Sometime last week I stumbled across this article: Moms, Put on That Swimsuit by Jessica N. Turner. Please read it. I honestly want to just copy and paste the entirety of the thing right here, but instead I'll trust that you'll read it and just put out here the two lines that hit me hard...
"Your swimsuit does not define you."
"I want them to remember that their mom was there, with them."
As much as I hate, hate, hate to say it, I am That Mom. The Mom who doesn't want to put on the dreaded swimsuit simply because my own insecurities start screaming wild and loud the minute I go to open the drawer where the dreaded swimsuit lives.
I am That Mom. The Mom who fears what thoughts might be harbored in a strangers head about my weight or size.
I am That Mom. The one who, way more often than not, lets Daddy be the one who swims with the kids. I'll cheer them on, sure! And stare at them a million times when they yell "Watch me!", but get in with them?
Sigh....
This article challenged me, and coupled with this verse...
"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,
so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
Ephesians 2:10
...changed me.
Not a solved, finished, or even close kind of changed...but a continual and working on it realization that I am His, created as a masterpiece, regardless of what I look like in a swimsuit, or anything else for that matter.
I want my children to remember that I swam with them. I want my husband to remember that I swam with him. And I want my daughter to know that her confidence, no matter what outfit she wears, comes from Christ alone, the creator of beautiful masterpieces.
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