Tag: self-concept

Faith, Food, and Body-Image

Post author By Mia C.
Post date March 25, 2018
2 Comments on Faith, Food, and Body-Image

Faith, Food, and Body-Image

Combatting dysfunctional thoughts can be one of the most challenging things we do. For me, it requires me to make a conscious decision every day to speak GOD’S truths about myself TO myself. And to deny and destroy anything that goes against this. This includes goals for my life and the PURPOSE that God has already ordained for me. It also includes changing the way I view the relationships in my life and how I choose to manage them. It also includes how I grab ahold of my thoughts on my faith, food, and my body image. Body image issues at 28-years old? Did I just ‘say’ that out loud? Oh dear! Well now that the cat’s out the bad…may we continue?

Tags affirmation, empowerment, faith, girls, God, healthy, journey, love, Own Your Peach, patience, positive self talk, purity, self-concept, self-esteem, spiritual, Spiritual Journey, value, waiting, worth, yummy

Spiritual Journey

Flawed and worthy

Hey everybody!

I know it’s been a while! But…for good reason. I always want my posts to be intentional, have substance, and to never post just for the sake of posting. That, plus trying to maintain my sanity with school, having a life, Own Your Peach, work, interning, etc…. things have been HECTIC. But, I have no complaints!

Anywhoo, I prayed for some inspiration about what my next dose of spiritual food for the soul should be. So, I have returned with something that has been on my heart for the last couple of weeks.

Have you ever thought to yourself, ‘Am I really worthy of all this?! I have sooo many flaws!’ or what about this one, ‘This is too good to be true…so I won’t even enjoy it.’ Or one of my favorites, ‘I’m just going to sabotage or end this because it’s not going to work out the way I want it to anyway.’ How TOXIC are these thoughts to our daily lives, especially those of us who are supposed to be putting our faith and trust in God and God alone? I find that the things that are most difficult to trust God with, are the things that we:

a.) have little to no control over b.) things that we have never seen manifested in our lives or the lives of those around us or c.) because we are imperfect, we have a hard time believing that God would bless us with something so amazing.

But, true faith requires us to walk with the expectation that God knows and wants what is best for us (Jeremiah 29:11-13). And that He will provide us with the desires of our hearts, according to HIS good and perfect will (1 John 5: 14-15).

When I find myself in those moments of doubt, I have to remind myself that there is absolutely nothing in this world that is out of reach. Every bit of joy, peace, love, and purpose that exists can be mine. This goes for all of us. I have a number of goals that I am currently seeking God’s will for. And there are times that cause me to wonder if the hiccups in the road of this journey are a sign that it isn’t meant to be, or if it just for the testing of my faith. What I DO know is, the testing of our faith produces patience (James 1:3-4). Patience to wait on God to guide us into His will, which requires us to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” Matthew 6:33. Patience for God to produce for us the fruit of our labor. Patience that allows us to enjoy the journey that God is trying to take us on…if only we follow Him. And patience that gives us time to remember, “I am worthy. Flawed, but still worthy!! AND patience and faith to know that when our plans fall through (as they often do), that GOD has something sooo much better in store. Waiting for us to receive it.

Finally, if I am a daughter of the King…doesn’t that automatically make me qualified to receive the blessings that He has for me? Yes, it does. May we straighten our crowns, give our hearts to Him, and remember yes, I am flawed. But I am STILL worthy.

Farkarwa

❤

Tags affirmation, beef, empowerment, faith, God, journey, love, patience, purity, self-concept, self-esteem, spiritual, Spiritual Journey, value, waiting, worth

Spiritual Journey

Girls with Pearls; Guys with Ties

Post author By Mia C.
Post date May 24, 2017
No Comments on Girls with Pearls; Guys with Ties

Hey!

Last weekend, I had the HONOR of conducting part of a workshop titled: “Girls with Pearls’ Guys with Ties.” This workshop was geared toward young girls and young men ages 8-17. The pearl reference is to show the girls the correlation between the priceless, incomparable value of pearls, and the value of themselves. The title of our segment was “Remaining Pure in an Impure World,” where we presented Own Your Peach. It had been quite some time since I allowed God to use me in this way, so I was somewhat nervous. However, that was eliminated the moment we arrived!!

For the elementary school age girls, we had the girls create self-portraits. The point of this was to get them to see how they view themselves, and why. It was also to remind them of the importance to see themselves the way God sees them, beautiful inside and out. The early adolescent period is crucial for a girl’s emotional and psychological development. We must dig deep and consistently reinforce positive, healthy self-concepts. They need to be reminded of their worth and value, especially because images they see in the media fails to do this. The third point of this exercise was to show them that how we view ourselves, whether good or bad, impacts our lives at school, with family, friends, etc. At the end of the activity, we had the girls present their self-portrait in front of the rest of the group. This was great to see because initially, the girls were apprehensive about speaking in front of the large group. But it was amazing to see the encouragement that they showed one another throughout this unfamiliar process.

The middle school girls had a different activity. We played a unique game of BINGO. Some of the BINGO pieces said things like “believes sex is a bad thing,” “believes that God loves us no matter what,” and “loves chocolate.” The point of these BINGO pieces was to open up and encourage a conversation between the girls and their mothers about sex, abstinence, and purity. That is one of the goals for Own Your Peach. Not just to encourage abstinence, but to create a community that encourages open dialogue between young girls and women about the struggles they face. This BINGO game was successful because everyone left encouraged, light-hearted, and empowered to continue the conversation.

Finally, we met with the high school girls, where the conversation got deep. We discussed bullying, premarital sex and the emotional consequences, and the importance of positive relationships among young women. We also dialogued about Own Your Peach’s up-and-coming website relaunch, goals and events. We also discussed the mission of Own Your Peach which seeks to meet girls and women at whatever life stage they are in; regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof. The girls also had an opportunity to share their input regarding what services and outreach programs they would benefit from through Own Your Peach. This part of the workshop was especially powerful because myself and one of our other mentors had the opportunity to share our personal experiences coming into adult womanhood. We always seek to empower, encourage and provide a safe, transparent, relatable space for the girls to belong and connect.

Although I always seek to be an encouragement to the girls we are privileged to meet. However, they never cease to amaze and encourage me to continue striving to be the best version of myself.

Until next time…check out some pictures below from our successful event. The remaining photos are posted on the Own Your Peach website.

All in all, God graced us with a successful event and we CANNOT WAIT for the official relaunch of the website!! Stay tuned. Hit follow and be the FIRST to know!

Elementary-age girls 🙂