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Juleeta Harvey

seeking His Truth about body image

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The First Step to Making Any Change

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Taken as Sue’s, this image reminds me that timely change spurs beauty.

Change is happening here.

I have been writing about Seeking God’s Truth about Body Image for a year and a half. Crafting these stories has empowered me to believe something new.

I was meant to write.

I know this because when I am not writing, I’m not myself.

Myself is this girl with whom I’ve become more intimately acquainted over the last few years. After having spent some real time with her lately, I believe I’m starting to like her.

Sometimes she laughs for too long, and recently, her loud cackle has [Read more…] about The First Step to Making Any Change

How to Love What is in Your Closet

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When I catch a sideways glance at myself, sometimes it’s just after coming out of the shower on the way to my closet. Most of my body is exposed.  Under my eyelids and around my hippy section, I see evidence that my body is changing. Yes, as we grow up, our bodies prove that no living thing is exempt from the effects of the universe’s gravitational pull.

Bu more often than not, when I see my reflection staring back from the mirror’s glimpse, I am not so exposed.  I have dressed for the morning, or maybe even for the day ahead, and I see myself clothed.  Sometimes, I celebrate very simple accomplishments.  I changed out of my pajamas…into my favorite sweatpants.  And then there are days that I discipline myself to pull up my favorite jeans and choose a happy pair of earrings to accompany my grey V-neck.  With or without makeup to brighten my skin tone, at least I’ve chosen to get dressed.

To be completely honest, I’ve noticed the clothes I’m wearing predispose how I see myself in the day ahead. Why is this the case?

I think this is true, not just for me, but for most of us: The clothes we wear impact how we feel about our bodies.

Specifically, the color and style of the clothes we wear impact how we feel about our bodies.

Over the last year, I have scrutinized the process of “knowing your colors.” After witnessing a dozen or so friends complete their color analysis with House of Colour, I can say this.  It’s not hogwash.  I’m not rolling my eyes when I hear them mention buying something from their color palette. I’ve seen them simplify and simultaneously improve their wardrobes after having completed the analysis. It’s proven.  By knowing their colors, these women know how to do the work that leads to loving what is in your closet.

And you know what?  They’re not enjoying the clothes in their closets more because they lost weight.  Not one of them is shopping better because she suddenly has more glamourous facial features or a fresh, younger-looking hairstyle.

What has each woman chosen to do?  She has chosen to invest in what she’s got. [Read more…] about How to Love What is in Your Closet

The C.S. Lewis Quote that Keeps Coming in the Cold

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These steps lead to the quiet riverbed by my friend’s country home. In the cold, when the rains hold off, it is still and peaceful here.

A few thoughts to wrap up Step 2: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Father, thank you for saving us from ourselves.

We are like the Israelites who have to be told, over and over, that we are not God over our lives.  We often find ourselves whirling from one thing to the next, tottering on the fine point of a spinning top, and we wonder in the too-much doing:

How can I keep going like this?

Is it safe to slow down?

Can I sit in la mezcla of my happy and my hurt, taking the time to inhale and exhale my self?

But you assert yourself, for our good.  You remind us that you have brought us out of a wilderness that leads to promise and healing. You speak into our noisy life, I am your way out of the “always winter but never Christmas” (Lewis). “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3).

You promise to deliver us from how we once saw ourselves – not like-that-girl-enough, not attractive enough, not fast enough, not revered enough.

Today, we practice the art of believing — You desire to restore us to sound thinking so that we can make decisions for sound body-image seeing.

How Does Beauty Feed Your Body? I’m thinking about what you might want for Christmas…

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Horns blare in symphonic cadence, but all I hear is Christmas music accompanying the light show at Saks Fifth Avenue.  The constant hum of people invites us to receive. New York City is the most glamorous city I’ve ever seen.

Late Saturday evening, my husband and I arrived in New York on the last flight into LaGuardia, tucked in at the nearby Holiday Inn for a few hours, and rose early the following morning to catch a cab into New York City. [Read more…] about How Does Beauty Feed Your Body? I’m thinking about what you might want for Christmas…

On Vogue and Sanctification

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My Vogue came in the mail on Tuesday.  It is a grandiose salute to all things style, and the fact that it’s the 125th Anniversary Collector’s Edition makes it special — heavy and thick, full of photos imbued with colors and patterns that capture the reader’s attention with every turn of the page.  I look at some of these models and think they are alluring, but mostly skinny.  Like scary skinny.

As the “Thou shalt not judge” voice confronts my thoughts, I realize why I battle with the images in my fashion magazine.  It is impossible to separate ourselves from our bodies?  [Read more…] about On Vogue and Sanctification