Juleeta C. Harvey

#goaftertheone

March 20, 2018 By Juleeta 2 Comments

This single chair, *standing alone*, doesn’t necessarily look comfortable. But it is striking. And just plain pretty.

The most authentic worship I’ve been apart of, probably since college, has taken place at our Recovery meetings on Thursday nights.

Maybe it’s the smaller group, intimate and so many open chairs.

Some of the authenticity probably springs from the group joining together in unity, repeating The Serenity Prayer as we close the evening. Each of us reads, longing to believe God’s faithfulness to His very broken people. There is power in speaking it aloud, every time.

But I think that the authenticity of Thursday nights is built on the premise that we all come so real, with so few expectations. Music and lyrics meld together [Read more…] about #goaftertheone

Living in My Best Beachbody

March 15, 2018 By Juleeta 2 Comments

The beachfront view from our room, where the ocean meets the sky.

Beachbody is a word, ya’ll.

When I typed the two words, “beach body,” in the space offered by social media’s detective magnifying glass, the Internet offered a few responses like what I expected.

But I admit, I was surprised to see that “beachbody” actually functions like a single noun, all by itself. At least it exists in the Google search engine and various social media outlets. What does that mean for healthy body image? [Read more…] about Living in My Best Beachbody

An Invitation

March 2, 2018 By Juleeta Leave a Comment

This exquisite image of piercing light is captured by photographer, Andrew Bui.

My fingers tremble as I click the keyboard. I can’t believe I am doing this, but I’m sending out the invitation.

On Thursday nights, Northwest Bible Church hosts Recovery for Life, 6:45 pm. It’s a gathering of believers that unite for the purpose of connecting and sharing about how the biblically-rooted 12 Steps invites individuals to seek healing over hiding.

Next week, March 8, I am speaking to the group about body image distortion and disordered eating. The discussion will include factual information about different stages of body image distortion and the role that the body of Christ plays in helping people heal from the wounds that negative body image incurs. I am inviting you. [Read more…] about An Invitation

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

February 22, 2018 By Juleeta Leave a Comment

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.

Crazy Hungry: Seeking Sanity

February 15, 2018 By Juleeta 1 Comment

This image speaks to our longing…for something better. Father, help us see how to seek sanity this morning. Photo by Caleb George on Unsplash

It is a hard day to reconcile. We hurt for those who are living and grieving yesterday’s shooting. Come in close as you take the next few minutes to read.

Your desire for sanity and sound mental health, and everything in you that desires the fruit of loving the Lord with your heart, mind, soul, and strength – I’m inviting you to seek and pray for it today. Because the prayers of His people wield a mighty force in the battle against depravity that sometimes leads to insanity.

As we pray and grieve, we forge ahead in the 12 Steps, lingering for a few weeks in Step 2: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

I was reading the definition of sanity this morning, and it reads this vaguely: “the quality or state of being sane.”

But before I moved on to looking up the root word, sane, I read how the dictionary’s authors used sanity in a sentence. After all, any English teacher worth her weight in words seeks clarification from the sample sentences. They read as follows:

People have begun to doubt his sanity.
She is the mother of six children but somehow keeps her sanity.
The sanity of the decision was never in question.

Crazy Hungry: Let the Adventure Begin

February 1, 2018 By Juleeta 3 Comments

“Crazy Hungry” came to me after listening to my friend, Sue, tell hilarious and sometimes, crazy stories.

Over the years, I’ve heard the wild and crazy details of my dearest friends’ lives, particularly wonderful stories about their families. We all have so many stories to tell, but Sue’s stories are somehow the most hilarious to me because she has this amazing way of remaining present in a situation, picking up each person’s responses in that particular moment, and then retelling the details with fluidity. She can tell you, from beginning to end, what face this woman was making in her living room while this child was screaming bloody murder upstairs while her husband continued baking an apple pie in the kitchen while she just stayed present, in the crazy of it all.

For years, my hunger made me crazy. Absolutely, hands down, borderline insane. And somehow I was able to appear that I was managing just fine. I was able to maintain high achiever status : excellent grades, a desirable weight, relationships with family and friends, and sometimes an ability to serve others that was regarded as strong or brave.

Finally, after living that way for twenty-ish years, one mercy-filled husband and five children later, I couldn’t hide the crazy any more or the hunger. I needed a new way. I look back and am so thankful. The Lord was good to intervene, and I started Recovery for Life.

But let me add this… [Read more…] about Crazy Hungry: Let the Adventure Begin