Body Dysmorphia | Girls Gone Bible
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Okay. Speaking of body dysmorphia, let's cut the cameras so we don't see ourselves maybe. What's up, Barb? What's up, Angie girl? People love. It is a pretty, let's do it one more time. Oh, our handshake. It is pretty good. It's so solid. Let's do it. Our hand, okay.

And then we go like this for a few minutes, and then we just know to just casually let it go. One more time. Ready? What's up, Ari? What's up, Angie girl? Well, you know. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Is it because we're from the rough riding? It's because we're from the nitty gritty. Is that where we're from? No, nothing is funnier than our first ever clip that went viral when I was like,

You know, I love God because he pulled me out of the trenches. And everyone's like, what is this little blonde girl talking about the trenches? Like, you've never been in. I'm like, you have no idea. People look at us and they think, like, we're these two little blonde, like, buttoned up girls. And I'm like, actually, we're the opposite. I have no idea. Don't let the bows fool you and the president's wife dresses fool you. Hi, I'm Ange. And I'm Ari. And this is Girls Gone Bible. We're a faith-based church.

I am tired of it. I don't want to do it anymore. I can't. You know why I always get tongue tied? Because we're not these professional little podcasters. We are. Should I say it? Go ahead, please. We are a faith-based podcast. We talk all things Jesus, mental health, relationships.

Everything you've been through, we probably have too. So we want you to come here today and just kick back, feel safe, relax, and come as you are. Just don't stay that way. Unreal. Unreal. You're hired. You're hired. I'm so happy to be demoted. So...

I'm wearing my American flag sweater today. God bless America. We love America. We love it here. I am first generation Albanian American. Whatever you're feeling today, we're filming this on Wednesday. It'll be released this Friday. Whatever you're feeling today, just know that no matter who's president, Jesus is king.

No matter what side you're on, you shouldn't be on a side. We're all on one side, and that's the side of Jesus. We're all a part of the kingdom. And whatever you're feeling, just know that nobody holds their future in your hands except Jesus. And so you're safe, you're protected, you're good. And just find rest in the fact that Jesus is king. No matter what else happens, Jesus is king, and God bless Jesus.

I'm so happy to be in this country. I love it here. Me too. It's only going to get better from here. Yeah. Amen. Before we get started, you guys, we're so excited to tell you that we are on the Girls Gone Bible live tour. We are...

coming to cities near you for the next 2024. And we also have dates for 2025. We're so excited. You can go to the link in the description box. It's girlsgonebible.com slash tour. Ari and I are truly having the time of our lives with you guys. There are so many tears, so many laughs.

And it's just insane to be able to actually legitimately hug you guys, pray with you, and just be with you. And just we're so excited. So please, please get your tickets and come see us. We can't wait. And one more thing. We have something called GGB Plus on the Supporting Cast website. We are having so much fun with GGB Plus. We're basically able—

to unashamedly and unfiltered-ly talk to you guys. And it's just different. It's different because it's just us. We give advice. We have question sessions. We vlog. We're just getting started. So that's also in the description below. Today, oh my gosh, yes, it's your birthday episode. Is it? You should have gotten me a cake. It's your birthday episode. Where's my cake? Where's your cake? Where's my cake?

You know why? Because it's later in the week. It felt like this week is Ari's birthday episode. I'm going to be 25. You're going to be 25. I'm going to be 22. I can't believe it. Like, 25. Crazy. You don't look a day older than 24.

Yeah. 25 and we act like we're 15. 15, huh? Yeah. Okay. Oh my gosh. It's my baby's birthday week. We're going to have the most fun weekend. Please, you guys already know. Ari, sweet Ari, the most loved. Actually, right now I'm going to play the funniest video that I've already gotten. Which one? Don't worry about it. You'll see it on Friday. I'm going to play it right now of Ari. You guys have made some, nothing. Never mind. It's none of your business. Me, eh.

I don't even think my accent's that bad, honestly. Oh, this steak is off the charts. You don't have to do that. You better get over here and give me a hug. Happy pre-birthday. I love you. In advance. I love you so much. I love you. I'm just so glad this is our... It's my birthday, but more importantly...

November 9th is when Angela and I met two years ago. I was just in the corner crying my eyes out and my angel in human form came and rescued me. This God-ordained friendship has been the biggest blessing in my life. So not only is it my birthday, but it's our friendiversary, our two-year friendiversary. I don't remember life without you. Me neither.

And I can't believe we've only been friends two years. It feels like we both came out of the womb at the same time. I don't know a life without you. No. And I never will have to. No, we won't. I will never forget that day at that job we were at, going up to you and being like, wow, this is about to be my best friend forever. Literally knowing the first day that I met you, this is my girl, this is my dog. And, you know, we went to Pilates that week at Carrie's. And I remember thinking—

thinking because I'm like very careful with the word best friend I don't call everyone like no you don't whatever best friend is like it holds a lot of weight for me

And I remember we were at Pilates that week, and the girl is like, are you guys sisters? Oh, yeah. And you were like, no, we're best friends. And I remember everything in me goes, yeah, we are. I like that. And I don't even use that loosely at all. Oh, man. It was so cute. What an honor to be your best friend. What an honor to be yours. So everyone, write in the chat. In the chat. Write in the comment. Right in the chat.

That's what they say at church. We're really going to stop. We're going to get our own personalities. This is what we have to do.

Everyone write in the description box, happy birthday, Ari. And why don't you write your favorite thing about her? Oh, please. It's okay, guys. No, yes, do it. Write your favorite thing about Ari and why you love her so much and how she's personally affected your life. I'll go first. I hate when the attention is on, you know, please, Ari. You love it. You love it. We love it.

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Download the free Upside app and use promo code GGB to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas using promo code GGB. Speaking of body dysmorphia. Yes, go ahead. So Ari and I, listen, I know we had an episode on body image earlier.

But we wanted to come on and talk about something a little more specific, body dysmorphia. It's something that we all go through. It's different for all of us. I think every single person in the world goes through it. Obviously, there's different severities of it. So I'm just going to read the definition of body dysmorphia. Body dysmorphia or body dysmorphic disorder, BDD, is

is a mental health condition where a person becomes excessively preoccupied with perceived flaws in their appearance, often seeing minor or even non-existent imperfections as severe and unsightly.

These concerns may focus on specific body parts such as the skin, hair, nose, or other features and lead to intense distress. People with BDD may spend excessive time looking in mirrors, comparing themselves to others, seeking reassurance, or even undergoing cosmetic procedures to correct their perceived flaws.

However, the relief from these actions is typically temporary and the preoccupation continues, often affecting social interactions, work, school, and overall quality of life. I do think we all have it. Yeah. But I do believe that some people have it a lot worse and it's very undermined. Yeah. And it's something to really take seriously. 80% of people

have suicidal thoughts or attempt to commit suicide from not feeling good, from seeing something in the mirror and it actually not being there, but feeling so bad about themselves. So it's something to really take very seriously, especially in today's age with social media and everything. It's gotten so bad. So bad. So bad. It plagues all of us. It is...

I say it all the time. It is the enemy's one of his number one ways to distract us is to get us looking at ourselves all day long and being so preoccupied with what we look like, what other people think we look like. It becomes an idol for all of us. I know for me, you guys know some of my story, like this is something I've been dealing with body dysmorphia my entire life. And

It has been like once I gained spiritual awareness and realized why this happens, I was like, oh, obviously, obviously. And like the day.

He doesn't have anything new. He has nothing new, no new tactics. Like the only thing that he can do is the same thing our whole lives. He catches us when we're kids, finds out what a trigger is, finds out what our insecurity is, our trauma, what somebody said to us that planted a seed. And then he spends the rest of his life, our lives watering the seed of what somebody else said to us. And so for me, I know that somebody must have said something to me when I was a kid. Somebody must have become...

somebody must have made me become aware of my body at a really young age. And then the devil literally was like, oh, perfect. I got her. It all starts when you're a kid because you're so vulnerable. It all starts when we were kids. And I think, yeah, like you said, it

all, either something was said to you, what was your home life look like? Were you constantly ridiculed by your parents? Were you super bullied at school? Like it's all these kinds of things that start when we're kids. Always, always. And like social media has...

I mean, one of the God's commands is don't covet. What does that mean? It means don't want what somebody else has. Don't want what somebody else has. And so when you're sitting there comparing yourself on social media all day, like you're literally, you're sinning. Like you're looking at somebody else's life, their body, what God gave them, how God created them and being like, I want that. Why can't I be like that? When God is like, but I made you, you. Yeah. And I made you so intentionally. Yeah. And like, these are cliches we hear all the time, but...

I don't know. There's so much. I mean, I was taking a bath the other day and I was thinking about body dysmorphia and I was just thinking about the things that we go through as men and women. And I was thinking about how

I was just thinking about how you can look in the mirror and legitimately see something that's not there. Like, how is it that our actual physical, like we know that the devil perverts and distorts our emotional eyes and our spiritual eyes. We see things not as they are. He lies to us. He creates deception. Like he just lies. That's what he does. He lies. And then I was thinking about

It's not just limited to our emotional life and our spiritual life. He has the ability to distort our physical eyes as well, to see something that's not there. I'm literally sitting and I'm thinking about, is there anything in scripture that speaks to body dysmorphia? Are there any stories? Like, is there anyone who dealt with it?

And then I immediately thought of the moment with Leah and Rachel. We've talked about Jacob, Leah and Rachel, how Jacob was deceived by Laban to marry. He wanted to marry Rachel and then he ended up marrying her sister Leah. He got to marry Rachel, however, 14 years later. But when Jacob married Leah, it literally says that

It basically insinuates that Rachel was so much more beautiful than Leah. Jacob loved Rachel. He didn't love Leah. And it says that Leah had weak eyes. And so often people interpret this as being like either she had—she just wasn't as beautiful. Some people are like maybe she had a lazy eye. Maybe there's just something wrong with her eyes.

And then I was thinking about how Leah's whole issue, like she would spend the next however long of her life trying to make Jacob love her. Like she would have his children. She would have all these children. Okay, maybe now he'll love me. Maybe now he'll respect me. Maybe now he'll desire me more than my sister. And then Leah, you realize like Leah has such low self-worth, like she looks in the mirror and she clearly hates what she sees because she just feels like she needs to do more and

Right.

And so I just think it's such an interesting take on it because I was like, wow, this is literally what happens to us. Like the devil has the ability to pervert our eyesight. So we look in the mirror and we get fixated on these little things and

these like little minuscule imperfections or flaws or sometimes things that literally aren't even there. There are women and people and men who look in the mirror and they see a body that isn't actually there. And this has been so much of my story of like, I know sometimes

And it's not nearly as bad now. It was way worse growing up, way like in high school. It was the worst that I'd ever been where I'd look in the mirror and I'd be like five foot six. I'm 115 pounds. It's so unhealthy for my build. And I'm looking in the mirror and I am seeing someone who is much larger than what is actually there. There are so many girls that are going through this. You and I have complete opposite body dysmorphias. Yeah.

Like, can you talk about that? Because I know so many girls are struggling with that. So many. I didn't realize how many girls struggle with body, like body weight dysmorphia. It's so serious too. It's so weird because it's just like...

Yeah, I mean, listen, it's so hard to come on here and talk about something that you haven't fully conquered yet. The only thing that I know about this situation is that I can look at it emotionally and be like, yes, clearly somebody made me aware of myself and my body at a young age and it stuck with me and I've taken it on as a part of my identity. You know what I mean? Spiritually, I know you can take it back emotionally.

to the garden. You can take it back when we were made in the image of God and we were made to live a beautiful life of truth where the devil would have had no opening to come and feed us lies about ourselves. But because Adam and Eve

They fell, they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They then see themselves, you see even in the beginning that their vision got distorted. After deception came in, they ran and they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves because they realized their vision had changed before they saw themselves as naked and holy and blameless and unashamed and they didn't have to be ashamed. And then their perception changed, their vision changed.

and the devil had influence in the way that they saw themselves. And then so they had to cover themselves. It's just perversion of like God's original design.

And so I know all day long we're fed lies from the enemy. I know all day long he's feeding me lies. He's making me like he it's just he's sitting there being like Angela has so much to do. She has so much purpose. She has so much like she has a calling on her life from God. Like every single person watching this does. We all have a calling. And his main goal is to

discourage us and is to throw us off course. And one of the massive ways he does that is getting us to look at our bodies and fixate on things that either don't matter or aren't there. And so sometimes, yeah, you look in the mirror and I'm like, you know what? I said this, I think, in the body.

image episode, but I'll look at myself and I can tell. And it usually comes when I'm tired, when I'm run down after shows, after big ministry stuff, like when I'm super vulnerable that I'll look in the mirror and I have to be so careful because I'll be like, I know what I'm seeing right now doesn't actually exist. Like I know for a fact that

Our whole purpose in having this episode is so that you guys don't feel like you're alone. I don't want you to feel like you're crazy. I don't want you to feel like there's something wrong with you. I just don't want you to feel like you're the only person that feels this way because we all go through it. We all look in the mirror and pick ourselves apart.

And the truth is a life with Jesus can help that. Body dysmorphia is a mental health condition that can be treated like anything else, like anxiety, like depression. But I truly believe that this is something like everything else we teach you guys about taking your thoughts captive, about having the mind of Christ, about letting Jesus be sovereign Lord over your mind and over your thoughts.

This applies to this as well. You know what I mean? Like you can invite Jesus to help you with these thoughts as well. Yeah. Where are you at now? I'm probably going to start going to counseling. I just think that, you know, you know what it is. There is like this is just another even deeper layer of counseling.

sin or idolatry because body dysmorphia, it's like a form of idolatry, like sitting there and staring and being like, and again, it's gotten so much better. It's a weird thing because where I used to be versus where I'm at now, it's like, you can't, it's indescribable the difference. Like I really have great days, great weeks, even great months where it's not

nearly as severe. But I think one of the reasons I'm even willing, even though it's gotten so much better and getting better, and that is the truth, like with Jesus, I do have the ability to take the thoughts captive, to recognize what's going on. Like I'm being deceived right now and I'm giving way too much attention to something that doesn't matter and I'm making an idol out of it. The reason why I'm willing, even as it's getting better, to go to counseling is because I have an even deeper awareness that like

This area of my life, it's hindering me. Like it's getting in the way of what God wants to do. And excuse me, I have overcome alcoholism. I have overcome panic attacks. I've overcome sin, all types of sin. I've overcome so much. And this is just one more thing of...

We make excuses. We justify our issues. We justify mental health disorders. And we partner with them because sometimes our issues, not only do they feel familiar, so we're like, it's comforting because this is all I've ever known. We also partner with things that seemingly benefit us. What do you mean? Body dysmorphia, disordered eating. The enemy can...

make it so in my mind that I believe that this is beneficial. It keeps me thin. It keeps me pretty. It keeps me whatever. I'll justify it in my head and I'll be like, well, at least I'm fit. At least I go to the gym a lot. At least, you know what I mean? And God has really revealed to me like,

It's getting in the way of what I want you to do. Like, it's like, I just make an idol out of it. It is so an idol. It is so an idol. Yeah. And then you justify it and you're like,

Oh, but is it really that bad? Because here's the benefit of it on this end. And it's like with so many different types of things. And like making idols of – like you don't really make idols of things because you're like, oh, this is evil and I'm going to partner with evil. Like idols are good things. Like you make idols out of things that you love, that feel good, that comfort you. You know what I mean? It is –

just a journey. It is so a journey. It's a journey. And to think that there's people that are like, man, I have Jesus, but I have not overcome this. And hearing you, it's like, no, you have Jesus, but it's a journey and you have to work hard and you're going to get therapy and you're going to keep praying on it. And it's important that people know that because

Some people may feel defeated having Jesus in their life and still having this thing that's been such a burden, right? It's so true. Yeah. I mean, there are moments where I think too, like...

God, how do we overcome so much? And he so gently is like, this is so deeply ingrained in your brain, in your DNA. It's passed down generation from generation of women who have been hyper fixated on the way that they look. And it's been like, it's been the same plan from the devil from the very beginning. And so I give myself so much grace in this area to know that like,

You know, it really, truly is a journey. And I just encourage you guys, like our whole point in all of this is because I want you to know you're not alone. I'm in it with you. And guess what? I've had conversations with older women that I respect so much.

Because there are moments where I kind of like feel weak where I'll be like, oh, if I really was strong and tough and a warrior for Jesus, like I wouldn't struggle with this. How could I let something so superficial and surface level and vain and whatever get me down? And then I talk to these older women that I respect so much who are like mighty, powerful women of God. And they're like, hey, I am powerful.

50 years old and I'm still walking through this. You know what I mean? So you're so right. It's a journey and it's something that I, one of my main pieces of advice is just fix your eyes on Jesus. Like,

The devil's plan is to get us to look inward, is to focus on ourselves, is to make an idol out of these things and to get our eyes off of Jesus. But as scripture says, he will keep those in perfect peace whose minds are fixed on him. So if we fix our eyes on Jesus, that's where peace comes from. And that's where like, that's the only way you can fight this thing.

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don't believe in therapy. You know that, right? And therapy is one of the greatest things you can ever do because these are specialists that have like, who know how to beat this thing. Something that you have to be aware of and choose to process and be willing to let God heal. I know for a long time, I wasn't letting God heal. Like how many stories in the Bible are

do people like have to partner with Jesus when he goes to heal them? Like he says to the guy at the pool of, um, at Bethesda, do you want to be made well? And so many other situations who, where he's like, do you want this? Are you willing? Like you have to meet me. And for the longest time I was partnering with an idol. I was partnering with something that was hurting me and hindering me in my relationship with Jesus. And so now I'm like,

Like, okay, my first step, and I am on this with me too. I am in this. Me too. I am on this journey with you of like, okay, our first step is to recognize what's going on and be like, sure, this isn't, you know, outwardly harmful and sinful and evil, but it's not good. It's an idol. It is sinful and it is just bad.

And that's like the devil. Sorry, I keep talking about the devil. But that's what it is. And he does these things where it's like these small things that aren't. Do I have something? No. Oh, we take care of the big sin. We take care of the big issues, alcoholism, blah, blah, blah, all these little things. But he's wreaking havoc in our lives through this one little opening that doesn't seem that bad. Yeah. And like this is one of those areas where finally God has just confronted me so much and been like, I want this.

I want you to give this to me. I want to do this with you. I want you to stop benefiting off of something that's hurting you. Having people to talk things out with, it's everything. Yeah. So how do you – yeah, we're different. Body dysmorphia is also, by the way, not just body. It is with face. It's with hair. It's with everything. And so do you want to talk a little bit about how you feel you've been personally –

Well, I definitely have hair dysmorphia. Let's just get that on the table, I think. No, I really do. It's crazy. It's a real thing. Yeah. I have... I started to get haircuts. Like, I love a fresh haircut. And I became so obsessed with it. I was getting haircuts every two weeks. And my hair girl was like, are there something wrong? When I first met you, you got your haircut every two weeks. I thought it was the... I was like...

I was like, and like, I didn't know you that well yet. So I couldn't wait until we got close enough where I could be like, hey, you okay? No, I'm serious. It's really crazy. It's so real though. It's so real. This is good for, because I know a lot of young girls listen to us. When I was younger, I just like never felt accepted. And so I started wearing makeup and coloring my hair blonde and

I got a little bit of attention. And so I would put all my identity into that, into getting attention because that's how I thought I was accepted. So I became so fixated and so obsessed with it. And I became so obsessed with it that if I didn't get a compliment or something, I thought something was wrong with me. And so I almost like...

Something happened in high school where I became even more insecure. And I was just talking to my mom about this this morning. I was like, do you remember I always wore hats? So I always wore hats because it covered half of my face. I couldn't show half of my face. I was so insecure. I always looked down. I would be in the car and if I saw like kids my age in a store, I would wait till they leave because I was so insecure to go in the store.

I even left school. I was just very insecure, very insecure on my appearance. I was so obsessed with it because that's how I felt accepted. It was only by my appearance. And it goes back to your childhood, um,

Did you come from very loving parents where they didn't make everything about your appearance? Were you told something as a kid? Did you go through abuse? Because abuse is a big one. Abuse can make you feel like you're not good enough and then you become fixated on something of appearance. And then social media came out and I...

I would constantly just sit there and compare myself to these models and girls. And then I wanted to be like that. And then I wasn't like that. And that was really confusing. And then when I started to model...

That was a whole other lane. Oh, good luck. You know? Oh, man. You're in audition rooms with the most beautiful girls. You don't book the job because a girl that looks like you gets it and you're constantly nitpicking. Oh, that's miserable. And I just became...

just so insecure. And I was just wearing more makeup in my hair. And it's, and then it just takes away from, you just think that's your, that's your whole identity is the way you look. And even if I didn't like something on my face, if I didn't look good, I would just stay in and I just wouldn't go out. And it really took over my life. It really did. And then

We started Girls Gone Bible and that was a whole other thing for me. We had to be on camera and you know what I had to go through. There were times where I couldn't even look at myself on camera. I was so, I was like, I would get really upset some days and I was just like, oh my God, I can't look at myself. I can't, I can't do it.

It even, I almost like let the enemy even make me not be on Girls Con Bible because I was like, I can't do this. Like, I don't want to watch myself, you know? And so that's been a journey for me of just self-appearance and learning to love myself, learning to not have to do all these things to feel good. And I see so many of like, I see...

So many of us, we're just constantly comparing, constantly feeling like we have to do this and that to our face in order to feel good. We have to wear all this makeup. I mean, I never could go out without makeup on. Like, never. Like, I would never go out of the house without makeup. I felt like I had to just do all these things to just feel good, you know? And so...

On my journey, on my faith journey, what's really helped me is just understanding how God looks at everything else but the appearance. He looks at the heart. And that's been so big for me because I know I talk about David a lot, but look at why David was so anointed because of his heart and because he was so confident in God, not in himself. And so that's been so huge for me to be like,

Jesus loves our heart. He looks at our heart and like what we do for others and how good right here we are. And so he's helped me see my heart so much on my faith journey. And it's been, it's made me love myself so much. And then,

Like I always say, like, I see how much he loves me and it's just helped me feel so accepted with myself. Yeah, totally. I know we're going to get comments being like, but you guys wear makeup on the pocket. We're girls and we love to get dressed up and we love to wear makeup and all that. But I feel like I've gotten so much better with that too. Like just accepting myself, not having to, I mean, we go out all the time. We're like, God, should we even be going out? Listen, I...

one thing about me is God has really done a work in me. It's absolutely incredible. I will, the, I wear makeup on here and I do my hair on here, but like 90% of the time I don't look any, you know what I mean? You know what I'm going to say to guys? It's,

When you're so young, like when you're in high school, when you're, it is so hard to love yourself. Yeah. Because we're so young. We're like, these are our young 20s where these are the years like we're learning about ourselves. And it's really, and then we're in high school. They're bullies. I would kill someone that bullied you. I would love.

But you went through it too. Girls are vicious. And so I just, I can only imagine what some of you guys go through, like with the girls and in high school. And so I know how hard it is even being a kid on social media now. Yeah.

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I want you to understand how much Jesus loves you. And what I have realized on my journey is that God has made no mistakes when he made us. You look at the picture perfect girl. I always looked at the models, whatever it is.

And who says that's perfect? It's society. God did not make any mistakes when he made us. I love the little quirks about me now that I used to absolutely despise. There's things that like I am now loving. Now that I'm getting older, I'm realizing that God has made us all so different. I saw a girl the other day and she had walked into this restaurant. And, you know, society would probably be like, oh, I don't know, like what?

whatever society says is so beautiful, but she walked in and she was glowing. She had her shoulders back. She was smiling. She was looking at people in the eyes.

And I was like, wow, that girl is just so beautiful. Like there's something about her. And it's how, who, it's what God says about you. It's how you carry yourself. It's what your heart is. That's what makes you beautiful. And then we live in LA and we will see someone walk in and they will be what society says is beautiful, right? But they won't be good right here. And they just won't even like talk to you. And then you look at them in such a different light. And so-

So true. I don't know what society is saying is so beautiful, but let me tell you, and I don't care how cliche I sound, your heart and how you carry yourself and how beautiful you are right here will literally glow without. So...

You mentioned it earlier about how like you went through this your whole life of like whatever, all of the issues. And then you got into modeling and then it just like got a thousand times, a million times worse, obviously. And I'm thinking about how like models, supermodels are the most conventionally attractive people on the planet, right?

And they are, without a doubt, the most insecure. And why is that? You might be somebody who, I know you're beautiful. I know that you're beautiful. But you might feel like you're not conventionally pretty. Like you're not attractive. Like you're not a supermodel. And most of us aren't, by the way. Most of us aren't supermodels. Most of us don't wake up in the morning looking like a 10 out of 10. I know we don't sometimes. Right.

Like, and that's totally... We'll wake up together and be like, did we get into a fight? I'd be like, who is that? No, literally. And so...

But and so you might be someone who's like, no, I would be confident if I was that beautiful. And I'm telling you right now, it's not the truth. Because when you are when you go into like the next level of beauty, like when you are so physically attractive, so beautiful, it puts that much more attention, that much more pressure and just attention on your physical appearance, which means that you have to live up to a standard that nobody can live up to.

And then if you've put so much attention on your physical appearance, the enemy has all the more right to then go attack that and distort your perception and your vision. And then you see things that aren't there. But because you've given it so much attention,

emphasis and so much value. When you put so much value on the way you look, you are so vulnerable to the enemy just like destroying you in that area. Whereas if you are not as attractive, but you know that you're smart, you know that you're gifted, you know that you're kind and you're good to people, it's what you put the value on. And in entering a relationship with Jesus, I know I have this body stuff and the eating and the whatever.

But I will say God has done such an unbelievable work in what I put my value in. And he's made me realize like he's made me love the things about me that he loves. Yeah. He's made me so aware like this is awesome. Yes. Yes. Yes.

And it doesn't really get you anywhere. It doesn't. And yes, is there pretty privilege? Absolutely. And do you benefit in society when you are more attractive in some ways? Absolutely. We're not going to pretend like that's not the truth. Equally, it hinders you. And...

So in relationship with Jesus, like he's made me so aware of like my gifts and my little things. And like, do you see this little thing? I was so intentional when I made you and I made you this way. And I actually love this about you. And, you know, and it's made me like, yes, of course we care about how we look. But at the same time, I put so much. I know that that's not why I'm valuable. I know that the man that I marry one day, like sure, he's going to want me to be attractive, but he doesn't have to.

deal with attraction 24 hours a day. He has to deal with what's in here and what's in here and what comes out of here. This is what matters. It really is. And it's like society, especially for us women, has put all this pressure on us. I would love to give you guys...

some little tools. Let's talk about, because we have so many, it's funny, I will look in the crowd at our shows and I'm seeing the types of people that come, which is literally everyone. We have girls at age seven to, you know, 65, mothers and daughters. It's true. Men. I love when the guys are there. But,

I want to speak about, I want to speak to the moms. Oh. I want to speak because it's so, you have no idea the impact that you hold with your child for parents. Yeah.

It is so important how we speak to our children because you don't realize as vulnerable children, when you say one little thing, they can hold that and take it with them as they're adults. And they will. They will. And so be very careful at how you speak to your children. Kids that are in high school...

I know that kids are bullies. I know that we can't help. We can't stop kids from saying things to us. And that's why we need to have a good group of community. We need to know who Jesus is. We need to know the scripture that you keep saying, I am fearfully, wonderfully made. Change your perspective on how you look at yourself. As a man thinks, so he is. Let's try to change how we look at ourselves.

So let's look at this perspective. So I'll look in the mirror and I'll say, oh my gosh, look at my hair. Oh, I have a pimple on my face. I'm so ugly. Or we can look in the mirror and say, I'm beautiful. It's okay that I have a pimple. Jesus loves me. Jesus made me just the way I am. I

He made no mistakes when he made me. I'm going to make the decision today to love myself and carry that. And when the thought comes in that I'm not good enough, that I'm not pretty or whatever it is that you're struggling with my body, I'm going to make the decision today to say, no, I'm not. Hmm.

No, I'm not. And not today, Satan. I love myself and so doesn't Jesus. He made me exactly. He knew when he had me in my mother's womb exactly what he was doing. So I want to try to do that. And also, I want you to write down every single lie that the enemy is writing down. And I want you to really say, is this true? This isn't true. Because any thought that is negative

does not come from God. So we need to remember that. So any thoughts that aren't pleasing don't come from God. And that's helped me so much on my journey of negative thinking. And then what else? Do you have any? I love...

Can I just really quick say I love what you said about the parents and about how you shape your kids with your words. Whatever you speak over them is who they will become. As a parent, your voice becomes their inner voice. So however you speak to them is how they'll speak to themselves. If they hear you saying, oh, I'm fat, oh, I'm this, oh, I'm ugly, your kid is going to pick that. I had – when I was thinking about this –

topic today, I was just thinking about like, I have to heal so that my daughter never has to deal with what I deal with. My daughter will never hear me speak like that. I know. She will never hear me put myself down. And I just, yeah, what Ari said, another thing you can bring, how to bring Jesus into it is be like,

Jesus, you give me eyes to see. You show me how to feel. You show me what to think. What do you say about me? Who do you say that I am? What do you think about how I look? And just like Ari said, you look in the mirror, you have a pimple, be like, what up? Your words are everything. You decide how you feel through your words. And even if you look in the mirror and say, oh,

I hate what I see, look at it and be, just say the opposite and see what changes in your spirit. Like subconsciously, it all begins to change just because of your body will begin to react to the things that you're saying. So if you look in the mirror and be like,

I look good today. I look so good. Like if I ever look, feel like I look a little thick that day or like whatever I look and be like, I'm thick and I look good. And I love the way I look and I love my curves and I love, you know what I mean? And I really do that sometimes. And it helps me so much. And it's just about the way that you speak to yourself and choose to be like, you know what? God really does say that I am absolutely beautiful. And even today,

toxic positivity isn't a good thing. And so if you really, I don't want you guys to sit there and be like painfully having to say that you love something when you really don't, but you can sit there and be like, you know what? This is my reality today. I don't a hundred percent love the way that I look. It's too hard for me to look in the mirror and say, I love myself because I know that it's not true. And so it's not doing anything. So you can be like, you know what?

There are things that I don't love and maybe I can change them. Maybe I can't. Maybe there are steps that you can take towards bettering yourself, which by the way, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And so it is something to take care of and to treat well and to put good nourishing food in your body that will make you feel good and that will reflect on the outside what it's doing on the inside, which is feeding you well and nourishing you. And so you can look in the mirror and be like, you know what? I don't love it all right now, but I'll...

focus on the things that I do love. I'm a really good friend. I'm really funny. People are joyful around me because I bring in good energy and like, you know what I mean? And just focusing on the good. You do have a decision that you can make to be like, I don't love anything. And guess what? Can I please just encourage you in telling you that we are all insecure. We all have things that we want to change. And what should comfort you is knowing that nobody

If you've put on 10 pounds, I promise you nobody cares. If you have pimples, I promise you nobody cares. You are the only one that looks at yourself that much because guess what? If they're not looking at Jesus, they're looking at themselves too. They're not looking at you. Nobody actually cares. It's so true. And I love that you say that because...

This month is all about gratitude. I am just so grateful for everyone in my life. I really am, but there's just one person that I don't thank enough, and it's myself. It's sometimes hard to remind ourselves that we are trying our best to make sense of everything, and in the crazy world we're living in, it just isn't easy. Here's a reminder to send some thanks to the people in your life, including yourself. I will never stop talking about BetterHelp because...

If you guys only knew how much it helped me in my faith journey. One of the greatest things about BetterHelp is it's so easy. It's so convenient. You go online, you say what your experience is, and then from your experience, they match you with the perfect therapist.

So I would just encourage anyone that needs to just unload their baggage of what they've been holding on so tightly, BetterHelp, just been the greatest blessing for me. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched up with a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time for no additional charge.

Let the gratitude flow, you guys, with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash girlsgonebible today to get 10% off your first month. That's help, H-E-L-P dot com slash girlsgonebible. Really? Everybody's worried about themselves? Yeah. And girls that...

feel like they can't go out of the house without makeup. I want to give you an exercise. Take off all your makeup. I want you to go into a store and you will see that nobody cares, that nobody's like, just really just try it. Nobody's going to ridicule you. No, it's, it's, it's such, it's all in, it's all right here and it's not real. It's not real. Um,

Can we tell you guys the one body dysmorphia thing that we do have? Okay. So Ari and I, listen, this is something that I knew got to break off because I have partnered with it. This is it. We can't let go of lip liner. Lip liner. Like, I don't have to wear makeup, but the one thing I want, lip liner. Don't tell me if I, you guys, when I die one day, I'm holding everyone accountable. If you don't put lip liner on me in the casket, we're done. Lip liner. Lip liner.

I want a bow and I want a reformation dress with the bangs, okay? Oh, I will dice in the bangs. Yes, dice in the bangs, yeah. I got you, babe. I would never. I'll be like, my friend, hang on, hang on. We need the roll. You know, I'm going to open one eye in my casket and be like, thanks, girl. We have to tell you guys a funny story. So one time Ari and I are dating, okay? So we dated best friends.

And we would obviously like all hang out. The four of us would double date and everything. And Ari and I would constantly go to the bathroom because we would go for lip liner on.

And we didn't want them to know. We wanted them to always think we have lip liner on. And so we would always go and sneak the lip liner. And we come back one time. And what did they say? One of them goes, why you guys keep sneaking and put a lip liner on? I look at him so embarrassed. I go, no, we're not. And I literally go, what are you talking about? I don't have any on my lips.

literally like I'm literally like what are you talking about like what do you even notice stuff like that like guys don't do that like guys we were so embarrassed like what do you mean listen I don't care I don't care how healed I am from my body dysmorphia I will never be healed from not putting lip liner on I will never I have partnered with it for life I want lip liner on it just make like it make I don't it's everything yeah

Anyways, like Angela said, the enemy wants to keep you defeated, stuck, have no purpose. And one of his tactics to do that is to keep you focusing on self. Yes. If we just let go of focusing on ourselves and remember that God looks at everything but that. Yeah. He loves the heart. So what do we do to not focus on ourselves? Focus on helping others. I will continue to preach this.

When we stop focusing so much on self, it may actually, we realize, wait a minute, why have I been so fixated on these things? Like Jesus loves my heart. Let me help somebody else. And that's going to actually make me love myself more. And so that is one of the biggest ways if you want to love yourself more, love others, help others. Whoa. Whoa. She just literally cracked her neck. Oh my gosh.

Did you guys hear that? I'm so sorry. That was crazy. During my faith journey, really what I don't even like what has just completely let me let go of all the all the stuff is just really helping others. And I'll just say one more thing.

Social media has destroyed lives. It has really taken girls' self-esteem and put it to the ground. We're seeing...

these edited photos we're seeing girls making all this money we just don't feel adequate and I want to let you know as two sisters that live in Los Angeles that have been in the entertainment industry for years and years if you if we can tell you one thing it's this it's not real I can't believe how many years I wasted comparing myself to girls and

It wasn't real. They are all struggling with the same thing. These photos are, it's just, it's all a big facade. And so you're wasting days. You're wasting hours comparing yourself to things that aren't even real. Work on your heart. Just work on your heart posture. Work on being the best person you can be right here. And then you will flourish. And that will be the most pleasing thing to Jesus. Yes.

She preached it. She said it. Take her words and just let them take root in your heart. If you are new to Girls Gone Bible, we obviously believe in Jesus here. Jesus has saved our lives. He has absolutely radically saved and transformed both Ari and I's life. And we always want to end these episodes with the option for you to receive Jesus if you never have because there is healing on the other side of a relationship with Jesus. There is help there.

from the Holy Spirit that Jesus left us with. There's the Holy Spirit who is our helper, who can minister to us, comfort us, and begin to speak truth into the lies that we believe. When you don't have Jesus, you are defenseless. And I don't know if you come from a different background or a different faith or a different whatever where...

you think that there could be other ways and other ways of believing, we're here to tell you and testify that it's just Jesus. Jesus is the only way. He's the name above all names. He is the only way to God. He's the only way that you can be reconciled to the Father. And so we want to invite you guys today to receive the greatest gift of all time, and it's free, and that's salvation.

And just like sin entered the world through one man, Adam, so much more does grace abound for all of us through one man, Jesus Christ. So I want to invite you to pray with us. The implications of saying this prayer are eternal. The healing that can come from a relationship that will come from a relationship with Jesus is unmatched. He healed us like he legitimately healed us. So I want to invite you to say this with me. Heavenly Father,

I believe the scripture that says that Jesus Christ is your eternal son. I believe he went to the cross and died for my sins. I confess to you that I'm a sinner. I need your forgiveness. I'm asking you to save me. I'm trusting you to do it right now. I accept the forgiveness of my sins. I accept your gift of salvation. I accept you as my personal savior. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and be the Lord of my life.

In Jesus' name, amen.

If you just said that prayer for the first time, we love you so much. And I just pray that Jesus himself would just flood your heart with his love right now, that you'd receive the love of the Father, that you would have the Holy Spirit immediately come and comfort you, comfort your soul, that he would rebuke the storm in your mind and say, peace, be still. And that whatever thoughts arise that are against you, that you would immediately know they're not from you and they're not from God.

And I just pray that you would overcome even the most horrific body dysmorphia and whatever other issues you might be dealing with. We love you guys so much. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he turn his face towards you and give you peace. We love you. Shalom, shalom. Shalom, shalom. I feel the Holy Ghost.