Breaking Free from Body Shame: Dare to Reclaim What God Has Named Good

I just wanted to briefly share why this book means so much to me. ♥ My name is Amanda and I have struggled with my body image for years, both physically and mentally. I have type 2 bipolar disorder, which is an incurable mental illness that I inherited from my dad and is something that has tormented me for over a decade. Due to the severity of the symptoms, there was much damage done to my mind and body and I developed a deep self-loathing that led to me developing a severe alcohol addiction. I ended up gaining a ton of weight and was advised by my psychiatrist in 2018 to quit alcohol and also try to lose weight in order to go on new medications. I felt so ashamed by my appearance, which I never thought was “bad” until it was pointed out to me. I also felt cursed by God due to my illness - it made me feel like I could never be a good person due to my mood swings and depression. Nevertheless, I began the fight to get better, but it was an uphill battle. I fought for my life starting in July 2018 and now here I am 3 years later. I am now 74 days sober with a full release from the clutches of alcohol by God's grace alone, I have lost over 45 pounds, I am off all of my medications, and for what feels like the first time ever, I am realizing God's love for me and how valuable and worthy I am to Him. However, I still struggle daily with my body image due to my past and overcoming my trauma and deeply entrenched beliefs about myself. That is why I am beyond thankful for this amazing book, which has already made in cry in just the first chapter alone. I am beyond thankful for the clear and loud message that my body is GOOD - our bodies are GOOD! I am now finally understanding what it means to be 'fearfully and wonderfully made,' and to know that because God crafted me, I am bursting with freedom and life in abundance. Freedom from self-hatred, freedom from self-destruction, and freedom from body shame. What a good and glorious Creator we have! This books makes me feel seen, heard, and understood. As Jess asks in Chapter 5, "What are we getting our bodies ready for?" For the good He has set before me. For His glory. For Heaven. This body is temporary. I will one day reach my eternal one with the Eternal One. I am ready to rename by body as good with God.

This timely book is poised to spark a powerful movement within God's kingdom. I revel at His goodness in revealing this to Jess right now, at the peak moment of potentially disliking how our bodies emerge from the pandemic. Praise His name for bringing about this collective paradigm shift.I am a group fitness instructor and as such people often share their body woes with me, typically with the goal that I'll help them meet the cultural expectation for what their body should look like. However, in His goodness, at the beginning of my venture into teaching fitness, I discovered Revelation Wellness. I've been discipled there to care about the heart first, then food and fitness. So when women complain to me about their "chicken wing" arms, I ask them to put a hand over their heart, take a deep breath, and appreciate what a miracle it is that they are breathing, their heart is beating, God is sustaining them, and all of their systems are working together to keep them alive, functioning, and moving. I encourage them to value the amazing bodies they're in and care for them well.However, cultural expectations had overcome me in many ways I didn't realize. I am so grateful that Jess' revelation about how we carry the things that have been said about our bodies. I needed a lot of healing in this area. I'm grateful she challenged me to speak life and truth over this body. I'm glad she reminded me of the purpose of this wonderful gift, the meeting place with my maker. How easily we've been duped to think it was for our glory.Jess teaches with passionate conviction and sound, biblical truth. She does not shy away from sharing her own relatable painful experiences and the mistakes she's made.This book could only be better if there were a reference to The Office. Wait! There is. It's completely wonderful in every truth-in-love, in-it-with-you, let's-change-the-narrative kind of way.I imagine that the enemy is trembling at the chains that are falling and the territory he's losing. May the Lord be magnified as we break free to serve HIM only in this good temples he designed.

This book is so important. I have always thought negatively about my body, and have constantly been in a mindset of “how do I fix xyz.” “Breaking Free from Body Shame” made me see everything differently. God made me. God said I was good, so I am good. I don’t need to fix anything. I am good because He said I am. Just the way I am. No exceptions. As someone with two chronic illnesses that cause me to not look or feel the way I want, this message transformed the way I saw myself. There is nothing in this book that is revelatory or breaking news, but the way Jess Connolly breaks it down and relates it to the Bible really made an impact on me. This book is for everyone who has ever had a negative thought about their bodies or thought they needed to improve to show their worth. God doesn’t need us to prove ourselves. He wants us to come as we are. A lot of my way of thinking came from how my family talked about their bodies growing up, so I believe this book is especially important if you are a parent in today’s world. Please read this so we don’t continue the cycle with future generations.

Es un libro maravilloso, me vi reflejada y retada en cada capítulo y me enseñó a cambiar mi perspectiva de cada aspecto de mi cuerpo. Definitivamente un libro que tendría que leer cada miembro de la iglesia.

I learned from this book and it has helped me a lot

I love this book. I can’t wait to share this book and all that I’m learning about God and how He sees my body as good with the ladies I get to disciple every year plus my daughter.Jess gets it and is slinging hope and truth and women need this message. We do not need to live by cultural standards.Amazing. Get it today.