“I see an image of you and you keep pulling your shirt down to hide yourself,” my participant said. Sometimes the Holy Spirit likes to give the exorcist words while they’re leading a participant through a session. “You do that a lot you know,” they continued.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’re always trying to hide your stomach, like you’re ashamed of yourself,” they answered. “And now Jesus is touching your stomach. He looks sad about the way you feel about yourself.” I thought we were there for the participant, but now it seemed we were there for me.
Body image is a difficult issue for many of us, and I’ve found that Jesus cares more about our pain on this topic than we might think. I’ve never seen him body shame anyone. I’ve only ever seen him want to free them from the hate of their body.
“Let go of your pride,” the Holy Spirit told a different participant during our session when the topic of body image came up. I was caught off guard by the word “pride” because the participant had a low view of themselves.
“I heard once that having a low opinion of yourself is also a pride issue,” the participant continued with their eyes closed. “But why is that pride?” they asked. I sat there silently and waited for the Spirit to answer their question.
They tilted their head and raised an eyebrow, eyes still closed. “It’s pride because I think I could actually do something to mar what God created. My beauty is not in the vessel, but what it was meant to hold.”
For those like me who think about their bodies constantly: be free of that. God does not judge or hate your body. He loves what he made, and it doesn’t matter what it looks like or how it’s changed over the years. Though health is good, his admiration and respect for you is not based on your health, physique, or muscles. Beauty is found in the image of God upon you—a vessel meant to hold the Holy Spirit.
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