Naked Barbies

Without a doubt weight has been on of THE biggest struggles in my life. I journal every morning, and I can pick up anyone of them and find dozens of prayers, asking God to help me with this problem.

Photos through the years document my struggle. Up. Down. UP.

Most of all, there is this inner desire for PERFECTION. To be perfect. To look perfect.

I’m not alone. This is what my friend, Lucinda Secrest McDowell had to say in Spa for the Soul, "When I was a little girl I spent a lot of time with a naked woman--my Barbie doll ... I guess in many ways Barbie was my first introduction to glamour and fashion and what a grown-up gal should look like ... Yet, if a Barbie doll were a real person, she would be seven feet two with a forty-inch bust, a twenty-two-inch waist, and thirty-six-inch hips. Her neck is twice the length of a normal human's neck.

An average woman is five feet four with a thirty-seven-inch bust, a twenty-nine inch waist, and forty-inch hips. She wears a size 12. In fact 60 percent of American woman wear a size 12 or larger! So there aren't that many real-life Barbies walking around today. Marie Claire magazine reveal these facts in addition to the announcement, "There are 3 billion women who DON'T look like supermomdels and only 8 who DO!"

So what do we do?

Pinpoint the problem. Paula Rinehart, author of Sex and the Soul of a Woman, said: “Women's lives are being shaped by a culture with a sexuality gone mad."

I’ll add this on: Women’s SHAPES are also being transformed by a culture with a sexuality gone mad.

Has your perspective of your body weight been distorted by the media? (It probably has, in some way.)

Here are: “The Average American Woman Dieting & Weight Statistics”

The average American woman is 5'4" tall and weighs 140 pounds.

The average American model is 5'11" tall and weighs 117 pounds.

Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women.

Four out of five American women say they're dissatisfied with the way they look.

On any given day, almost half of the women in the United States are on a diet.

Dieting is out of control in the United States...

Almost half of American children between first and third grades say they want to be thinner.

Four out of five ten-year-old children are afraid of being fat.

On any given day, one in four men are on a diet.

Half of our nine and ten-year-old girls say that being on a diet makes them feel better about themselves.

More than one out of three "normal dieters" progress to pathological dieting. One fourth of those will suffer from partial or full syndrome eating disorders.

Americans spend over forty billion dollars a year on dieting and diet related products.

Between five and ten million women and girls in the United States struggle with eating disorders and borderline conditions.

What can we do? Stop comparing.

As God's creations, we all know we are unique and precious to God. Yet why do we struggle with comparing our lives, our grades, our talents (or lack of talents), our bodies with others?

Men may check out women’s bodies, but women do too. Because we want to know how we measure up!

We all do it. We compare. Where we are weak, we see others’ strengths. Why? We lack understanding.

2 Corinthians 10:12 says: “For we don’t dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding.”

We need to pray for understanding. To see our bodies in light of eternity and our place in God’s creation.

We need to remember that statement that there are 3 billion women who DON'T look like supermodels and only 8 that do.

We need to remember we are beautifully designed by God.

Now, that's something I SHOULD be journaling about. How about you?