Hands and feet are the two body parts I used to hate and wish I never had.The two body parts that–along with my head–cost me almost ten years of my life.

I’ve shared my story before and I’ll share it again. It was because of severe eczema that took the skin off my feet, face, and hands. I also gained one hundred pounds in ten months from taking Prednisone to control my skin.

So when I say I love my body–it’s nothing short of a miracle!

There were many times I felt like giving up or wishing I had someone else’s body or body parts. I always felt like my body disqualified me from living and that no one would ever love me.

My body made me feel ugly.

That’s why I wanted to write this series. I know I’m not the only one who has struggled with believing the truth about their body. And that beauty comes in all different shapes and sizes.
The chunk of Scripture that I feel represents this series the best, and how Jesus views our body is 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. It says,

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.  If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And…If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (1 Corinthians 12:14-15, 26, NIV84).

When my hands suffered–the rest of me suffered.

The same with my head and feet.
Instead of writing a sob story or love letter to my body, I wanted to say how grateful I am. I not only had the pleasure of participating in the sufferings of Jesus (1 Peter 4:13), but by the wounds on His hands and feet that were nailed to the cross–I am healed (Isaiah 53:5).
Free.
Beautiful.
Forgiven.
Because of the things I have suffered in my body–I no longer view beauty the way the world sees it. The media might overemphasizes your size. Skinny over fat. Beauty over health.

But I say healthy is the new skinny.

Before I judge–I need to be careful. I haven’t walked a mile in your shoes. I don’t know where you’ve been or how long and hard you fought to get where you are today.
The same is with me.

Before you judge me by my hands and feet or by the size of my curves–you need to know where I’ve been. (I’m talking to myself too).

On the cross.
With Jesus.

 “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.After two days he will revive us;on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:1-3, NIV84)

Maybe God didn’t heal my hands and feet in three days, but He raised my prayer life from the grave. Maybe God didn’t restore me when I wanted Him too, but He came to me over and over in the Scriptures.

Praise be to the Lord my Rock,who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. (Psalm 144:1, NIV84).

I love my body not because I am perfect, but because of my battle scars. And that my friends is a beautiful thing.