Mary. We know for sure that the disciples were there. I bet there were a lot of people from the village as well. It says Martha “went up to him”. I think that means she stomped right up to Jesus and yelled at Him in front of all her guests! I can only imagine how red Mary’s face must have turned as she heard Martha tell Jesus He needed to make Mary get up and help. She could probably hear Martha’s tone, implying that Mary was LAZY. But that’s not what Jesus thought at all.

It doesn’t say Jesus pulled Martha aside to answer her. So He must have answered her right there in front of everybody! Martha must have been very embarrassed. Yet He was very gentle as He let her know that Mary wasn’t the problem. It wasn’t laziness that brought Mary to sit at Jesus’ feet, it was worship.

I hear a lot of women compare themselves to Martha and Mary in this story. “I have a Martha personality.” But, is this just about personality? Some people are more like Mary and some are more like Martha? It can’t be just about personality. We were designed by God in our mother’s womb. He wouldn’t give us a personality that kept us from obedience. This was about Martha’s need to lay down pride.

Consider her conversation with Jesus. She was distracted with MUCH serving. If all her work was really about serving Jesus, she wouldn’t have been distracted, and she wouldn’t have been serving to the degree she was. What was it really about? Is it that she was finding her worth in being the “Martha Stewart” who does it all? Didn’t you sense a little superiority in her tone when she spoke to Jesus?

She accused Jesus of not caring. Can you imagine? Jesus not caring! But who was really not caring? Wasn’t it Martha who was really not caring about what mattered to Jesus? She was working for her own agenda. She even ordered Jesus to do what SHE wanted, as if what she wanted was better than what Jesus wanted. She didn’t even wait for Jesus to answer. She said, “Don’t you care? Then tell her to help me!” She was thinking, “Obviously, Jesus needs me to help Him to see that Mary is wrong and He should be handling this better.” Now…the passage doesn’t speak to motives, but I wonder if this was less about Martha wanting Mary’s help and more about Martha wanting Jesus’ praise. She probably did a lot of things without anyone’s help a lot of the time. She probably felt that she earned a righteous identity centered around all her “serving.” But is it possible that she was trying to prove her worth, and Jesus was exposing what was really in her heart?

Jesus was so patient and gentle in His response to Martha. He pointed out her anxiety. She was anxious and worried. But He didn’t scold her for yelling at Him.

Why did Jesus wait until Martha confronted Him before speaking? Why didn’t He go to her and say, “Martha, come sit down”? Could it be that He knew how distracted her heart was? Even if He had told her to come and sit down, and even if she had come, I think Jesus knew that she would have been sitting there, not listening to His words of hope, but quietly fretting about all the stuff that needed to get done. How was this going to make her look if she didn’t have the perfect charcuterie board set up when people got hungry?

When He did speak, Jesus tenderly said, “Martha, Martha,” kind of like saying, “Oh sweet Martha, My sweet girl…you are anxious and troubled about MANY things, but one thing, and only one thing is necessary.” In the original language that’s what He said, “One thing and only one thing is necessary.” What is that one thing that was necessary? It was the portion Mary had chosen…to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from Him. Mary chose to hear from the one who says, “Come to Me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…learn from Me. I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your soul.” Truly, Jesus was able to turn a few loaves and fish into enough bread to feed thousands. Did He need Martha to do all that work? Martha was anxious and troubled, and Jesus wanted to give her rest. The only thing necessary for Martha was to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from Him. He says, “That won’t be taken away from you.”

How does this apply to learning to honor the Lord with our bodies? We have to ask ourselves the question, “Am I anxious and troubled about things that aren’t necessary?” Are you worrying about looking a certain way or eating a certain way and saying that it’s how you can serve Jesus? Are you telling Jesus (with or without words) that you know better than He does? Are you demanding that He does what YOU want rather than trying to do what will please Him? Jesus says there is only one thing necessary, and that is to come to Him and learn from Him…and find rest. Jesus doesn’t want us to wrap our lives around looking amazing and doing all the right things. And He doesn’t want us to wrap our lives around thinking that we can just let it all go and do whatever we want. He wants us to wrap our lives around Him…being in relationship with Him.

When you consider Martha and Mary and who you look most like, the big thing to evaluate is not the amount of work one is putting in over the other, but rather…the motivation for each. What was Martha’s motivation? It was probably doing MUCH serving in order to earn her value or find her value in something other than Jesus. She may have said she was serving Jesus, but Jesus didn’t want her to do so much work.

What about Mary? Her motivation wasn’t laziness, it was worship. She wanted to be with Jesus, to learn from Him and just enjoy the sweet pleasure of being in His presence. In terms of honoring God with her body, that’s what Mary was literally doing…choosing His presence over anything else she could have been doing.

Now this was just a sliver in time. You may read this story of Martha and Mary and say, “I want to be a Mary!!!” That’s wonderful. Here’s the hard part. It’s a decision we have to make every single day, every single hour. Both women loved Jesus. Martha may have been serving with anxiety and trouble, but she still did love Jesus. She just needed to recenter her motivation on what really mattered…relationship with Him. You and I can do that every day, every hour, every minute.

So what do we do practically? It starts with our mindset. If you’re feeling anxious or troubled, ask the Lord to show you what you’re anxious or troubled about. Take some time to really evaluate and pray about it. What one thing is taking your attention? What do you find your mind drifting to when you’re not intentionally thinking about something? What one thing do you think Jesus should do for you to make your life easier? Once you have it figured out, ask the Lord to help you to lay it at His feet…and trust that He knows what you really need. Then, as you spend time in the word (hopefully everyday), look for reasons to find pleasure in sitting at Jesus’ feet. What is it about Him that makes learning from Him a wonderful thing? I truly believe that overcoming the anxiety and struggle we have over our body image is far less about what we do, and far more about where we sit. I pray that you and I will continually choose the better portion…to sit with Jesus and learn from Him. The wonderful thing is, He will never take that away.

Blessings,
Jonna

11.15.2023 // The treasure that can't be destroyed

I was going to write to you today about the fact that we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and that we are called to honor Him with our bodies as it says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. But then I realized that I can’t start there. It’s missing too much depth and goodness from God. It’s missing the treasure we have with Him. Matthew 6:19-20 tells us not to store up treasures for ourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal…You know, like doing everything we can to make our bodies look like a treasure, or lamenting the fact that moths and rust seem to be ruining our chances to make our bodies look like a treasure…But instead, God wants us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where nothing can destroy or break in and steal.

Well, why does God want us to put our treasures in heaven? That’s where all HIS treasure FOR US is stored. The treasures He GIVES us are things that moth and rust can’t destroy and where thieves can’t break in and steal. “Oh, how abundant is Your goodness which You have stored up for those who fear (trust and worship) You and worked for those who take refuge in You, in the sight of the children of mankind” (Psalm 31:19). And, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). If I have to choose between door number 1…earthly treasures…or door number 2…heavenly treasures, I think the answer is obvious, right? I don’t know…it just seems that I have been so dumb…thinking the answer isn’t so obvious…I found that I was looking for earthly treasures from Him, not realizing that I’ve been thinking way too small. I have been looking for stuff…for temporary things that look good, feel good, and show me off…things of the world that are passing away. If having a perfect body or being able to eat anything I want without gaining weight were the best treasures He could give, then He would give them to ALL His children. But those are just rusty, moth eaten treasures. What He gives is exponentially more…things like peace, contentment, hope, love, joy, redemption, mercy, grace…things that can’t be taken away…things that aren’t dependent on our size. I praise Him for such generosity.

I don’t know about you, but as I think this through I realize that I have resented Him when He refused to give me the very moth eaten, rusty things that made Jesus come to die. I was fighting for treasures that are trinkets while He was wanting to give me treasures of priceless value. The treasure He gives is freedom from being chained to these things that put our treasures in moth balls…like the chains of perfection, of finding our value in things that fade. Do you realize that this gift of freedom is a gift He’s already given to every single believer in Christ? The chains are already broken. We don’t have to find our value in what the world calls beautiful anymore. We just need to stop picking the chains up and trying to wrap them around our neck, hands, and feet again.

Before we can look at what he’s calling us to do in honoring Him with our bodies, we have to look at what he’s already done for us… And then it all makes sense…It’s not based in shame, but love and hope. In 1 Peter 2:4-5, Jesus Himself is described as “a living stone, REJECTED by MEN, but in the sight of GOD, CHOSEN AND PRECIOUS.” And then it says that you and I “like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.” Do you understand what that means? God is equating us with the righteousness of Jesus, calling US chosen and precious, giving us a whole new, eternal purpose, a new treasure. And it has nothing to do with what we look like. Not sure if you believe me? 1 Peter 2:7 says that “the honor is for you who believe.” Honor…not shame!!! And vs. 9-10 say, “But you are a CHOSEN race, a ROYAL priesthood, a HOLY nation, a people for HIS OWN possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are GOD’S people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” It doesn’t say, “You were chosen…that you may have the perfect shape or be able to eat anything without gaining weight.” If these were important for us in order to fulfill all that He has for us to do, He would provide them.

Once I grasped this treasure God has made ME, I realized…This is way more than just, “Honor God because you belong to Him.” Know that you’re not just a servant in God’s house. You’re HIS OWN. You’re His child. You’re chosen, royal, set apart as holy, precious to Him. And He has poured His mercy all over you. And that’s before you ever lifted a finger to serve Him.
Do you know what diet culture and the world say? They say that you have to keep striving to do and be something that you can never attain. No matter what you do, there will always be another product you need, something else you could do to make your body look better. They motivate you with fear…fear of not measuring up. They do it for money. The more afraid you are of not being what you “should” be in their eyes (something that they can’t even attain), the more you are afraid of moth and rust and thieves, the more money they make. If they can’t get you with products for weight loss or beauty, they’ll get you with antianxiety medication and supplements. 1 Timothy 4 exposes who is behind the “insincerity of these liars whose consciences are seared.” It is “deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.” Yikes! That sounds very harsh. Yes, but it’s very true.

Diet culture motivates with fear and disapproval. God motivates with love and mercy. So when you and I are getting wrapped up in shame about our bodies or feeling like we’ll never be enough, I can promise you…those thoughts are not from the Lord…and those are not treasures from heaven. Once we grasp that, as those who have received the unfading treasure of salvation through Jesus, everything changes! We no longer have to live in shame. We no longer have to measure ourselves by the world’s standards. Our purpose for taking care of our bodies is a whole new purpose. And our motivation is a whole new motivation.

We honor God with our bodies because we are chosen, not rejected…precious, not cast off…royal, not peasants…honored, not shamed…holy (set apart), not evil. We were once nothing, orphans with no home. Now we are God’s people. We were once without hope. Now we are crowned with His mercy that is new every morning (Psalm 103:4, Lamentations 3:22-23).

In light of all that…when you and I grasp that, we can ask the Lord… “How can I honor You with my body? I, as Your chosen child, hold in my heart the most amazing treasure…the precious HOLY SPIRIT who comforts me, teaches me, transforms me, helps me, and seals me so that I never forget that I belong to You. How can I bring You glory?”

When I first started writing this, I was going to talk to you about eating in the way that glorifies God… Not eating too much or too little. I was going to address exercise or movement that honors God…Not moving too much or too little…Doing it all so that we can have the energy and the focus to fulfill the purpose that He has for us. But as I look at where our treasure is, then I realize…that’s what really matters. When you and I understand who we are…chosen and precious and cherished, and that He is pouring HIS treasure into our hearts… It’s no longer a question of HAVE TO… “I have to make sure I honor God with my body”, but GET TO… “I get to be used by God to fulfill a purpose that impacts eternity!” So how do I get the worry of my body image out of the way in order to do that? I can promise you, there will be no fitness instructors or dieticians in heaven. That won’t be our focus. That won’t be our treasure.

Here's how I’d like to suggest that we get rid of the worry over our body image…Not by continuing to tell ourselves to stop it. Instead, can I ask you to make this your focus…Fall more and more in love with Jesus. Remember the treasure you are to Him. What treasure of this earth can possibly be worth more than His love that is yours and can never be stolen or destroyed?

So here’s the beauty regimen ~

As you study scripture, whatever that scripture is, look for reasons to treasure and love the Lord. Weigh them against the reasons you would treasure having a perfect body image or whatever that “thing” is that keeps you stuck. Tell the Lord about it, and ask Him to help you to fall deeper in love with Him.
Recently, I gave a message to our women’s ministry called, Freedom Call: Free to Walk by the Spirit. Please consider watching that message and thinking about how it applies to your struggle with your body. Here’s the link ~ https://summitpoint.org/media/freedom-call-week-5-free-to-walk-by-the-spirit--galatians-513-610-jonna-harkness/

I would love to hear from you. What’s helpful? And what questions can I answer for you? Please don’t hesitate to reach out. I believe that the freedom you and I will find as we treasure the things of heaven rather than the moth eaten, rusty things of earth, we will be filled with peace and joy and that’s way better than wearing a size 2.

Beauty Blessings,
Jonna

11.1.2023 // What do you see?

I don’t know about you, but I do not like pictures of myself. No matter how good I feel or how well I’ve primped and prepared for the picture to be taken, what I see when the finished product comes back is a reminder that I don’t measure up to what I “should” look like. I think the last picture I saw of myself, I called myself, “Amazon woman.” Just recently, I told a friend that I was literally derailed when I saw a picture of myself. I mean, DERAILED!!! It was a picture of my family…my husband, my daughters and their husbands, and my sweet grandsons. When she saw the picture, she said, “I don’t see what you see. What I see in that picture is joy…and a family who loves each other.” She wasn’t looking at my shape or my size at all!!!

Her words stopped me in my tracks. They reminded me of something God told the prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7, “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” My friend reminded me of the heart of God, which is so different than the standards of man…and I got sucked up into the outward appearance. How in the world did I do that yet again???

God sees different than what man sees. I see this all over in scripture. I see this in one particular situation where God saw something completely different than what we would expect by the world’s standards…from Genesis 29-30. A guy named Jacob, who happened to be renamed Israel…yep…the father of the nation of Israel…went on a journey to find his wife. He fell head over heels in love with a woman, Rachel. It was love at first sight! Well…was it really love at first sight? Or was it that she was gorgeous? Is it possible that Jacob really fell in love with her beauty? He was smitten by her so much that he was willing to wait 7 years to marry her. He promised her dad, Laban, that he would work for him for 7 years if he could just have Rachel at the end. Laban agreed.

After 7 years, the day finally arrived for Jacob to take Rachel as his bride. But then comes the conflict. Rachel’s father did a bait and switch. He deceived Jacob and carried out his plan to have Jacob marry Rachel’s older, not so pretty sister, Leah. Jacob woke up the morning after their first night together, only to find out that it was Leah lying next to him, not Rachel. Jacob was furious. He went to Laban and confronted him! Laban acted like Jacob should have known that he had to give his oldest daughter away in marriage first. But he had a solution. He let Jacob have both of his daughters in marriage…I know, that would be illegal today. All this frustration finally resolved…except…

Can you imagine being Leah? Can you imagine being deceptively given to someone in marriage knowing that he doesn’t love you? He loves your sister? Can you imagine what it must have been like for Leah to see the look on her husband’s face when he realized that he had been deceived? I can only imagine how unwanted she must have felt…the shame that she never even had a choice in causing. The only hope she had to ever be loved by Jacob was that she would be able to have his babies. He never did love her. But God was at work. While Jacob only saw her “weak eyes” God saw Leah’s heart. God saw that she was more than her appearance.

God allowed Leah to have children pretty quickly. We can see how God changed her heart with time by the names she gave her boys. Her first son was Reuben, whose name meant, “See, a son.” She named him that, saying, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” But her husband didn’t love her. Then she had Simeon, whose name meant, “heard”…“Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, He has given me this son also.” Can you imagine? She felt HATED!!! Then she had Levi, whose name meant “attached”. She said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Maybe he won’t love me, but at least he’ll be attached to me. It still didn’t work. Then she had her 4th son…This is when the Lord changed her heart. She named her 4th son, Judah, which means, “Praise.” She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Guess which son’s bloodline brought us our Savior and Messiah, Jesus Christ. Yep…Judah.

Did God choose Judah to be the bloodline by which He would bring His Son to save the world because Judah was awesome? No…Judah actually did some pretty unrighteous things. But LEAH worshiped Him. God did not look at her outward appearance, He looked at her heart…not her beauty, not her good deeds, not even her children…He looked at her heart…her broken, worshipful heart.

So while I was looking at my outward appearance and being frustrated that I don’t measure up, my friend reminded me of something so much more important…what God sees…my heart. If you had to choose between having a perfect body with a beautiful face or having a heart of joy and contentment, which would you choose? The problem is that we often think we can’t have joy and contentment UNLESS we have a perfect body with a beautiful face. But that’s not the heart of God. And it’s not true. Contentment and joy will never come by attaining a manmade image.

The big question is…Are you and I willing to place God’s opinion over ours? It’s not that we have to say, “Okay, I’ll settle for the appearance of Leah even though I really want to be a Rachel.” It’s really, “Okay, Lord, I want what You want. I want Your measure of worth, not man’s.”

What is God saying to your heart? Are you like me who for so many years thought that God didn’t want to be bothered with trivial things like freaking out about how I looked in a picture? He DOES care. He wants to be bothered…not to make you look good in a picture, but to change your heart. Are you willing to say, “This time I will praise the Lord”? Here’s the coolest thing. You are already chosen and cherished by Him! Ephesians 1 says He chose you before the foundation of the world! And Ephesians 5 says He nourishes and cherishes you as His own body. He doesn’t place demands or conditions for you in order to choose you and cherish you. He already loves you.

Notice something about Leah…God chose Leah and cherished her BEFORE she turned to praise Him. He blessed her with kids BEFORE she stopped going after the wrong thing. He didn’t love her because of her lack of beauty, and He didn’t love Rachel because of her beauty. He loved them both because He just loved them. And He loves you that way, too.

Here’s another question to ask yourself. “How would having a perfect body help me to fall more in love with Jesus?” I had an “ah ha” moment as I thought this through. I learned a long time ago that the opposite of shame is glory. I have had body image shame because I have been striving to have body image glory…not the glory that comes from loving Jesus with my whole heart. It’s a striving after the wind…Leah’s problem was that she had husband shame and she wanted husband glory. She probably wanted him to love her more than he loved Rachel. But God wanted to give her something better…Himself. God wants to give you and me something better… Himself. The most intimate relationship we can have in life is a relationship with the Lord…even more intimate than with a husband. God sees the worst of us and He takes us as we are…but He never leaves us as we are.

So for our beauty regimen, I want to challenge you (and me) to pray and journal about those 2 questions ~

Is God’s opinion of me more important than mine?
How would having a perfect body make me fall more in love with Jesus? (Am I really just trying to find a way to love myself? That never brings satisfaction.)

Along with those 2 questions, I want to challenge you to do something that I was challenged to do ~

Find a recent photograph of yourself pictured with some friends or family.
Use tissue paper or tracing paper to trace the picture.
See if your image is really that much worse than everyone else’s. What do you see?

Finally, remember that there is more to you than your appearance. And there is more to others than theirs. I would like to challenge you and me to do what my friend did for me. Look for what you can appreciate in others that has nothing to do with their physical beauty…and do the same for yourself. Know that God sees way more than just what you see in the mirror.

Beauty Blessings,
Jonna

10.16.2023

I grew up believing two things would make me valuable…only two…That shouldn’t be so hard to attain, should it? Those two things were my voice and my appearance. If I could “make it” as a professional Christian singer, I would be valuable…and if I could be thin and pretty, I would be valuable. I had to have both. God knew what I wouldn’t acknowledge, these desires were OVER desires. They were passions of my flesh, my sinful nature and they had to go. But there was no way I would give up without a fight.

The first to go was what I couldn’t control…being a professional singer. God’s method for prying that desire from my fingers was so hard!!! He didn’t take me out of music. He kept me there and He took the OVER desire out of me…so painful! It would have been easier if He would have just taken music away completely…at least that’s what I thought.

I would cry, “Lord, You gave me this voice! Why won’t You let me use it? I’ll use it for You!” But really? I wanted it for me. It’s what made me have value. But He wanted (and still wants) all my value and identity to be in Him alone. He’s kinda not willing to budge on that point.

I had a music ministry for 10 years, doing concerts and leading worship for retreats and churches. I made a few CD’s /cassette tapes (I’m sure someone’s asking… “What’s a cassette tape?”). When I was recording my CD, I fasted from sugar for 2 years as a commitment to the Lord, so I said. What I was really doing was using the fast as a negotiation process with the Lord. He doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.

“C’mon, Jonna. Terrorist?” Yeah…terrorist. I was destroying my soul.

When I finished recording my CD, I did a concert. I thought, “This is it. It’s time now. C’mon Lord. Let’s go.” At the same time, a friend of mine who had a beautiful voice recorded a CD for 1/10th of the cost that I paid. And one of her songs got on the radio!!! I was told that the quality of my CD recording wasn’t good enough…and Tim and I paid 10 times more for mine than she did!!!

Speaking of Tim, I made his life so difficult. I couldn’t really worship the Lord in MY singing…though to the outside world it looked like I did. To be fair, I did worship Him…but I would vacillate between this desire to be near Him and this tug of war with Him to get what I wanted. And Tim heard all about it! Poor guy. Maybe if I cried hard enough, God would see my pain and give me what I want! What Tim never heard because it was too shameful to say was…I couldn’t appreciate the beautiful voices of other women because they were my competition. Oh, it’s so embarrassing to say all this!

One day, after my friend’s song got on the radio, another friend called me. She just knew that I was hurting. She listened for a long time as I poured out my heart to her. And then she said something that started me in a whole new direction…though to be honest, it still took me a lot of years to fully let it go. She said, “Jonna, the question is not, ‘Does God love you enough to give you what you want?’ The question is, ‘Do you love God enough if He doesn’t?’”

Oh! That cut to the heart! So what did I do? I wrote a song called, “I’d Rather Have Jesus.” Then I performed it and I thought, “See Lord, I’m giving this to You. Now You’ll give me what I want.” But that’s not what He did. The calls for doing concerts started slowing down, and then my husband had this crazy call from the Lord to leave engineering and become a pastor! Honestly, I fully supported him in that. I think I might have been more excited than he was. And then God gave him a full time position as the senior pastor of Summit Point Church in East Peoria, IL. We had to move. My music ministry was done. I had to keep remembering, “This does not mean that God has stopped loving me.”

So we came to this church 15 years ago, and I started serving on the worship team. I had accepted that I wouldn’t have a music ministry anymore…but my heart had still not released it. I was so tempted to stop serving on the worship team! It would be easier. But God was continuing to pry my fingers from this inordinate desire to share His throne. Fast forward several YEARS and I can honestly say today that I LOVE serving Him on the worship team. I LOVE celebrating the beautiful voices of the women I serve with (and the men’s voices, too). I LOVE standing up there and looking around at the team and saying, “Lord, I am here with my brothers and sisters and we are worshiping You and this is AWESOME!” I LOVE looking out at the wonderful people in our church and seeing them sing to the Lord with arms raised in worship. It is so beautiful!!! And I would have missed it if I didn’t surrender it to Lord 20 YEARS AGO!!!

So…God helped me release the first desire that decided my worth. I didn’t even realize until the last several years how deeply ingrained this second desire was…and is…to find my value in my appearance. Just like I never found satisfaction in singing until the Lord helped me to release it, I cannot find satisfaction no matter how thin or young I look. I’ve been trying to surrender this to the Lord with the hope that if I do that, He will let me lose weight. Ugh!!! But just like He didn’t let me become a professional singer, traveling the world and doing concerts…He is not letting it be about my appearance. The truth is, it doesn’t matter what I look like or how thin I am…I will never find my satisfaction in my appearance. I know this because I have been way thinner than I am now…to the point that my mom saw me several years ago when I was 20 pounds thinner and said, “What in the world happened? Are you sick?” Even then, I always thought, “But I could lose more.”

I’ve been wanting the Lord to help me to let go of this need to look a certain way without really letting it go. I see now that it’s still been a negotiation process. “Lord, I will make it about You, but then You need to let me fit into my clothes better.” Don’t get me wrong, eating healthy and being healthy is a good thing. Most idols that Christians have are good things…but they become idols when we desire them more than we desire God. Losing weight is not a sin. Thinking that you can’t be valuable unless you lose weight is.

I was telling a wise woman about this, and I said, “I get that I need to let this go. I get that there’s more to this life than my appearance…and that my grandchildren love me, not for my appearance, but they just love me for me. My husband tells me I’m beautiful everyday. But how do I stop cringing every time I see myself in the mirror?” She asked such a similar question that my friend asked 20 years ago. “Jonna, are you placing your need to be pleased with yourself above what God says about you?” Basically, do you love God even if He doesn’t give you what you want?”

I hope it doesn’t take me years and years to get there this time. The truth is…I’d rather have Jesus. So I said to the Lord, “I wish I could stand in the mirror with You standing behind me and just hear You speak to me about my arms and my stomach and my legs...and tell me that You love me as I am. I wish I could sense You holding me, hemming me in behind and before and laying Your hand on me (Psalm 139:5).” So you know what I did? I got up one morning recently, went to my mirror and closed my eyes. And I pictured Jesus holding me…just loving me. It was just a few moments. It was quiet. It was peaceful. I confessed to Him that I’ve been trying to please myself with my appearance. And I asked Him to forgive me. And I KNOW that He does…AND He cleanses me from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). I am NOT stuck in this over desire.

Maybe you can relate. I don’t know. But this is my story…and if there’s any chance that my pain could help you not have to wait 20 years to be done with yours, I will embarrass myself and tell you what God has done in my life. The answer is not negotiating with Him to get what we want. The answer is surrendering to Him…because what He has is SO MUCH BETTER. I am more free, not fighting for a name for myself using a worship ministry, than I ever was before! And I didn’t get my way! His ways are higher and better than ours. And I know He is offering you and me a freedom of enjoying His presence and His love for us that is never dependent on us being good enough in any way!

My beauty regimen for you and me?

Stand in the mirror EVERY MORNING, close your eyes, and picture the Lord with His arms around you saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love…Though the mountains may shake (though your thighs may shake) and the hills be removed (and your perfect body image be removed), yet My lovingkindness will never be shaken, and My covenant of peace will never be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you.” (Jeremiah 31:3, Isaiah 54:10)
When you’re standing at the mirror, picturing the Lord with His arms around you, turn around and look up as if you are literally looking into His eyes…Consider Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I asked of the Lord. That will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to GAZE UPON THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD and to inquire in His temple.” Picture yourself looking up into His face and seeing what’s beautiful about Him. Tell Him what you see.
Ask yourself NOT, “Does the Lord love me enough to give me what I want?” But, “Do I love the Lord enough if He doesn’t?” “Do I trust that He knows what I need more than I do?”

I’m in this with you. Remember, if you belong to Jesus, you WILL win this battle. There’s no other option when He’s involved.

Beauty blessings,
Jonna

10.2.2023

Do you know that God loves to party? He is a God of celebration! It’s all over scripture with the feasts He put in place. But there’s one celebration in particular that recently caught my attention. It’s in the book of Nehemiah…Chapter 8…

The Israelites had been in exile for 70 years. Their temple had been destroyed. The wall surrounding Jerusalem was annihilated. These things happened because they had completely rebelled against God. But God, in His mercy, brought them back to their home, Jerusalem, and let them rebuild the Temple and the wall. The Israelites were so thankful to be back home that they joined together to read God’s word. It was a massive worship service.

As they read His word together, they were wrecked by their sin. Do you know what God did? Here’s what He did NOT do. He did NOT tell them to wallow in their shame. Do you believe it? After all their rebellion? No, He had Nehemiah say, “‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, ‘Go your way. EAT THE FAT AND DRINK SWEET WINE and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, FOR THIS DAY IS HOLY TO THE LORD. And do not be grieved, for the JOY of the Lord is your strength.’” He told them to celebrate and ENJOY FOOD!!! Do you see it? Repentance is to bring celebration, not shame!!! And He wants us to celebrate with food!!!

Did you ever think God WANTS us to enjoy food? That He’s given it to us as a gift? Have you ever felt confused over what God thinks about what you eat or how you take care of yourself? I’ve not only been confused, I’ve totally taken scripture out of context to add to my confusion. That’s not God’s plan at all!!! He is not the God of confusion! I used to look at a scripture like Proverbs 25:27, and take it completely out of context just by changing one word. It says, “It is not good to eat MUCH honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.” I thought it said, “It is not good to eat ANY honey!” If too much is bad, maybe having any at all is bad! Not true. On top of that, I really confused the next verse, Proverbs 25:28, “A man without self control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” So I put that together with vs. 27 and thought, “I’m in sin for eating any sugar and because I sometimes have it, I’m like a defeated city.” I worked and worked to control my sugar consumption, thinking I would be okay if I just had more self control…and then I would break out and throw out the self control for more sugar! You know what comes next… total feelings of shame for eating sugar…with an extra heaping of shame for not using self control. Do you know what I really need self control over? I need self control, NOT near as much over what I EAT as what I THINK. I need self control over my thoughts that continue to let lies have a bigger place in my mind than God's truth. I need self control over my thoughts that keep telling me my value is dependent on the number on the scale , or that I am evil if I eat a cookie. “It is not what goes into a mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person” (Matthew 15:11).

The truth is…SOME honey IS okay. And the self control I need is way less about what I eat, and way more about who I worship. Smack dab in the middle of those 2 statements about honey and self control is the statement, “It is not glorious to seek one’s own glory.” Seeking my own glory, seeking to have a perfect body, is a way bigger problem than eating a little honey. Ugh! Do you know what I’m talking about? Have you been there?

No matter where you are, rather than evaluating how much sugar is okay, can I ask you to evaluate your heart to see whose glory you’re seeking? Whether you eat all the honey or refuse to eat any of the honey, are you eating it (or not eating it) for God’s glory or for yours? I will be honest with you. When I evaluate my heart, I see that I really want glory for myself. This is a struggle that I so want the Lord to win!!!

The self control we need, which by the way…can only come as we walk with the Holy Spirit, is way less about what we eat or don’t eat…and way more about taking our thoughts captive so that we don’t spend all our time and energy beating ourselves up for eating too much or not exercising enough…or for striving like crazy to discipline ourselves so that we won’t lose the little bits of beauty we’ve gained. I can totally see that when I do that, my focus is completely on my glory and not the Lord’s. Ugh! God has a better way for us to live!!!

Do you know that God actually wants us to ENJOY the food we eat? He teaches us in 1 Timothy 4:1-5, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinencefrom foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everythingcreated by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” Can I ask you to read that again? Maybe out loud? The first time I really paid attention to it, I was blown away. God WANTS me to enjoy food? He cares about what I eat??? Can that be true?

Who made us think that food was BAD??? According to Paul in 1 Timothy 4, it was demonic forces using “the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who…require abstinence from food…” Do you know what that sounds like to me? Diet culture! That’s what we see all around us…People attributing morality to our food and making us feel like we’re evil if we touch it. Of course, if you’re like me, you don’t need anyone else to make you feel bad for eating it. I’ve bought into the lie so much that it just comes right from my own mind now. I want to be free of it! Here’s what I love about what it says… “God created food, not to be rejected, but to be received with thanksgiving!” To be enjoyed…to even let food be something that inspires our WORSHIP. Worship of God, not the food. God didn’t have to make food taste so good. He wanted to bless us with enjoyment, because that’s His heart. When we receive food from Him with thanksgiving, we begin to move away from eating too much of it because we don’t want to trivialize the gift He’s given. And we begin to stop seeing it as morally evil because it’s a gift from Him that we can enjoy.

I heard a woman on a podcast share a rabbinical teaching about our food. I literally stopped the podcast and kept replaying it until I got all the words written down, because it impacted me so much. She said, “According to rabbis, we will have to give an account to God for all the pleasing food that our eyes beheld and we refused to taste. In Judaism, the purpose of eating is partly to fuel ourselves to serve God, and it's partly to force us to enjoy what God has provided. This means that if you eat sweets, you must say a blessing before you eat them to remind yourself to celebrate their worth. If you eat too much, you can't celebrate because it’s no longer special. If you eat and feel guilty at the same time, you demean the experience of pleasure and misspend the blessing. It's not a celebration anymore.” I thought that was a great expression of this passage in 1 Timothy 4…and what I loved about it the most is that it makes it all about God, and not the food. We nourish ourselves for a purpose…to serve God. We eat is so that we can enjoy and celebrate the blessings of God.

About that Jewish statement…Can I just say that the heart of what they’re saying is good, but the shame they bring is not? God is not shaming us if we’re not celebrating Him by enjoying the food He gives us…He’s grieving for us because He wants to give us so much better than what we often give ourselves. He says in Isaiah 48:17-18, “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit (what is best for you), who leads you in the way you should go. Oh that you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness…what makes you know that you’re pleasing to Him…would have been like the waves of the sea.” Oh my friend, it’s not too late!

So I pray for you…and for me…that God will help us not to feel anxiety over food, but to enjoy it as a sweet gift from Him. It’s the perfect balance. We won’t give food moral value because God doesn’t. And we won’t overindulge because we don’t want to trample on God’s sweet blessings. I pray that we will see our Lord’s heart in this. He LOVES to lavish His blessings on us. How cool is that!!!

Beauty regimen ~

Ask the Lord to show you His view of what you eat. This will not be an easy mind change. His view is very different than the world’s view. Some scriptures you might want to focus on are:

Proverbs 25:27-28
Romans 14:17-19
1 Timothy 4:1-5
1 Corinthians 10:31
Lamentations 3:24

Every time you eat, even if it’s a snack, thank the Lord for the blessing of the food, “for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”
Slow down and savor the food you’re eating…Take in the atmosphere around you. Know that God wants to share this time with you. He said in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him AND EAT WITH HIM, and he with Me.” What does it look like to have your meals with the Lord?

I bring this to you, not as a woman who has overcome this stronghold, but as one who is in the middle of the battle. Let’s fight this together. Let’s not let the enemy, through the insincerity of liars, win. Let’s feast and celebrate all the sweet gifts the Lord lavishes on us. We are “more than conquerors through Him who loves us” (Romans 8:37).

Beauty Blessings,
Jonna

9.15.2023

She looked in her mirror and began crying. She had lost a ton of weight, but still saw a fat person. Even after all the weight loss, she still feels the shame, the judgment from other people, from herself. Now she feels so much pressure to live up to a standard she doesn’t know if she can keep. What if she gains a pound? Will she spiral out of control? She’s tired. She wants to honor the Lord. But is she willing to honor Him at the cost of gaining a few pounds? She feels chains holding her down and she doesn’t know what to do about it. Is this what Paul talked about when he prayed for God to remove the thorn in his flesh in 2 Corinthians 12? Is this a stronghold from 2 Corinthians 10? What can she do?

She got distracted by life and gained a ton of weight. She’s never been this heavy. She can’t stand to look in the mirror. Who is that person staring back at her? The first thing she thinks about when she wakes up is what she can do to lose this weight…what she should eat…what she shouldn’t eat. And then she blows up and binges. She’s exhausted. She feels like a failure when she eats and she feels like she’s always making the wrong choices. Is she the only one who struggles like this? Is this a thorn? Is it a stronghold? Is it something else? Whatever it is, can it go away?

Two different women from two completely different perspectives, and yet they have the same struggle. Sadly, we often think we’re in this struggle alone. My friend, you are not alone.

I want to talk to you about the difference between a thorn and a stronghold and what we can do about them? Why does that matter? Because scripture gives us different answers for each. I have to warn you, though, this struggle won’t go away easily…but there is hope. With God, nothing is impossible.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7-8, Paul said that God allowed a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass him. Yes, it was a thorn in the flesh, NOT in the spirit. Paul’s spirit was untouchable…but for the flesh, God allows a thorn. Wow. That seems kinda harsh. Why would God allow that? Paul said it was to keep him from being conceited…proud…arrogant. Paul went on in vs. 9-10 to say that God’s grace is what he needed, not freedom from the thorn. God’s grace is what satisfies, not ease or comfort or a perfect body…even to the point that he would boast in his weaknesses!

Paul never told us what his thorn was. But here’s what we know…it had to do with his weakness, which was NOT sin. God let the thorn stay…and He would never force us to be stuck with our own sin issue. No, the thorn was used by the Lord as protection FROM sin, and it was used by Satan to harass, that he might tempt us to sin. What a blatant picture of the heart of God vs. the heart of the devil. Satan’s purpose is to harass and destroy. God’s purpose is NEVER to condemn His kids, always to protect. What was God protecting Paul, and us, from? Pride. God knows that pride is the greater danger in our lives, not the weakness. Weakness helps us see our need and run TO God. Pride makes us run FROM God.

What thorn does the devil use to harass you? Could it be the impossible standards of beauty and diet culture? Could the pride God is protecting us from be linked to craving a perfect body? Could the weakness be things about us that aren’t intrinsically wrong, but we buy into the lies that they are? Whatever the weakness is, it simply reveals our need for the Lord. His grace is sufficient… it satisfies…to the point that the only thing Paul boasted in was his weaknesses. By his example you and I can boast in our weakness! For when we are weak (in ourselves), then we are strong (in the Lord).

And then there’s the stronghold. In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Paul said, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” There are strongholds in our lives that we just can’t battle in our own flesh. The power to conquer them only comes from the Lord. Whatever the stronghold is, it’s sin…it’s the throne that we put up above God…it’s thoughts that wage war in our minds. It’s arguments…bottom line thinking that gets stuck in our minds and is against what God calls good. It’s every thought where we think we know better than God, whether we admit it or not. Yes, it’s a stronghold, and it takes the force of God to demolish its power over us.

Can you find yourself anywhere in the scenarios of the two women? If so, what is the thorn and what is the stronghold in your life, and what can you do about it? To identify the thorn, we have to ask ourselves, “What is harassing me? What is not coming from within, but from without, that exposes my weakness (which again, is not sin)?” Could it be beauty and diet culture, that mindset of the world that keeps firing arrows saying our value is based in our appearance? On one side they say we should be beautiful and have perfect bodies, and on the other they say we should be able to indulge in delectable foods…and then there are the voices that say we should eat clean and not touch entire food groups and only eat during certain times of the day. Oh yes, I have the thorn, too. I know it well.

How do we identify the stronghold? The stronghold is wrong thoughts that we can’t seem to stop dwelling on. It’s those thoughts that distract us from the Lord…that if we said them out loud, we would be embarrassed to admit that this is what takes up so much space in our minds.

You know what’s NOT a thorn OR a stronghold? Your body! Does your body have weakness? Yes. But weakness is not bad and it’s not sin. Paul said he boasted in his weaknesses, so that the power of Christ could rest on him. Your body has weaknesses, but it is not a thorn and it is not a stronghold. It is a fearfully, wonderfully, and intricately designed temple of the Holy Spirit…made for the purpose of honoring and glorifying God. Your thoughts ABOUT your body may be a stronghold, but your body itself is not a sin or a mistake or a thorn.

God wants to set you free…not from the thorn, and not from the weakness, but from the stronghold. Can’t we be free from all of them, Lord??? No, God knows that the thorn is there to protect you from arrogance, and to help you see your weakness so that you will run to Him for His grace.

Think about it, imagine you could have that perfect body…What would happen? How would it make you more effective for the Kingdom of God? What eternal purpose would it serve? Believe me, I KNOW that desire, and I know that no matter what I’ve ever looked like, I’ve never been satisfied. Satisfaction will not come in achieving some idea of what a perfect body is. It will only cause more anxiety because we’ll be working against a biological clock that says our body is wasting away. But the good news is that God will renew our inner self day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

In fact, wrapped up in all of this is one really important truth…God’s grace is what satisfies. This is TRUE. The security of knowing that God loves you, not for what you look like or can do, but because it’s who He is…that’s what brings contentment. It’s His power resting on you…resting…so that you can rest in Him.

How do I identify the strongholds? What inner thoughts that don’t align with the truth am I getting stuck on? For me, the stronghold is not the weakness of my imperfect body, the stronghold is dissatisfaction with the body God gave me because He didn’t make it according to my standards. The stronghold is not food. The stronghold is feeling shame about food…the thorn is letting diet and beauty culture tell me that food has moral value. It’s letting beauty and diet culture define my value rather than God.

Why is it important that I separate the thorn from weakness and the stronghold? Because I have to stop wasting my energy on trying to get rid of the thorn AND my weaknesses…and put my energy into demolishing the stronghold. AND I need to accept the fact that I cannot fix it in my own strength. Embrace my weakness and let the Lord be my strength.

Paul said, “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning (thorn), your thoughts will be led astray (stronghold) from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed (diet culture), or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted (the religion of beauty), you put up with it readily enough” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4 ESV). Oh, my sweet friend, let us not put up with it anymore!!! Let us recognize the battle and choose to fight, not against the thorn of beauty and diet culture. We can’t change the minds of a world that refuses to embrace Jesus. But let’s fight to demolish the strongholds…in the grace and strength of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let us actively fight against the thoughts that permeate our minds on a daily basis…using the truth of God’s word to speak over our thoughts and make them bow to Jesus. We can’t fight them in our own flesh. The flesh is that part of us that doesn’t align with Christ, so we can’t fight our flesh WITH our flesh.

Recognizing our weakness is good. It’s recognizing that we don’t have the strength within our flesh to stand up to anything…and trying in our own strength will only get us deeper and deeper into pride or shame.

What do we do? Run to the Lord for His grace and strength to ignore the harassment, and take every thought captive to make it obedient to Jesus through the truth of His word. That’s what I’d like to focus on for our beauty regimen. Will you fight this battle with me? If you’re like me, it took you a lot of years to get to this place, so don’t be surprised that it’s not gonna be gone in a day. It’s gonna take intentionality, persistence, and time. But it will be worth it. God will be there with you every step of the way, lavishing you with His grace. You are not alone.

Beauty Regimen ~
First let’s do some defining…

What’s the thorn? What’s harassing you?
What’s your weakness…not sin, but weakness?
What’s your stronghold, the sin that’s captivating you?

Here’s an example…Let’s assume the whole world is obsessed with shoe size…

Thorn ~ All the experts say the perfect shoe size is 2 sizes bigger than what you wear.
Weakness ~ Your feet are the size they are, and you can’t make them bigger.
Stronghold ~ You just can’t stop thinking about how your life would be so much better if you could just have bigger feet! Maybe you could just wear bigger shoes and stuff them with tissue.

Seem silly? When we put our own examples into writing, it will also seem silly…and yet we still need to fight it.

So now for the fight…
We’re gonna GRACE THE FLESH in three steps. We can’t fight our flesh in our own strength because our own strength IS the flesh…and the flesh hates God. But don’t worry, because God is greater than our flesh and He gives us HIS strength!!! Here’s how you grace the flesh…

The moment you realize that you’re being harassed with lies from beauty and diet culture, like when you look in the mirror and cringe, say, “Ah ha! I feel the shame of the thorn!” (Ex. I feel ashamed that they stare at my shoe size!) Be aware of the harassment, the thorn, the statements that say your value is found in how you eat or what you look like.
Say, “Of course I feel the shame of the thorn because the lie is so convincing to my flesh.” Don’t be surprised by this and don’t avoid it. Know that this IS the devil’s plan…to take you down…away from the Lord. He doesn’t have to use demon possession and scary things like from the movie, “The Exorcist.” He just has to get you distracted from what really matters, what brings true freedom. Don’t be fooled. Be ready and know that he won’t give up without a fight. AND KNOW that God won’t give YOU up! He will be with you every step of the way to lavish His grace on you in your time of need…He says, “Let us then WITH CONFIDENCE draw near to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Ask yourself, “But do I want the mind of Christ?” Here’s where you’re at a fork in the road between your flesh and your spirit. Do you let your flesh continue to embrace the lie, or do you reject it and hold onto what’s true? If you want the truth…TAKE your thoughts captive and replace them with God’s word. Have scripture ready…on a notecard, on your phone, or better yet…memorized. PRAY that scripture to the Lord and ask Him for help. His grace will be there. He promises. EVERY thought that sets itself up against God, that inspires pride or accuses you with shame…CALL IT OUT for what it is…OVER and OVER again. CONFESS the stronghold and RECEIVE God’s forgiveness. EMBRACE the confidence that He WILL cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). You WILL be free from this stronghold even though you can’t stop the thorn.

Here's a tangible tip…You may not even realize how often those thoughts are taking YOU captive. For a day or two, wear a bracelet or a hair tie on your wrist, and every time you catch yourself dwelling on your stronghold, switch the bracelet to the other wrist. See how often you have to switch it.

I’m praying for you, my friend…and I hope you’ll pray for me. This is a stronghold for sure!!! We need that prayer support for each other. We’re in it together. And we’re in it with the Lord!!!

“Now to HIM who is ABLE to do FAR MORE abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the POWER at work within us, to HIM be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV

Beauty Blessings,
Jonna

P.S. If you have a question or something that you want me to address, please let me know. I’d like to make sure I’m addressing things that you’ll find helpful.

9.1.2023

It was almost 30 years ago…it was raining outside. Tim had just picked me up to celebrate our one year anniversary of dating. There was a park by my house, and he decided to stop there. I asked him why we were stopping when it was raining outside and why he was carrying a shoe. He mumbled some answer and then it dawned on me why we stopped, so I didn’t ask him to clarify. My heart just exploded with excitement. He took me to a place in the park that had a little bit of protection from the rain…then he put down the shoe and kneeled on it. This is it!!! He said, “Jonna, I want you to hear what I’m saying.” And then he trailed off into words I didn’t hear…until he pulled out a little black box, opened it, and said, “Jonna Michelle, will you be my wife?” YESSSS!

Can you imagine if he knelt down and asked me to be his wife, and then handed me a little black box with nothing inside? It would have been a little anticlimactic, don’t you think? The value of the little black box is that it pointed to something of far greater value inside. You and I are the little black box…the Spirit of Jesus is the precious jewel inside the box…He’s the beautiful engagement ring that says, “Yes, you are the bride of Christ.”

This box holding a precious jewel with the promise of the future has always been God’s plan. God has always wanted us to know that we’re so valuable to Him, but the most precious part is where His presence dwells. In Exodus 25-27, God had the Israelites build something similar to that little black box. It was a temporary tabernacle where the Israelites could worship God during the 40 years they wandered in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. God didn’t want them to ever think they were traveling alone. This tabernacle, or temple, was the place where His presence would dwell with them for those 40 years. And it pointed to a much greater hope of an eternal dwelling place with Him.

When I look at this temple from Exodus 25-27, I see two things right away. First, it was temporary…They would erect this tent with all its intricate details, and when God told them it was time to move to the next location, they would take it apart piece by piece, carry it to the next location, and put it back up again. Eventually, they would build another more permanent temple in Jerusalem. But even that proved to be temporary. The only permanent dwelling place is waiting for us in eternity.

The second thing I see about the tent temple, or tabernacle, is that the Israelites didn’t choose its design, God did. God gave explicit instructions for the dimensions, the material used, and exactly what would go in it and where the items would be placed. And it was INTRICATE! There was so much detail that went into God’s design. Even though it was a tent, this temple was not shabby or haphazard. It was fearfully and wonderfully made. It was completely God’s design.

What made this tent temple (tabernacle) special? It was just an elaborate tent, right? What made it special is that it was the dwelling place of the presence of the Lord. This was AMAZING. Yes, the temple was extremely elaborate and quite beautiful especially for a temporary tent. But the thing that made it amazing was the presence of God.

“Jonna! What does this have to do with me and my body image struggles???” Don’t worry, there’s a point to all this. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” You are the little black box…a beautiful symbol that says, “A priceless treasure lives in me.” Your body is an elaborate, intricately designed, fearfully and wonderfully made TEMPORARY temple. It is a tent that will someday be exchanged for a new glorified, eternal body. But even then, what will make your body special is WHO dwells with you.

Do you realize that you and I are not the designers of our temple? The Lord intricately designed us each for a unique purpose that will satisfy us and bring Him glory. I can promise you…Our purpose is NOT to make our temporary tent perfect.

We are made beautiful, yes beautiful, not to point to OUR glory, but to point to GOD’S glory. Remember what we read in 1 Corinthians 6:19, we are temples of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 goes on to say, “You are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” The most beautiful thing about us if we have received Jesus as our Savior is that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and now His presence constantly dwells within us as our guarantee that God will someday take us home to be with Him forever. We can focus all our attention on perfecting the temple or the little black box, but that’s not what makes it so valuable. And it never gets us what we really want, what our hearts crave…lasting purpose and deep relationship with the One who values us just as we are.

Back to these temporary temples of ours…Philippians 3:21 says that someday God “will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” Somewhere deep inside, you and I KNOW that our temporary bodies are just tents right now, and someday we will receive glorious, transformed bodies when we go to our eternal home. While how we handle what we experience here on earth is preparing us for our future in heaven, the only thing about our bodies that matters is how well we honor God with them, because they won’t be with us forever.

When we find ourselves dissatisfied with how we look, we think God messed up and what we really need is a change in our design…but that’s going after the wrong thing. We’re not designed to worship the temple, but to worship AT the temple, to worship WHO is in the temple! So the goal isn’t to make this outward shell perfect, to be something that other people look at and see as beautiful. The goal is to reflect the beauty of the Lord who dwells in us…and that beauty gets more and beautiful…and no wrinkle or blemish or fat cell can make it fade.

I was really convicted and challenged by something my husband said in a message several weeks ago. He said, “We have to be careful not to mistake the methods for the end goal.” His example was “reading the Bible.” Reading the Bible is not the end goal. The end goal is having a deeper relationship with God, and reading the Bible is one of the methods that helps us do that. As I listened, I realized…Not only do I have to be careful not to mistake my methods for the end goal, but I have to be careful not to have the WRONG end goal. The end goal is not to have a perfect temple…or the most beautiful little black box. The end goal is to have a temple that honors God…a little black box that points to what’s inside.

So what does that look like? Does it mean we should diet? Does it mean we should never diet? It doesn’t mean either. It means we should seek the methods that support our new end goal…to honor the Lord with our temple. There is FREEDOM in this! You have been intricately designed to carry out your God given purpose that reaches far into eternity. I’ve realized in my own life that making my body the end goal has totally distracted me from carrying out God’s purpose for me…and it only brings anxiety, shame, and discontentment. God has so much more for us!!! The freedom to love without fear! The confidence and security of knowing that we are His temple who He designed with love and care.

This is a REALLY important and difficult mindset change. I believe we have to be proactive, diligent, and intentional if we want to overcome the lies we’ve believed, that our temple is what’s most important. So I pray for you, and I hope you’ll pray for me…that we can ~

Recognize that God Himself has intricately designed us for a purpose which has far more meaning and value than making our temporary temples look beautiful by the world’s standards.
Know that taking care of these temples is not wrong…it’s one of the methods we use to honor our God who designed them…but it is not the end goal.
Stop embracing the world’s definitions that place impossible requirements of beauty on us. God offers us a beauty that is just like our inheritance with Him ~ imperishable, unfading, undefiled, and eternal. That’s the beauty that matters.

Okay, what’s our beauty regimen?
Let’s dive into scripture to get a better understanding of how God wants us to view our bodies. I’m going to give you several scriptures to look up. For each scripture, please…

Rewrite it in your own words.
Write down the verbs. Which ones apply to you and which apply to God?
Write down how you can apply it to your life, and how you have not been applying it to your life. This is so important…to be honest with yourself and with God. It’s just you and Him here…it’s okay to call it what it is…He already knows, and He will help you.
Write a prayer to the Lord, telling Him what’s on your heart. Remember, you are truly in the presence of God. He WANTS to share in this with you.
Choose to memorize one of the scriptures that really impacts you.
When thoughts come into your mind about how your temple doesn’t measure up, AND THEY WILL, use one of the scriptures to tell the thought it’s not welcome here.
Do it again and again and again.

Here are some scriptures to go through in whatever order you’d like ~

Psalm 139:13-14
Romans 9:20
1 Peter 3:3-4
Proverbs 31:30
1 Samuel 16:7
Ephesians 2:10
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
1 Corinthians 10:31
Philippians 3:20-21
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and BODY be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; HE will surely do it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV

Beauty blessings,
Jonna

8.15.2023

It was a few days after the women's June event. I wanted to check the video of my teaching to check a few possibly crazy things I might have said. I didn't get very far into the video before I became very frustrated and discouraged...not because of what I said...but because of how I looked. It totally derailed my whole morning. Ugh! I thought I had made progress!!! I was anxiously praying and begging the Lord to help me when my husband walked into the room and asked if I was okay. I said, "No! I'm so mad at myself! I looked at the video of my teaching and couldn't get past how I looked. I want so badly not to care, but I can't help it!”

My husband has never once in 29 years of marriage complained about my weight. He sweetly encouraged me and told me he thinks I'm beautiful. I so wish that would have been enough! But I said to him, "I appreciate that you feel that way, but I just can’t see it! I know they say that diet culture has ruined us because we feel judged by what OTHERS say about our appearance. But, though I appreciate when others think I look nice, my problem is that I don't think I look nice!”

A little later, I was taking a walk and telling the Lord about it. I said the same thing to Him, "Lord, I don't care whether or not other people think I look good. My problem is that I don't think I look good!" As clear as if He had said it out loud, the Lord said to my heart, "Does it matter to you what I think?" I said, "No, Lord!" Ugh! That's when I knew. THIS IS A PROBLEM! My opinion of how I look CANNOT be more important to me than what the Lord who created me says.

Then, the Lord reminded me of a verse I had used in the message from the women’s event. Ezekiel 28:17 says, “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you.” This verse was directed to the devil. THE DEVIL! He had been a beautiful, magnificent angel in heaven… and he gave it all up because he became proud of his beauty to the point that he said, “I will be like the Most High.” The problem is that he didn’t want the love of the Most High or the holiness of the Most High. He wanted His beauty, splendor, and power. He even threw away all the wisdom God had given him because he wanted his own splendor to be magnified. What a miss! But I realized… that’s what I was doing!

I was proud because of my beauty… My heart was either arrogant when I felt like I looked beautiful, or more often, it was ashamed when I thought I didn’t. Shame is just the other side of the coin of arrogance. They’re both pride because they both focus on self. Arrogance says, “I’m awesome.” Shame says, “I’m so sad because I should be awesome and I’m not.” Either way, the focus is on me… not on the goodness of my Lord. I just wanted to be beautiful! Do you know what I mean? Do you ever look in the mirror one minute and think, “Oh, not too bad. I’m looking kind of thin in this outfit,” and then five minutes later you look in the mirror in that same outfit and think, “How did I get run over by an ugly truck from five minutes ago?”

Here’s what we’re missing when we get caught up into arrogance or shame about our beauty. God has poured His wisdom on us through His word. Temporary beauty is just temporary. What God has for us is so much better. When we miss that, we throw away the incredible wisdom that God generously gives us. We don’t need to throw away God’s wisdom for our splendor. Do you know that Ephesians 5:25 says God wants to present you to Himself in His eternal splendor? The splendor He has for you and me is exponentially better than what we can get for ourselves.

The second half of Ezekiel 28:17 says that God cast the devil down to the ground. He exposed him before kings. But that is not how He treats you and me! Jesus came and paid our debt so that we don’t have to be cast down to the ground. The Father lifted His Son up to the cross so that you and I would not be exposed, but saved! If God is so merciful and patient for our hearts that so easily fight for temporary beauty and splendor, doesn’t it just make sense to lay our desires down at His feet?

Do you realize that Jesus, in ALL of His beauty and splendor on His throne, set it aside, stepped down from His throne, and emptied Himself... so that you and I would never be cast to the ground? Isaiah 53:2 says, “He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.” And yet His sacrifice was the most beautiful thing ever done. His splendor is sacrificial love. That is true beauty!

So, how do we overcome this tornado of shame that comes when we feel like we don’t measure up? First, pray… admit to the Lord that this is an issue. We’ll talk about that a little more when we get to our beauty regimen. Here’s something practical… Stop body checking. What is body checking? It’s repeatedly assessing different parts of your body or weighing yourself or comparing your body to other people. How do we stop? Every time you’re tempted to look in the mirror to see if you’re tummy looks flatter or if some other part of your body is okay…literally say to yourself out loud, “No body checking,” and then thank the Lord that He specifically, uniquely designed you so that you can effectively fulfill the purpose He’s planned for you… I promise You, His purpose is NOT fulfilled in your pant size.

Our beauty regimen is focused on prayer because, I know for me, taking this to the Lord in prayer is one of the hardest parts of change. The Lord cares about EVERY aspect of your life… even this one. He wants us to take this to Him. I so wish I had believed that years ago! It would have saved me so much pain.

Please consider praying this to the Lord daily until we talk again. This prayer is adapted from JD Greear’s “Gospel Prayer.”

1. Lord, please help me to believe that there is no number on the scale that will make You love me less, and no physical appearance that will make You love me more.

2. YOUR presence and approval are ALL I need for everlasting joy.

3. As You have been with me, not judging me by my appearance, please help me not to judge others by their appearances, either judging them as superior or inferior.

4. As I pray, please help me to measure Your compassion by the cross and not my dress size, and Your power by the resurrection and not how I look in the mirror.

This next part of the prayer is about body checking. I know I absolutely need the Lord's help to overcome this temptation in my life. Body checking NEVER satisfies.

1. Lord, instead of checking my appearance in hopes of seeing something different… or comparing myself to other people and how they look, please help me to have the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.

2. As a temple of the Holy Spirit, I will thank You that You specifically designed my body to be a place where YOU are worshiped, not me…and I will use this temple to honor You.

Beautiful Blessings,
Jonna

8.1.2023

“Research shows that the more a woman focuses on her appearance, the less content she is with her appearance.”

Welcome to the first email of Hidden Reflections. If you've signed up for this email, I'm guessing that you have struggled as I have. I think that means you're a breathing female. Hahaha. As I said in my invitation email, I have struggled with my body image since I was a young girl. As far back as my memory takes me, I remember being teased, “When Jonna sits around the house she sits AROUND the house” along with other “jokes” that eat at the soul. When I was 10 years old, my boyfriend (yes, I thought I was a big girl with a boyfriend at 10) heard a sibling tease me and said to me, “You’re not fat, you just have fat arms.” Do you know, that was 45 years ago and it still affects me!!! I look at my arms every single day and wish they would be smaller (The Lord and I are working on letting that go). For the longest time, I wouldn’t wear sleeveless shirts…and I grew up in Florida!!!

The Lord has been working on my heart. Just the fact that He’s working on this with me has blown my mind, because I really thought He didn’t care about it. Right now, because you’re here, I believe the Lord is also working on your heart. He loves You and He wants you to know that your value has never and will never be based on the number on the scale.

So I want to share a few scriptures with you today and talk about how they apply. They are Proverbs 31:30 and 1 Peter 3:3-4.

Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” How many times have I read that verse and completely ignored it? I got the part about a woman who fears the Lord being praised, but couldn’t I be praised for being beautiful, too? That’s deception. The word “charm” means “form and appearance, elegance.” Form and appearances are deception, disappointment and falsehood. And beauty is vain. It is a breath, a vapor. Why? Because charm and beauty don’t last. Wrinkles come, age spots come. No amount of Botox or plastic surgery or beauty products will cover wrinkles up forever…and when people go too far in trying to preserve their youthful beauty with those things, they usually end up completely changing their appearance…and still…it doesn’t last.

Even more important, what really matters is relationship. I remember one time when I got down to the weight I wanted to be (which never lasted because it was too hard to sustain), I was walking out of the gym and I thought, “What now? And what does it matter?” I remember getting ready to go to an extended family Thanksgiving dinner, worrying about what I could wear that would make me look as thin as possible, and thinking, “No one will care what I look like if they don’t know that I care.” I realized at the end of 2022, when I was listing out the blessings of the year, I never once thought about my weight or my size. Everything I thanked God for had to do with relationships! That’s because deep down we know that relationship is what really matters.

The most important relationship is our relationship with God Almighty. “A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” What does it mean to fear the Lord? It means to honor, respect, trust, and worship Him. Having our whole lives center on Him changes us. We grow in hope, love, contentment, joy…and that’s what makes us beautiful. It isn’t that God wants us to be ugly. It’s that He wants to give us a genuine beauty that lasts forever.

So…does that mean that we shouldn’t even care what we look like? No…it just can’t be our whole world. 1 Peter 3:3-4 says, “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” The word “adorning” is “cosmos” in the original Greek language. Do you see it? Cosmos…cosmic…world! Don’t let your whole world be about your outward appearance. So…does that mean we should eat, drink, and be merry and weigh a million pounds? No…it means that we need to change our focus.

If our world isn’t about our appearance, what’s it about? It’s about pursuing what God calls beautiful… “the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.” God says a gentle and quiet spirit is VERY PRECIOUS to Him. Does what He calls “very precious” matter to me? Remember, what really matters to Him is relationship. What really helps relationships grow deep and strong? Having a perfect body? Or treating someone with gentle, calm love?

We come in all shapes and sizes. And God has a purpose for every one of them. The reason we are called to take care of our bodies is so that we can fulfill the purpose of the One who already calls us His “wonderful works, fearfully and wonderfully made.” As we grow in having gentle and quiet spirits, we grow in beauty that lasts forever.

So as we start this journey together, can we start with one focus? Talk to God about it. We get so intimidated by the word “prayer” like we should have all these lofty, perfect words to say. God just wants to have a conversation with you. He cares about every detail of your life. It is a lie from the pit of hell deceiving you into thinking that God doesn’t care, isn’t interested, or is annoyed to have to deal with this. You matter to Him. He wants to give You a beauty beyond comparison with any product.

Here’s the beginning of our beauty regimen ~
1. Tell the Lord why you’re here.
2. Ask the Lord to show you any way that you have been deceived by thinking your value (or anyone else’s) is found in outward beauty and appearance.
3. Ask the Lord to show you how a gentle and quiet spirit is far more precious than a physically beautiful appearance.
4. Commit to letting the Lord change the way you think…to “transform your life by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). And then watch God work.

So…why the title, “Hidden Reflections”? Because genuine beauty is in the HIDDEN person of the heart, and genuine beauty REFLECTS the heart of God. God wants you to have a gentle and quiet spirit because HE has a gentle and quiet spirit. Reflecting His beauty comes without anxiety, fear, or feeling like you have to work and work to get there with no end in sight and a constantly moving target.

Here’s the cool thing as you start this beauty regimen. You are not doing it alone. God is right here with you. He loves you. There is nothing you can do or look like to make Him stop loving you. Are you ready? Here we go!

Beautiful blessings,
Jonna

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