“No way!” Brenda called from the next dressing room. “Let me see.”

Lacy hid behind the door as she let her friend in. “No matter how much I diet and exercise, I can’t get rid of my enormous thighs. My ballet teacher always nagged me about them.”

Brenda adjusted Lacy’s shoulder strap. “It’s perfect. Why are you always picking your body apart? You’re beautiful, and your thighs are not enormous—they’re athletic. Stop listening to voices from the past. Listen to your friends and to God.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’re built like a model.”

“Hey, remember what I shared at the retreat last year about the eating disorder I developed in college?” Lacy felt her cheeks grow red. “I’m sorry—I forgot.” Brenda was a prime example that tall and slender did not always equal a healthy body image.

“Now,” Brenda backed up, “let me see another one. For a cruise we need more than one swimsuit.” Listen to her, Lacy, God seemed to say. I made you just the way I want you.

As difficult as it is to accept, God made each of us just as He wanted us. No matter what the magazines show us, we should take care of the bodies He created for us to live in. When we are caring for them with the right food, exercise, and a healthy image, God has a way of freeing our minds to enjoy what we see in the mirror, knowing He made us, loves us, and sees us as beautiful.