From Body Positivity to Body Stewardship, with Stacy Reaoch

It’s bathing suit season! As a woman, you know a trip to the lake or the neighborhood swimming pool can come with a heaping helping of body insecurity. When it comes to the topics of food, appearance, and fitness, we need biblical hope and perspective. In this episode of Grounded, guest Stacy Reaoch points to God’s Word and shows that it is possible to steward our bodies in Christ-honoring ways and to learn to walk in beautiful freedom. 

Episode Notes

• Beautiful Freedom: How the Bible Shapes Your View of Appearance, Food, and Fitness book by Stacy Reaoch
• “How Availability and Stewardship Dictate the Way We Care for Our Bodies, with Shannan Painter” video
• It’s Great to Be a Girl book by Dannah Gresh
• Register for the When You Love a Prodigal online event.
• Give to Revive Our Hearts’ Fiscal Year End need.

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Erin Davis: Welcome to Grounded; I'm Erin Davis. On behalf of the entire Grounded team, I want to wish you a happy Memorial Day. And if your celebration involves a lake or a swimming pool and a swimming suit, that likely comes with a heaping helping of insecurity. And so, we're here to hand out hope and perspective on the topics of food, appearance, and fitness. 

We'll even dive into why stewardship of our bodies as women needs to be included and include an understanding of why we are female to begin with. Yep, we're gonna go there. 

Dannah is bringing us three truths every woman needs to embrace in her body's role as a female image bearer. We'll be practical and deep today, my favorite kind of episode.

Portia Collins: Mine too. I’m Portia Collins, and I gotta admit, I'm not sure if I'm excited or terrified of this episode.

Erin: I hear ya.

Portia: Dealing with body insecurity can be painfully difficult. And this conversation can go in a lot of different directions. 

Erin: That’s true. When it comes to our bodies, we could definitely take a lot of different roads. In fact, I submit that body positivity for body positivity’s sake is actually not what the Bible teaches. We need something deeper than “love yourself just the way that you are”— especially during the many, many, many, many changes of womanhood. Can I get an amen? Because I know you're feeling an amen. 

Portia: Amen, amen. Well, I guess today is just to move us into that deeper conversation. Stacy Reaoch is with us. She says it's possible to walk in beautiful freedom in the areas of appearance, food, and fitness. She's gonna point us to God's Word to show us how.

Erin: I love those two words. Beautiful freedom. Isn't that what we all want? We hope this is a highly shareable episode. I'm forty-four, and I do walk in beautiful freedom in this area. But I spent a lot of years not walking in beautiful freedom. 

So let me be real specific. Is there a younger woman in your life that you could send this episode to? I think that would be a blessing to her. But certainly hit the share button at a minimum to let other women know we're talking about this. 

Dannah Gresh is of course here. She's got some good news today. And I want to know, Dannah, is it true that you're going to sound an alarm out about something that's impacting how our daughters view their bodies? You're going for the little women are ya?

8:27 - Good News (with Dannah)

Dannah Gresh: I am going for the little women. And Erin, you and I, when we first emerged into our public ministry, we were both really concerned about body image issues, eating disorders, all that kind of stuff. And those things are still alive and well. But there's a threat to our daughters’ bodies. That's really, I think, related to those things, but equally as deadly, in fact, maybe more so. 

Erin: So you’re going to bring good news. Right? You're gonna give us some sunshine?

Dannah: You know how the good news works. It always starts with the bad news. 

Erin: We gotta tell the bad before we get to the good. 

Dannah: The light of Jesus shines through all the darkness. Here's what I'm gonna tell you about. Today's tween and teen girls, they're really guinea pigs in a grand gender experiment. It's having a terrible impact on how some of them feel about their bodies. Gender Dysphoria is unhappiness caused by feeling your gender identity doesn't match your biological sex. It's impacting females right now more than men. 

Now, this is something to consider because until about 2012, it was almost exclusively boys who experienced severe persistent discomfort in their biological sex. But in recent years, there's been a huge uptick in teen girls feeling uneasy about their female bodies. 

Now, these young women have changed their identities, clamored for hormones, and begged for surgery to alter their bodies. Their parents, teachers, and friends are terrified that if they don't support these notions, their daughters or friends will harm, or even worse, kill themselves. 

The fear is in contrast to research that reveals there's little if any relief from psychological symptoms of depression and suicidal tendencies after an individual transitions to a different gender. As a matter of fact, the puberty blockers as well as hormone therapies that accompany those transitions can actually cause these teens more mental and emotional distress, as well as the life-altering side effect of infertility. 

Now, this issue is complex. Before I get to some really good news, I want to acknowledge that some girls do experience a true psychological condition. It usually surfaces when they're very young, and it's deeply painful, and they need help. And in some cases, that feeling of hatred for their body is driven chiefly by a biological problem related to genetics or hormones. 

These individuals have physical health problems, not an identity problem. I believe a gender dysphoric person needs biblical counseling and potentially medical treatments that restore that hormone balance—if their problem is in fact, biological. 

Again, I'm telling you, it's completely complex. But godly support is imperative no matter what the trauma associated with this condition. It can be serious, difficult, and lifelong. But here's what I want you to hear today. And I think there are lots of moms, lots of grandmas that need to hear this. Not all tweens and teen girls who are struggling have either a psychological condition or a biological problem. Many of them instead are experiencing what social researchers call cluster contagion. That is there is a peer pressure associated with what many of them are feeling. I want to read to you a poem that a Christian tween girl who was struggling wrote:

Am I a mistake? I sometimes think, “Am I an accident? 

This thought makes my heart shrink. That's just the beginning of a poem written by tween girl named Lucia who lives in Columbia, South America. This letter might actually bring tears to your eyes. 

Yes, there's still the good news ahead. If you don't know, I devote much of my life to creating tools and resources for moms and daughters so that they'll grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus. 

Well, Lucia’s letter ended happily because she was one of hundreds of girls who attended an online True Girl Bible study titled, It's Great to be a Girl. Each night the study started with a song I commissioned by the same name. I wanted all the girls to sing “It's Great to Be a Girl” so they could meditate on that truth from God's Word. And then we covered three important biblical truths about our bodies. And we gave these girls practical tips for their maturing bodies. 

And Lucia wrote to tell me, ”When I was about nine, I played a lot with boys at church. As I got older, however, I didn't feel as much a part of the fun. I started to feel jealous of my younger sister who was still accepted. I thought about how awesome it would have been if I had been born a boy.” 

But Lucia had a moment of clarity during our It's Great to be a Girl online study. She says she stopped resenting the fact that she's outgrown playing with the boys and she is happy for her sister. She has a new understanding. Here's how she puts it, “I know that God made me in his own image, and that I need never doubt that He loves me.” That's good news. Lucia picked up that pen and she finished her poem. I want you to listen to how it ends. 

But I know that God formed me in my mother's womb.
He sees me and loves me.

This thought makes my heart bloom. Oh, it's great to be a girl. I don't know about you, but I think that's some really good news. And here's some good news for you. We're going to drop a link to the lyric video of that song in case you have a tween girl who needs to meditate on that truth. It'll be in the episode notes after this broad broadcast. It is great to be a girl. Again, that title of that song is, “It's Great to Be a Girl and I am happy to share that with you. 

All right, Portia girl. It is time for us to get grounded with God's people. We have a familiar name to the Revive Our Hearts world in studio today.

14:25- Grounded with God's People (with Stacy Reaoch)

Portia: Absolutely. Stacy Reaoch is with us. Stacy is a pastor's wife and a mom of four. I loved hearing her talk about her children before we get started today. She's also written a new book. It's titled Beautiful Freedom: How the Bible Shapes Your View of Appearance, Food, and Fitness.

Erin and I both got the chance to review the book early and endorse it. And yes, it is not your average beauty book. I love it. I know Erin loves it. I'm gonna let Stacy tell you more about the message behind the book. Welcome to Grounded Stacy.

Stacy Reaoch: So glad to be here.

Portia: All right, let's get to it, Stacy. Million dollar question: “Have you ever struggled with body image?” 

Stacy: Absolutely. Yes. I think it probably started for me as a teenage girl. I was kind of on the skinny side. I thought that when I put on my pom pom cheerleading skirt, that my legs looked like chicken skinny legs. I would hope that it'd be cool enough that would warrant wearing sweatpants under my skirt, just anything to hide myself a little bit more. 

But then I became a mom. I had four kids and kind of swung in the other direction of feeling like, Wow, my body doesn't look the same as it did twenty years ago. And how do I think about that? How do I grapple with that from a Christian perspective?

Portia: Yeah, yeah, I've totally been there as well. I think most would probably agree that starting to come into womanhood stage, you start to get a little bit more aware of your body and self-conscious. So, why do you think so many women struggle in this area specifically?

Stacy: Well, I think we are bombarded with messages from social media, from the world, with images of what we should look like, of what we should eat, the fitness plans that we should do. It's really kind of overwhelming that we're just flooded with all of this advice. All of these filtered pictures can leave us feeling like we're not enough.

Portia: Yeah, absolutely. Oh, I'm so glad you said it. Filtered pictures. You know, everything you saw was perfectly curated. 

Stacy: Right. 

Portia: So yeah, it's hard not to look in and ask Is something wrong with me? What am I doing wrong here? Okay, so you claim, and I think this is a very bold and good claim, that there is freedom in God's Word. So tell us what does the Bible teach about our bodies?

Stacy: Well, we see in the Bible that God made our bodies good, right? In Genesis 1, He made everything good. And so, we can be thankful for the body that we have, because God created it exactly as He wants it to be. Not that it's gonna look like the woman next to you, the woman that you're seeing on your app. But He designed us in our mother's womb, and so we can be thankful for that sovereign design, and that He has a purpose for our bodies. It's so much bigger than what we think. 

We can tend to focus on whether we've gained or lost five pounds, you know, staring in the mirror, looking at the new wrinkles that popped up or the gray hair that's peeking through. But God has a purpose for our bodies that's so much bigger than our own plan.

Portia: Yeah, absolutely. And I 100% I think that that's the message that we need to hear. Like we say, you're pointing out here that most messages about our bodies is coming from the culture, a lack of balance and real perspective, the true, the reality of things. So how does the Bible actually correct the bad cultural, worldly messages about our bodies?

Stacy: Well, I think Scripture gives us wisdom in different areas. So in the world, we're kind of pushed to be obsessive about things—to do the ultimate exercise plan or to eat these foods. And so, we can kind of look at these different categories according to Scripture. 

I think about one verse that helps me in terms of movement, and exercise is from1 Timothy 4:8. That verse tells us that we train ourselves for godliness. “For while bodily training is of some value. godliness is of value in every way.” 

And so, I love that because it gives us perspective, the bodily training is of some value. It's not saying that we don't need to exercise, we don't need to think about what we eat. No, bodily training is of some value. It's good for us to strengthen our muscles. It's good for us to care for ourselves as temples of the Holy Spirit. But it is not of ultimate value. It's not the pride, it's not of ultimate priority. 

Training ourselves for godliness is training ourselves for eternity of spending time in the Word and with the Lord and with other believers. So, I think that gives a good balance of the body that is important. We do train our bodies, but it is not of ultimate importance.

Portia: You know, I'm a Bible girl. So, I like it when you take it to the Scriptures. And if I'm being honest, that is something that I missed. I focus so much on the spiritual that is mentioned in that Scripture that He says it's of some value. So that means we don't need to just throw it all away and say, “Hey, I'm not going to work out, or I'm not going to, be intentional about what I'm eating.”

It means that we need to, I love the way you said that, prioritize. Of course, the spiritual is greater, but there's still some physical that we need to be paying attention to and working out. I love that. I told you I was a good book. 

So what about food? It's in your subtitle. I think we all have a love / hate relationship with food. I know I do. I love good food, but I hate it when I can't stop putting it in my mouth. What lessons do you see in Scripture about food?

Stacy: Well, I think we see that food ultimately is a good gift from God. We see Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life. So He is showing us that He is ultimately our sustenance. But He's also a picture that we need food. God created our bodies to have food. So, food is designed for our nourishment of our bodies. Food is designed for our enjoyment, food is not the enemy. 

So, I think that's a good kind of grounding foundation to start with. But food’s a good gift. We can enjoy all kinds of foods. God created a smorgasbord of flavors and textures, and then we can freely enjoy those. I think that the world comes at us with different narratives about food, and there can be narratives. I talked about this in the book. Food morality, you know, a processed food or foods with sugar. These are bad foods, and good foods are whole goods. Certainly, there are different nutritional values in different kinds of foods. But in the Bible, Jesus declares all foods clean in the New Testament. 

So, we should be able to eat and enjoy whatever food He has provided with a thankful heart. That makes me think of 1 Timothy 4:4–5 that says, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it's received with thanksgiving.” So that should make us grateful for a kale shake or a chocolate shake. We can really enjoy either one with a grateful heart. 

Portia: Yes. I love it. Okay, I have a daughter. You’ve got four kids, how many daughters?

Stacy: Two daughters.

Portia: Two daughters. Okay, so those of us who have daughters, as Dannah has mentioned, there's a lot that is coming at them. Even now, my daughter is six, and she's becoming more aware of her body and how she's different. How have you helped your daughters think biblically? I guess, share some of the wisdom that you're sharing about beautiful freedom. Have you shared that with your daughters? 

Stacy: Yeah, that’s a great question. And honestly, part of the impetus of me writing this book, has been raising two teenage daughters. One of my daughters isn't in college, she just exited the teenage years. Another one is smack in the middle of the teenage years. It is a hard time to be a teen girl and being bombarded with these messages from the world. 

I think taking them to Scripture, taking them to verses like 1 Peter 3:4, that we can have an imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, that is of great worth in God's sight. So, reminding them that it’s not that your outward appearance doesn't matter at all. But what really matters is our hearts. Are we becoming more like Jesus? Are we showing love and kindness to our friends and to our siblings. And then all these different things, you know, with fitness and food. 

Again, thinking back through Scripture, I remember one year my high school daughter came home, and one of her friends was just distraught because she's eating an Oreo cookie at lunch. And that Oreo cookie had ruined her clean eating plan, and she was freaking out. And my daughter was kind of like, “Mom, what do I think about this?” And so thinking about, “Okay, what does the Bible say about food? Are Oreo cookies bad? Do we need to feel guilty because we've had an Oreo cookie?” God created all these foods that we can enjoy with thanksgiving. 

As long as we're not indulging in, going overboard and eating the entire package of Oreo cookies, we have freedom to enjoy that. I've just tried to give them perspective from Scripture and try to model it at home. Though not perfectly, I've definitely failed in many ways, but trying to shape their view with Scripture about all these different topics.

Portia: Amen. Okay, one more question. I'm so glad that you are lending your voice to discuss these specific areas. In what ways do you hope that this book will change the conversation around beauty and health and food and fitness, specifically within the Christian community?

Stacy: Yeah, that's a great question. I've been a pastor's wife for twenty years. Another impetus in writing this is just seeing how many women struggle with these issues. This is not unique to the world, we both struggle. 

I hope that beautiful freedom will give women a new mindset, will help them reframe their thoughts about how we see food, how we see exercise, how we see our bodies, in light of Scripture, in light of the kingdom of God, versus building our own little kingdom and wanting to have perfect bodies and perfect diets and perfect exercise plans. I think there's so much enslavement that happens. I think there's so many women that have taken good things like food and exercise and turn them into many idols of the heart. 

And so, my hope is that beautiful freedom will reveal that and will provide a pathway to freedom and joy and peace.

Portia: Amen. Thank you so much. That is solid. I like to call it sage advice. Well, I can't wait for people to check out this book. The social media team has the day off today to observe the holiday, but we're gonna drop a link to Stacy's book in the episode notes after this broadcast. I really recommend that you check it out. I am grateful for the ways that you are blessing the body of Christ with this wisdom? So glad you could be with us today, Stacy.

Stacy: Thanks for having me.

Portia: All right, Erin Davis.

Erin: I got the ball. I'll catch it. Yeah, I'm ready. This is an ongoing conversation. It needs to be an ongoing conversation in our homes and our churches and here on Grounded. You're probably not going to get this settled in your heart once and for all. Wouldn't that be nice? But the reason, Stacy mentioned this, the messages we're hearing that are anti what we see in truth. They are relentless. And our bodies are always changing. 

29:28 - Video (How Availability and Stewardship Dictate the Way We Care for Our Bodies, with Shannan Painter)

And so that's why this is a topic we'd like to cover from time to time on Grounded, like the time my friend Shannon Painter dropped by with a great word picture for body stewardship. I want you to watch this short clip of that episode. 

And then Dannah will be here to teach those three things she taught her true girls. They are things you and I need to hear as women too. So, watch and be ready to learn. 

Erin: So, what's availability got to do with the way we steward our bodies?

Shannon Painter: So let me define that a little bit more. And then I'll give you an analogy. We say at Fit for the King that we want to be physically available to love God completely, let Him love others through us, and accomplish all He desires with us for His glory. 

So here's my little countdown clock. I know you also have four kids. So, in my driveway sits a 2012 Dodge Caravan. It has 130,000 miles on it. We paid for it with cash. It's not fancy. I don't drive it because it's the coolest car. But I drive it because it . . .

Erin: Ours is the extended version, Shannon. Ours is the extra-long Ford Transit twelve passenger. But yeah, same deal. Nobody's heads turn when I drive by because it's so cool. I can assure you of that. 

Shannon: That’s right, we drive our vehicles because we have children to transport with them. I love that I have a button that slides the door. So I have don’t have to worry about my kids flinging the door open into someone else's car. 

And so, with my minivan, because it's not a flashy thing, I don't sit out there for hours a day and wax my minivan and buff it till it shines. But at the same time, I also don't completely neglect it. It needs oil changes; it needs to have gasoline put in it; it needs to have the check engine light serviced at times. 

And so, our bodies function in a similar way. God gave them to us as a vehicle to do what He's called us to do and go where He's called us to go. We need to do some maintenance to them. We need to care for them to keep them in working order so that we're available. 

So, if we aren't getting good rest, if we're not exercising, then we aren't going to be energized to do what He's called us to do. And on the other side of that, if exercise is so important to us that it consumes our thoughts and it is the first priority in our life, it might get to a point where we're neglecting things that we need to do, like getting alone with the Lord every morning. 

Maybe we're not willing to miss a workout during the day to meet with a friend who needs some attention and encouragement. And so, that has been a picture that's helped me understand, I need to take care of it, and I want to be available. At the same time, it doesn't need to be too important. 

32:06 - Grounded in God's Word (with Dannah)

Dannah: Hmm good advice, good thoughts. This brings up the question, what is the purpose of our body? We're going to talk about that as we get grounded in God's Word. I really believe that right now, we don't just need to practice stewardship of our individual bodies, but women need to unite together. There's a collective need for you and I as Christian women to steward the design of the female body in general, because it's under attack. It doesn't matter whether you're iunder attack from all of the distortions of beauty, or whether it's under attack from these issues of gender. We need to come together as women in the body of Christ and have a biblical understanding of what it means to be a female image bear of God. We need to understand its purpose, and that will help inform our practices. 

But I know this: God chose for you to be a woman. Even if you've never faced confusion about being a woman, God chose this for you. If you have faced confusion about being a woman, God chose this for you. Gracefully making your contribution to the public dialogue right now really requires that you have an understanding of why God chose that for you. 

So, let's break down to three simple statements that give us a beginning theology of our bodies. Now, these are not just useful for navigating the conversations about gender. But as I said, they're going to inform how and if you exercise, what you put into your body, and many other practical aspects of living.

Are you ready? Here's number one: your primary purpose is to glorify God. God made you for Himself, and He has jealously protected His treasure by sacrificing His Son. And it is this sacrifice that motivates us to glorify Him. And make no mistake, it takes our bodies to do this. Let me read to you from 1 Corinthians 6:20 which says, “You were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.” 

As Christians, we understand the true purpose of our bodies is to point to God, to make Him known. The Westminster Confession, says it this way, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him.” I want you to notice it's one chief end—to glorify. To enjoy the surrender and sometimes hard work of glorifying Him with your body is married to the treasure of being in a state of enjoyment. 

Now, those two things can't be separated. But what does it actually mean to glorify Him with your body? To glorify God is to make Him visible, to let this lost world see that He exists, and that He is there for us. Now, when I'm telling twin girls this, I like to point to the moon. It is a cold, dark stone. It has no light of its own. But when it glorifies the sun, it's brilliant. That's us. We're called dark stones. But when the light of Christ shines on us, we glorify Him, and that is our primary purpose. 

Number two is going to build your primary practice: it must be to look like Him. And the Bible tells us we do that best in His defined roles of maleness and femaleness. Now, we find this truth solidly planted in Genesis. The pinnacle of God's design was Adam and Eve—one man, one woman. They were more than just unique creations, they were a representation, statues, if you will. 

Let me turn here to Genesis 1:26–27, I want to read these to you. “Then God said, Let us make man in our image in our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created them male and female, he created them.” 

So, think about this. There are so many godlike qualities that humanity possesses that could have been mentioned here. When God said “in the image of God,” He created them to have language proficiency to create sonnets and compose plays. It doesn't command our language proficiency or ability to compose on it. Apparently those things are what makes us most like a representation of God. What is listed are maleness, or femaleness. Those things help us look like Him. So that place is authentic humanity and sexuality in the context of male and female distinctiveness. These are our ability to look like Him. It mandates that we embrace those differences, not erase them as our culture is trying to do right now. 

The Book of Romans teaches us that disregarding His definitions for manhood, and womanhood is a rebellious refusal to glorify Him, and an attempt to hide who He is and whose we are. 

I like how Pastor John Piper once put it. He said this, “God's divine nature is revealed in the physical, material universe.” So much so that in Romans 1:20, it says, “So they are without excuse, when they exchange the glory of God for the glory of the creature, or when they exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator.” 

Paul is saying that the material physical universe reveals God's true nature and His design for humans, so that we can worship Him. Then Paul draws the parallel with human sexuality. Just as physical nature reveals the truth about God, so physical nature reveals truth about sexual identity. Whom we should worship is not left to our preferences, and who we are sexually is not left to our preferences. Both are dictated by God's revelation in nature. 

The parallel policymaking is this all on the one hand, cosmology is designed by God to reveal truth about God's identity as powerful and divine. On the other hand, biology or anatomy is designed by God to reveal truth about our identity as male and female. This truth is so plain that Paul says that we are without excuse if we don't see it and agree with it. 

But that brings us to number three, and this is where it starts to get practical for us. Our bodies therefore must be a living sacrifice to God. 

In Romans chapter 12, the apostle Paul also begs for us to lay down our own plans for our bodies, and make them daily living breathing sacrifices to our purpose of glorifying God. This includes how we work, how we live, how we give, how we spend, how we care for our body, what we eat, when we work out, and even who we have sex with, no matter what gender preference might be tempting to us. 

Let me read those verses to you. These are two of my favorites, Romans 12:1–2, “I appeal to you, therefore, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable, and perfect.” 

Why did God make you a woman? Why should you exercise? Why should you eat the green milkshake instead of the chocolate one? Sometimes, because you were created to contribute to humanity's purpose of glorifying enjoying God. And God chose for you to do that as a woman, and you need to do it as a healthy woman. 

I just got off social media this morning where a Christian author, a fellow Christian author, has lost like sixty pounds in the last year not so that she could look better, but so that she could serve the Lord better. She spent this past weekend ministering, speaking six times within a twelve-hour period of time. She said, “A year ago, I would have had to take two naps in the middle of that. I didn't lose weight and discipline my eating and exercise so that I can look better. I did it so that I could serve better and glorify Him.”

You illuminate who God is when you embrace this idea of living as a sacrifice. There are times when glorifying God is going to be a sacrifice for you. So let me remind you, Jesus went first. He died on a cross at Calvary for you. So, will you give of yourself including your body, as Christ did, to renew your mind? Become a discerning woman of God so that your body is a strong, beautiful, living sacrifice. 

Portia: Amen, Dannah. That's what I want to be—a beautiful woman that is a strong living sacrifice for the Lord. Thank you, my friend. 

Dannah: You're welcome. 

Portia: All right. This is the portion of our episode where we like to give you what we call the good stuff. I want to commend to you a few resources. First up is a Revive Our Hearts series titled,“Love Thy Body.” It's with Nancy Pearcey. And this conversation is on how we as Christians can view our bodies and engage in issues like gender, gender identity, and the sanctity of life—engaging those issues through a biblical lens. Nancy really helps us by challenging the modern narratives that often strip the human body, our humanity, our God-given humanity of its value. And so, I want you all to check it out. It's good. We'll drop a link to that in the episode notes. 

Also, for those raising young girls, or maybe you're involved with ministry, in ministry with teens, you're gonna want to check out It's Great to Be a Girl, by our very own Dannah Gresh. This Bible study is designed to help girls discover and celebrate God's good design for them. It's interactive, it's fun, it really speaks to the hearts of young girls. 

Let me just tell you that my Emmy loves herself some True Girl, like y'all, it's summertime, and she's always wearing the little True Girl beanie, the little hat all the time because. She's always telling people she's a true girl. So that excitement alone should let you know just how I have a category of resources, that true work True Girl offers to the young ladies in your life. You can grab a copy from the Revive Our Hearts online store. We've got a link; we're going to drop it for in the episode notes. 

And lastly, I want to encourage you as we approach our fiscal year end here at Revive Our Hearts. Let me just invite you once again, to come on in and support the mission of this ministry. Your contributions are vital for us to keep reaching out, teaching, helping equipping women everywhere to grow in their faith. 

And so, it's your generosity that fuels our daily broadcast, this podcast, our resources, the resources that I've mentioned, just now, even our conferences. And so, this is the last week to give toward our $838,000 year-end need. 

So, I encourage you to prayerfully consider if the Lord is leading you to partner with us. In this way, don't delay in your obedience. We are dropping links where you can join and where you can check those resources out, and where you can donate.

Erin: That was a lot of good stuff you threw our way. Thank you for doing that. Yeah, I love this episode, I knew I was going to. We don't need more body positivity. But we do need to be reminded to glorify God in all things, and that's my big takeaway. Dannah, you got one big takeaway.

Dannah: Just, you know, it is going to be a sacrifice. I think it's a sacrifice when I say no to the things that I want to eat. Not that I don't know. I mean, as Stacy said today, we can enjoy the chocolate shake. But I think you know, if you're not reaching for the green shake from time to time, if you're not getting out and being active, if you're not submitting to the things that make you a strong temple of the Holy Spirit, the living loving God of the universe, then maybe you're not living with your body as a sacrifice. 

Erin: Yep, so convicting. Portia, one takeaway.

Portia: Honestly, everything Dannah just said. And, do we really think of our bodies regularly as temples of the holy living, loving God? I think when we really put that at the forefront of our minds, it changes how we care for our bodies and what we engage with. 

Erin: I tell Jason regularly, “What kind of grandparents will we be?” Which hopefully we're aways from, our oldest sixteen. But what kind of grandparents we will be to some degree is determined by who we are today. 

Dannah: Yeah. 

Erin: Because will we have the energy then? Will we have the will? Will you be physically able? And what kind of disciples will be in the future somewhat determined by who we are today? What kind of worshipers and all those things? It's about stewardship. It's about investing well for the future. So I'll take that away from this episode. I’m really grateful for the conversation.

Dannah: Such a good one today. Well, I have a question that affects the nearer future. 

Erin: Okay. 

Dannah: What are you reading this summer?

Erin: Oh, I got a list of summer reading that I want to get to.

Dannah: Well, we're hoping you get to curl up with a good fiction book, but beach time and slow summer nights are also a great time to muscle up with God's truth. So, we're challenging you to read Bible infused books all summer long. Join us this month to explore four of our favorites. And that's right, we've got a summer reading challenge coming your way. The first step is Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth’s Adorned: Living Out the Beauty of the GospelTogether. Join us next week as we discuss that book. 

Portia: It’s gonna be great. Let's wake up with hope together next week on Grounded.

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