Darla was tall and had a large frame. Although not excessively heavy, she still had a young girl’s pudgy features. As the nurse weighed her, prior to a doctor’s visit, she said, “If you’re ever going to get your weight under control, you must do it now.”

Haunted by that voice, Darla’s food and exercise issues bordered on compulsions for the next ten years. She hid her weight loss with layered clothing. She disguised her meager food intake with deceptive skills. But God finally exposed Darla’s poor physical condition, and eventually she found the road to recovery through medical intervention and the prayers of her family.

Being a Christ follower does not exclude us from battles with body image. Our minds and eyes are continually bombarded with images of perfection in looks, size, and style. The pursuit is perfection and the end result is . . . beauty and happiness? Who believes that lie?

Sadly, too many women and girls do buy the lies. They develop discontentment and make constant comparisons of themselves to others where they often fall short. Unless we are able to combat the lies of the world with the truth of God’s Word, we are vulnerable to clever marketing.

God’s truth declares that we are His daughters (2 Cor. 6:18). He sees us as chosen and valuable (1 Pet. 2:4), redeemed (Isa. 43:1), and greatly loved (Eph. 2:4). The cure for struggles with shame and body image is to transfer our longing for the approval of others into a longing for the One who has made us “remarkably and wonderfully” (Ps. 139:14).