[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3742″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space][vc_custom_heading text=”Session 2″ font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:16|text_align:center|color:%23ff7905″ google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_custom_heading text=”Body Image” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center|color:%23ff7905″ google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]What do you see when you look at yourself? A lot of us spend so much time worrying about what we look like. Whether we try to impress other people or yourself, or fit in, or be normal or cool we worry about our appearance. We can get caught up in trying to look perfect, spending so much time on how we look.
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]So what is it that makes us focus so much on our outward appearance? When we focus so much on ourselves we can be self-centered. Obsessing over how we look is searching for other people’s approval, wanting to be worthy of them, wanting them to accept us. Or maybe it can just be the attention you get. Attention from other people isn’t going to fill a hole in our lives. Comparing yourself to other people and wondering if you’re good enough is something we do too often.
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We shouldn’t put our security in other people because people will let us down. We shouldn’t be trying so hard to find acceptance because people won’t meet our expectations. People aren’t perfect. And then we are tempted with momentary fixes. Giving up your body, starving yourself, doing drugs. It’s only going to leave you feeling empty.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]But we don’t need to look to other people for acceptance. We don’t need to prove ourselves. “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”( 1 Samuel 16|7) God loves us so much and looks at our hearts. He doesn’t look at your outward appearance and he won’t let us down. Our problem is that we look at ourselves in the mirror shallowly. God looks so much deeper, at our spirituality.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10) You are loved. Anything we are going through, God will be there. We don’t need other people’s acceptance because he loves us.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]
For you created my inmost being: you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139|13) We are made beautifully and specially just to be who we are. There weren’t any accidents. We were made specifically and with a plan God has made for our lives. God had this plan for everyone before we were born. You are wonderfully made.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]Lastly, you are approved. We look for approval in the wrong places and we’re never going to find what we need until we go to God. “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Matthew 16|26) In the end it won’t matter how you looked or how many friends you had because God is looking at your heart. And that’s what we need to remember. God loves us, approves us, and knows we are beautiful.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_btn title=”NEXT SESSION” style=”outline-custom” outline_custom_color=”#ff7905″ outline_custom_hover_background=”#ff7905″ outline_custom_hover_text=”#ffffff” shape=”square” size=”lg” align=”center” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2F242community.com%2Ftensions-1-3||”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
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