I was asked to review this book, and I am SO glad that I read it. As someone who struggles to be content with my outward appearance, this book delivered messages of biblical truth and encouragement that resonated deep within my heart. The author, Teasi Cannon, is so open, honest, and relatable! Her story is powerful and an incredible example of God’s redemptive power.

The book doesn’t only deal with self-image issues–Teasi dives in and tackles important (and seldom discussed) inner heart issues that she discovered on her journey toward a healthy self-image. I related to a few of them–such as not celebrating the successes of others because of a fear that it demeans my own talents. I definitely need to work on that, and Teasi provides questions and scripture to help readers work through those issues.

Teasi discusses the concept of an “Orphan Heart” which is when we are living as though we aren’t completely loved and cared for by God. It made complete sense and I realized that there are some areas in need of work in my own life.

“I let my doctors (not Vanity Fair or Cosmo) tell me if I’m physically healthy, and I let God alone assign my value.”

I loved this passage and had to include it here:

To “glorify” God with our body means to use it to honor or magnify Him. There are many ways to interpret what that might look like in our individual lives. But one thing is for sure, we can’t do it if we hate our body so much that we keep it hidden from the world in shame. That’s the devil’s goal. How do you think he’s doing?

Our enemy wants us to be so ashamed of the appearance of our body that we forget all about the life-changing potential (God’s Spirit) it houses. If he can influence us to become embarrassed enough, maybe we’ll just stay home and keep that good stuff to ourselves. (I’m not going because my pants are too tight.) And when we do, it just leaves more hurting people–maybe even a family member or friend–to die without hope.

This is just an example of the powerful message this book contains. She is absolutely right! I had never thought about it that way, but I can completely see how the devil is using the media/perception of true beauty based on celebrities to manipulate us and keep us from doing God’s Kingdom work. Teasi has put words to the struggles that we see all around us and within ourselves.

You can download a sample chapter here. You can also see a blog post or download an interview with the author here.

Even if you don’t struggle with self-image issues, I recommend this book. We all have baggage from our past that needs to be dropped in order to fully be who God has created us to be…and this book provides resources to be set free for good.

I received a free copy of this book from Worthy Publishing and the opinions expressed are my own.