The Truth About Treating Your Body Like a Temple & Self-Worth

Hey friend!

Today we are having a fun, unique conversation that you don’t normally find on my podcast.I felt led to dig into treating your body like a temple and biblical truths about our physical bodies, self-love and self worth. I knew just the gal to bring on, Jaclyn Castro from Courageous Fit Female.

Jaclyn has a huge passion and calling to help women get spiritually fit so that we can have a physically fit life from the inside out. She and I dig deep into some hot topics and I walked away with some new perspectives on ‘self-love’, ‘self-worth’, and even… CELLULITE! I know you’re going to love today’s show. Enjoy.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):

Hey friends, I have a super special treat for you today. One of my clients and friends, Jaclyn Castro from courageous fit female is with us. And we are going to be talking about treating your body like a temple and the truth about self-love cellulite. And self-worth, I think you’re going to totally dig today’s episode. We’re really going at this from a biblical perspective.

(00:29):

It’s just awesome to be able to have these deeper conversations around body image and these things that we face as women and as a society, and be able to look at what the Bible really has to say about that. And that’s what Jacqueline does. So she helps women get fit, um, in their mindset and in their heart and in tune with their bodies, really in a deeper capacity of what God says about you. So I know you guys are gonna love this one. It’s super interesting and exciting to delve into a biblical perspective. So grab that notebook and pen.

(02:09):

All right, girlfriend, before we get into today, they show, I just wanted to let you know how we can work together. Yeah. You and me girl whoop. The first question is where are you at in this crazy journey of online business? Are you still trying to figure out what your thing is? You still trying to get clarity so that, you know, without a shadow of a doubt, what you were created to do, if that’s you, I want you to go to clarifyyourcallingcourse.com.

(02:36):

Get clarity girl, because when you know exactly what God has planned for you, and you have that semblance of a plan, you can begin to walk it out and to create that business partnered in your purpose. Or maybe you absolutely know what your thing is. You’re like, I absolutely know what I do, who I serve and what my solutions are, but I’m tired of building a business.

(03:00):

The world’s way. I’m tired of social media, ad spend 24/7, showing up all the time lives, reels, click clock, click clock, tick tock. Clubhouse. And I just want to do this authentically. I want to do this in a way that serves my family well, where I can build this business and this audience around my life, not live my life around building a business. If that’s you, I want you to go to podcastprouniversity.com.

(03:30):

Do yourself a favor because there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of women who have had success stories taking this course. I have so many of their testimonies right there on that page for you, there is an easier way to scale an online business. I promise you, and it’s from behind a mic or a step three. You have a podcast and you’re ready to go. All in.

(03:51):

You are ready to monetize to have your show rank, to really dig into visibility and SEO strategies and to create my exact business model. If that’s you podcast to profit is your answer. And you can check that out podcasttoprofitmastermind.com. I can’t wait. You can check out all the other ways you can work with me at stefaniegass.com girl. I’m here to connect with you, serve you, help you mentor you and, uh, drink LaCroix and iced coffee across the zoom with you. Cause girl like that’s life.

(04:23):

Hi Jaclyn Castro. Yay. Hi Stef. So tell everybody a little bit about who you are, where you live and what you do. And then we’re going to get into this juicy conversation. Yes. Hi everyone. I am Jaclyn Castro and I live out in the Pacific ocean out here in the little tiny island called Guam. We’re actually a U S territory. Not many people know about it. Apparently.

(04:48):

Although we have like the largest Navy base here where I live. So there’s a lot of Americans walking around and what I do is I help Christian women get fit and to do it God’s way, but more specifically, spiritually fit. Yeah. And we worked together Jaclyn for six months, right. Or take, and Jaclyn is just, I feel like she just has this beautiful, rooted core, like holy spirit led calling when it comes to helping these women love themselves for whatever it is, whoever it is that they are and what they look like.

(05:25):

And like partnering with God and learning to love themselves at a deeper level and getting more spiritually fit with Christ. So it’s super cool because it’s like a play on words, like it’s fit for Christ, but also like get fit for Christ in your own physical body. So here’s what happened. Here’s what went down. My friends, I’m in this group of incredible women the other day, probably a month ago. Right. Jaclyn.

(05:47):

And they’re these beautiful, amazing, strong, empowered women. I mean, beautiful, gorgeous by any standard. And they start talking about and start talking about how they look awful and how they have all this cellulite and how they need to tone up. Cause they’re so flabby and gross and how they can’t wear a bathing suit this summer. And I’m just like jaw on the floor. Like, have you all seen yourselves A? And, B what is going on?

(06:19):

Like what is actually going on that we are this society of incredible God crafted creatures who despise that we see in the mirror. And we put the words out there and we speak to our bodies with such hate and to stain. And we’re never happy in our own skin. It made me so sad. And no matter what I said, it was right back at me with yeah. But no, no, but, and so my heart was aching and I’m like, I want to have this conversation on the pod.

(06:50):

And I just knew Jaclyn was the right person to have it with. So that’s what we’re going to do today. Yes we are. So let’s start Jaclyn. Like why don’t we see our bodies as God does? Why don’t we just as women as society? I think first of all, well, yeah, you said that the keyword there is society, especially, we’re talking about Christian women, those who pursue Jesus, those who love Jesus.

(07:14):

Right. We are still in these flesh bodies and we’re here walking around this earth and the word conformity just comes to mind. Right. Fleshing, conformity. So we are just these human creatures, beautifully crafted by God’s hands. But I think like even that verse beautifully and wonderfully made can just get thrown out of context as well, because we can see it down. Our social media feeds in pink, fluffy flowers, and just be like, well, I don’t feel beautiful. I don’t feel wonder for the need.

(07:45):

And that’s because we are comparing ourselves to other people. Right. That’s another keyword it’s like conformity flesh. And what did I just say? You said splash and comparing. Yeah. So like, those are the keywords that come to mind just because we walk around and we are like this era that we’re in, it’s like we are flushed out with social media and thankfully the Lord has just spoken to me with this approval of, yeah.

(08:12):

We don’t necessarily need social media as business women. Right. And that’s the reason why I got off of social media, not to be legalistic, but it really helped me to just put my head down and just use that time wisely, walking in God’s word and just really learning how to serve other women behind the scenes. But just walking on this side of birth with social media is what I’m speaking about.

(08:34):

Like just with a tap of a button, we are just bombarded with beautiful bodies, according to the world. But God’s standards are not physical. Right? I mean, something that I said to myself a couple months ago, I was just looking at myself and I was like, wow, thank God. Thank you, Lord, for not looking at me for what my body looks like. Thank you for looking at my heart. Well, even at that, right, it’s like Jeremiah 17, nine says the heart is the most wicked of all.

(09:03):

It’s like, oh, because we are just born sinners, but we can really take God’s word out of context and just think about how beauty is even just the word. The phrase beauty is skin deep as Christ followers. We should take that. Or we need to take that and look at it as what God says. He is the creator of all things, including the word beauty. So, I mean, even in the old Testament, it says that God is not the form of, he didn’t come in the form of beauty, right?

(09:36):

Because what we consider as beauty is physical, but he looks at the heart. So again, just going back to social media, look at what we’re following. What are we comparing ourselves to when we should be comparing ourselves to what Christ considers beautiful, which is those feet that walk and pursue after his word and glorify him.

(09:57):

So good. So three things, flesh, conformity, and comparison are three things that are keeping us from seeing our bodies as God does. And then I loved a few other things you said, which God’s standards, aren’t physical at all. I had another friend tell me a few years ago, she said, your body is the least important thing about you. And it was like this simple phrase that hit me right in the gut.

(10:21):

I’m like, is it though? Oh my gosh, we put so much focus. And I agree with you. Social media is a huge, constantly pounding into us, but for me, and I wonder what this is for you, Jaclyn. Like it goes all the way back to childhood goes all the way back to seeing the people that you look up to the most, not treat their bodies as a temple, constantly the dieting and the, oh, I don’t look good in that.

(10:49):

I can’t wear this. I can’t wear that. Let me hide this part of my body. Like their insecurity embedded in me that I should feel insecure about all the things they were insecure about, which hello. We all have the same bodies we’re in the same family. So like even rooted in that starts it. But then all these other, even as girls, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, middle school come together.

(11:13):

Everyone’s bringing their crud from home, their beliefs. And now everyone’s talking about that. And you’re in this insecure age where you’re trying to learn who you are and you already have these rooted beliefs that something about you is ugly and wrong. Then I get into eighth grade and a boy says, you shouldn’t wear shorts. You have cellulite. Yes. All of it comes full circle.

(11:39):

And I didn’t wear shorts for 20 years after that. It’s like, how much power we put in other people’s thinking and other people’s belief systems. We take it on as our own over what says about us? What does that bring up for you? Gosh. Yeah. You know, I think of the spiritual root of it all. Like I just think about how I love how you brought about the past and third grade.

(12:04):

And even just as far as you can remember, right. Digging back to like, as far as eight years old, right before I became a Christian, guess who my idol was, it was J-Lo like J-Lo was my idol. You know, I’m short, I’m like under five feet and she’s, I think she’s like five, three or five, two. And I’m like, if she can look like that, I can look like that.

(12:23):

Cause all, either mom, like everyone else is like tall and Wafey looking out and never looked like that. But at least I have some hope J-Lo is short. And I always, I can look like her. So idols are just like, those are not just golden calves. Idols are anything that we put over, like adoration over God, over Jesus and his everlasting word that is promising. And that is what satisfies us, even though we don’t feel like it. But when we keep pursuing that, that is what’s going to fulfill us.

(12:51):

And that’s the only thing that’s not going to burn up at the end of this life. Yeah. I think that’s really good because that brings me to this thought I had of like, okay, as kids, this stuff is deep rooted in us society, social media. So we’re, we have these beliefs that our thoughts then become beliefs, whether it’s truth or not truth, truth, or untruth, our thoughts and beliefs become this subconscious thing.

(13:16):

That’s constantly spitting out, lies to us all throughout the day. So I think what we’re really getting into right now is how do we shift our thinking and feelings towards our bodies when we recognize step one, I think is see the lies. So somewhere along the way, and I’m sure obviously your entire brand is based on this. I saw the lie. Yes, I have cellulite. And that is okay. No, I’m never going to have super tiny arms. That is okay. I’m never going to look like this person. I’m never going to be that size.

(13:47):

That’s okay. Like there was some moment in time, thank God for your thirties. You know where I’m like, there’s something that I’ve been believing that is not true. So first it see the lie. Then we then have to decide to change that lie into a truth. Talk to me about when you saw the lie and then when did you decide to change it into the, well, right now, what I think about is a plant, again, going back to spiritual root, like when I first realized like the holy spirit just washed over me and was like, okay, this is what you’re believing.

(14:20):

There’s something that A.W. Tozer Said, and I don’t want to butcher his quote, but it had something to do with the effect of like, what we think about God is what we think about how we walk out our lives. So as we think God is small, then we’re going to have a very small view of God. We’re going to focus on ourselves. We’re going to focus on like our own journey, like in and of itself, like walking out in the flesh.

(14:43):

There’s that word flesh again, like walking out in that, but we know in the book of Colossians, it says to fix your eyes on things above, not on things down. And if I tell that to someone else, even telling that to myself sometimes like, let’s be real. I’m like, okay, it’s really hard to focus up above. Like we’re down here. Like we’re looking at things, but that’s what faith is.

(15:02):

Faith is the substance of believing the things that we cannot see. And so we believe in Jesus, we know that he’s risen from the dead. We would not be here without the resurrection. He has risen. And that’s not just something that happens once a year, like he is alive. And he is what is transforming us and sanctifying us day by day. But when I believe that lie, the holy spirit just convicted me.

(15:24):

And I was just like, wow, I’m believing this lie. That my worth is in the way I look like my worth is what I wait, what’s the number on the scale? What like, okay, I gained 20 pounds over the last, like during the pandemic or whatever it is like, that is not my word. And that’s why that statement that came to my heart, which was thank God that you do not judge me for the way that I look like my outward appearance.

(15:48):

Like, and something that I learned from your gal that you introduced all of us to Jessica Brown, right? Like she said that our values, like whatever our values are, it doesn’t like the way you look, if it doesn’t match the way our values are, then no wonder why that’s not your priority right now.

(16:06):

Like for me, if I gained 20 pounds while I have been really immersing myself in reading scripture, I have not been doing a hundred burpees or whatever it is. I haven’t been going way all out as much as I was five years ago, like today, my priorities have shifted. My values have shifted. But anyways, going back to like the lie, it’s like, when you believe that lie, there’s a number like, what is it? 60,000 thoughts we have every single day. Like how many lies are you believing? Like how many things are you believing?

(16:35):

So you think of a tree that is rooted and it’s grounded in this soil of filthy lies. And what sprouts up are little fruits of lies, little leaves of lies. And from that, we tend to water it, right? We tend to water those lies. And we flourish in that ground, that nasty toxicity. And that’s not how God wants us to live.

(16:59):

That’s why he gave us the holy spirit. So we can discern what is right, what is wrong, but it’s our choice to believe those lies. And it’s really just going back to the spiritual root is us pointing back to ourselves. And it’s like, it’s kind of this contradicting thing where, okay, we want to improve ourselves. Not that that’s a sin to improve ourselves in a way where you want to get better to serve other people. But when you are trying to make yourself better and you’re looking within yourself, that’s the problem.

(17:30):

Like we need to look to God. We need to look to scripture like his word. Like I love that sign. That image in your background is his holy spirit. You’re welcome here. I love that he is welcome. And when we don’t allow him to welcome into our lives, into our heart, then we’re just things on our own walking in our own accordance, in our own understanding.

(17:53):

And the rest is obvious. So walking in the flesh is just, Ugh, we all do that. But when we submit to the holy spirit and let him lead, that’s when transformation really takes, I would agree. And so a few things you said, I loved worth isn’t in your weight. So it was that mindset shift. And for me to work, isn’t in my weight. And then I love this visual. You said, cause the question of like, well, okay, so I see the lie.

(18:20):

How do I change this lie? How do I not care about my cellulite? How do I not care that I don’t, I’m not a size four, six, 10, 16, whatever that is for you. How do I not care about that? And love myself as God loves me? And you said, well, what is your tree planted in? Where are your roots planted? And are they planted in the toxicity and all these lies and beliefs.

(18:42):

And you’re just watering it daily, talking down to yourself, you shouldn’t wear that. You look awful in that. And you’re basically pouring poison toxicity into your soil. And like you said, your leaves are basically leaves the wise. So if I was to give some tactical advice right now, based on that beautiful visual, it would be let’s replant the tree. So we’re going to take the tree cause we can’t change the tree.

(19:05):

Y’all you can’t change the tree. Maybe you’re an Oak. Maybe you’re a double, oak. I don’t know. It’s okay, whatever you are. Okay. You’re a weeping Willow you’re whatever. And you are, I’m an Aspen. We’re going to take the tree and we’re all different. Every tree, no tree is the same and we’re going to replant it. We’re going to replant it with spiritual roots, just as Jaclyn mentioned and tactically, how do we change our thinking and start to see ourselves in a different light.

(19:31):

While we have to speak encouraging words over our body, we have to get in the Bible. We have to say, what does God say about my body? We have to invite holy spirit in to change our thinking every single day. And that’s actively praying over that. So if I was to give you an example, I would say, father, God helped me to transform my thinking over my body.

(19:52):

Help me to love this incredible body that you’ve given me, remove these words of hate and negativity, wipe clean, the lies and the thoughts that other people have planted inside of me and replaced them with your truth. Holy spirit, come and just wash over my thoughts so I can see myself as you see me Jesus’ name. Amen.

(20:13):

Y’all like every day, because what you ask for, he will give you and we have to invite that change in. That’s so good. So that’s some tactical stuff for you of how to start shifting your thinking. Now, Jaclyn, I don’t know about you. Tell me what you think, but I still haven’t fully shifted this thinking, right? Like I was just at the pool with a girlfriend two days ago, trying to hide my backside. I’m still battling this. This is not something that maybe ever goes away completely where you’re like, I’m cured of my insecurity.

(20:46):

It’s a theme. And here’s a piece of advice. Actually, my sister-in-law said to me, we’re on vacation and I wrapped a towel around my waist before the picture. And she said, “put that down, be a confident mom”. And it was like, wow. I thought it was so good. And it like changed the way I acted the rest of that vacation. And I’m pretty confident. So if I’m going through that, what do you have to say here?

(21:12):

Like, does it just go away? How do we keep battling the thoughts that creep back in those, those little negative toxic pieces that are in the soil? Yeah. You know what, I, I just interviewed a Christian author yesterday. Her name is Heather Creekmore and she was just talking about how she’s actually someone who I learned where she said years ago when I started following her, she’s like, we don’t have to love our light.

(21:32):

And I’m like, oh wow. I’ve never heard of that. Like, okay. Right. And so it’s like, okay, I don’t have to love my cellulite, but I think there’s a fine line that I’m still trying to figure out like, okay, I don’t have to love my cellulite, but it doesn’t mean I hate it. I mean, first of all, these flesh bodies are all going to burn up when we leave. Like nothing is going to last, but, but we’re in these flash. And like we know also like the spiritual battle it’s happening, like in the spiritual realm where we cannot see it.

(22:00):

No, I was reading in second Kings. How the prophet alight, I think it’s Elijah. Elijah. I can’t remember. He had his little protege who he was teaching how to be a follower. And basically he told him that there were these armies that were coming around and there were like all these fire and fiery chariots, surrounded the wherever they were at until he woke up Elijah, he’s like, the armies are here to kill us.

(22:22):

So he woke up and he just put his hand on his protege and he started praying for him. And he just said, God help Lord, Lord help him open up his eyes to see that you are here. And once his protege opened up his eyes outside of the actual physical army where the spiritual, like all the other fiery spiritual chariots, like God is there. Like even if we can’t see it.

(22:49):

So it’s like, I picture that like when we’re in the midst of a battle, when I’m in the midst of a trial and I’m like, God is here. That’s what the faith is. Right. That’s what faith in Jesus is knowing that he is here. As far as I confidence, like the thing that the holy spirit has been teaching me is let’s have confidence in God as we walk this side of earth. Because if we walk out this side of earth with confidence in ourselves, then pride can come into play.

(23:17):

Right. And then self-will, and then trying to, we all know this, like trying to diet and trying to do all the things and trying to lose weight and all of that. And trying to look better, like with our own will, like, you can have a self-righteous day, like, yep. I’m so much better. God, thank you. And then all of a sudden you turn on social media and like, oh, I don’t like the way I look again.

(23:36):

Right? So like when we put confidence in ourself, instead of being rooted in his word and knowing that he doesn’t look at us on the outside and here’s the other thing the holy spirit has been teaching me is when I focus on his mightiness and I focus on his sovereignty. Like those are not just words we should be using flippantly. Those are words that are not just something to read down, going down.

(24:00):

Our social media feeds like God is sovereign. God is everlasting. Like God is powerful and I’m not powerful. I’m weak. And that’s why I need Jesus. Like more of Jesus, less of me, more of Jesus, less of me. And when we look into ourselves to try to approach the problem, there is no way like you can for a little bit it’ll work. Like I’ve had abs guns in buns years ago.

(24:25):

And I did it without being a Christian. Like we can do those things, but now as I follow Christ, I want to do what is honoring to him. I want to treat my body as a gift that he has given me where the holy spirit is dwelling. I want to make sure that when I get to heaven, one of the things that I’m hoping that he’s going to say, well, good job. Well done.

(24:46):

My faithful servant is learning how to overcome temptations through his word and jealousy and coveting and idolizing and like good job. My daughter for sharing the gospel for doing this and for putting yourself aside and doing what is more important, right? Instead of doing what Mary did instead of Martha, I’m not saying don’t work. Work is a gift. Like work was ordained before the fall. So work is good.

(25:12):

We look back in Genesis work is good, but when we do work to glorify ourselves, that’s where it becomes very dangerous and a very slippery slope to be in. That’s really good. I think that visual of you have that mindset slip, oh man, like really focused on my cellulite right now. I’m in a bathing suit. I have to walk all the way across the pool and there’s no towel right here. This is literally what happens to us.

(25:33):

Right? And going, I’m going to have, instead of confidence in my legs right now, I’m just going to have confidence in God. Like he is here. I am not at this bowl to glorify myself. I’m here to create memories. I’m here to glorify this experience to bless someone else to be the light, nobody cares. And so like that perspective shift back to his faithful servant versus my self, his faithful servant over myself.

(26:00):

And I think that will really help us in those actual moments where it’s hitting us is that productive shift. Now, all that said, and you said some beautiful examples. First Corinthians six 19 says, do you not know that your bodies are temples of the holy spirit? Who is in you, whom you’ve received from God, you are not your own. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit?

(26:28):

So we’re basically like a hotel. You know what I’m saying? Like holy spirits in here living with us and we can have the grossest hotel ever that we beat up, we treat horribly, we fill it with awful food. We talk to it or we can literally treat it like a temple, which scripture just said, it’s a temple, not for you, but for the holy spirit to live within you, it’s not ours. It says you are not your own.

(26:56):

So how powerful of a visual, because there is a difference, I think. Okay, great. I don’t have to care about my body. I just focus on God 24/7. I’m going to eat my Doritos, but read the Bible. Like, okay, hold on. We are called to treat our body like a temple. So to me, this means without a selfish reason to eat healthy, I need to choose eating healthy without a perfect size.

(27:23):

In my mind, I need to choose fitness and working out because I am treating this hotel. I want it to be in the best shape possible for the holy spirit. I want it to be healthy and clean and full of energy and excitement and positivity and exercise and food also does that and it keeps the away illness and it makes you inspired and happy and more productive. It makes you feel better.

(27:46):

How Jaclyn do we get that perspective of treating our bodies like a temple and not tie it to a selfish desire? That’s such a great question. Like the first thing that comes to mind really is just we get our answers from scripture. And I think we get caught up with the greatest and latest, most popular hyped up fitness influencer or whoever it is. Right. And they’re, well-equipped in their field and that is good and fine.

(28:17):

But being in the fitness industry, having an exercise science degree in all of this, it’s like, I look to my Bible and yes, we can look at registered dieticians and we can look at like all these things macros and all of that. But we get to look back at scripture, right? Scripture tells us in first Timothy four and eight, that godliness is more profitable over physical training. But it does say that physical training’s good.

(28:40):

So we know that God values physical training. He wants us to take care of our bodies. He doesn’t want us to skim over that and be like, Hey, just read my word. Like you said, and eat Doritos. So for me, what I would do is like, even just the tactical is like write down the different things that are valuable in your life. Like write those things down and look at it.

(29:00):

Now I want to be careful when I say this next part is after you write your values is look up Bible verses in God’s word, look up scripture and pull out what he’s saying in that area. There’s topical studies for all different things. Like if families evaluate and look at what does scripture say about family? If health is part of your values and look it up instead of just being like, okay, how is this part of my values?

(29:21):

Now I’m going to go Google, like how to like be skinny, right? We’re going to go back to God’s word. But why? I said, I need to be careful about that is because another thing that I think there’s a problem with us is opening up scripture and just pulling things out, like taking it out of context. And it even says in revelation that who’s trying to shift around and change God’s words.

(29:41):

He doesn’t want that. God does not want us to take his word out of context. So we need to read the surrounding texts. Who is it talking to? How does it relate to us today? I know a lot of us are like, oh, you know the old Testament, like I’m not going to read that because we’re here in the new modern age. No, every single word will not go to waste. It’s always going to be used including the old Testament.

(30:00):

So God basically tells us we are Wanderers. We are prone to just walking away like dumb sheep. And we need him as our great shepherd. And that’s what scriptures for. So I would say, just write down your values. Is it, hell is it Jesus? Is it family? Whatever it is. And then look up scriptures to support. What does God say? Because he is the one who’s going to make a change.

(30:25):

It has to be a change insight coming outward. So that’s what I would say is just look at your values. Like for me, my value, it’s so interesting. Like I took the values test two weeks ago. Well, it’s kind of embarrassing to admit this. Okay. But I’m just going to say it like guys health was not part of my top five. It was mind blowing to me. Cause I was like, what is going on? Like why isn’t health part of that?

(30:52):

And it’s because my season, my, I have prayed for God to help me to be so hungry for his word and praise God that he has answered that prayer. And like, I just love to be immersed in his word and to share it with my sisters in Christ and to just speak life and truth into my podcast and my family, my friends, and like let his word come to life in my marriage.

(31:14):

But if I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be dry. Right. I would be dry spiritually. And you always need to go back to God’s word and get fed. And maybe it’s been a long time. Maybe you need to go back to milk. I think sometimes get complicated, like, but I don’t really understand the Bible. Well, let’s go back to, Nope, let’s go back to the fundamental. Yeah. That’s really good. And looking at scripture for all of those answers, I mean really it’s the greatest how to of all time. So any question? Okay, great.

(31:44):

So how do I treat my body like a temple or finding great, well, health is not in one of my top three values at the moment permission. They’re great. We all go in seasons and ebbs and flows right now. That is a focus for me as I was breaking through all the strongholds that I had had for 35 years of the diet wheel and the constant just thought wheels about why I should be a certain size, this elusive number I was chasing and realizing why is that such an idol I’m done with that praying over that welcoming holy spirit in who led me to the right coach who led me to the right things that are now my body’s a temple and it’s in alignment with my values where I’m still going on vacation and having the cake at the birthday party.

(32:32):

And I’m so great with that. And I’ve had the conversations with my food coach. She’s like, well, if you want to tone up, we can. But we’re certain things out of the plan. I’m like, no, that doesn’t fit the values because I want to just, I’m good. Right? Like I’m super good. And I finally let go, but if you look in scripture about that, it’s just treat your body like a temple. So what does that mean to you? And then finding what Jacqueline was saying is based on your cycles of your life does really getting fit or really super healthy or that six pack. Does it even fit in to the values map right now?

(33:08):

And you may honestly find like, for me I’m like, well, no, like really, really getting super toned or dropping another size, like why I’m healthy. So why should I do that? So looking at your values and then secondly, what does scripture say to do instead of what does the internet say? Jaclyn mentioned that we run to the internet and we’re like, great. I got to treat my body like a temple vegan health plan. Like no, no, no, no, no.

(33:37):

And also I prayed really actively about God, show me the answer to treating my body like a temple. And I think that answer might be different for everyone. Yes. Holy spirit prompted me and led me to the exact answers. And maybe your business is a priority. What does scripture say about how to do a business about doing good, works about doing all these things.

(33:57):

And then pray, show me, be with me, partner with me in all these different pockets of my, these different values of my life, in whatever timing that they’re there. So what does treating your body like a temple mean to you? I think treating your body like a temple is really again, like removing ourselves. First of all, like first and foremost, like it’s so funny. Like we are in this self-help era, we have tons of resources. Self-help books, self-improvement self love, self care, self everything.

(34:32):

And it’s like, well, if we’re going to try to improve ourself, why do we keep looking back to ourself when we’re the problem? You know, it’s like aired cycle and that’s why we are so privileged to go back to scripture and say, what does God say? But as far as like, again, we need to be so extremely cautious about opening up his word and making it about us because the scriptures are not about us.

(34:58):

It’s about how God redeemed us from our filthiness and our unworthiness really like we are unworthy, but as Christ dwells in us, he looks at us like he’s looking at his son Jesus now. So like, I’m still blown away by that. Like I’ll just sit down and I’ll look up like, God father, you look at me like your son, Jesus. Like what? Wow. I am so humble just to think about that because, and then we walk away and try to do things for ourselves to make ourselves better, to look better, to, to emulate someone else.

(35:36):

Or it is when our leader, our ruler, our, who we should be following is, is we should be more conformed to Christ. And we should be, I mean, it says in, I think it’s Ephesians or Colossians that we should be imitators of Christ. Right. We have all the answers. Like guys, we have all the answers in the Bible. It’s just that, you know what our problem is.

(35:57):

I really think that we want something that sounds more, I don’t know. What’s the word we want. We want something like more quote unquote firecracker ish, overnight tactical, tactical too. Cause like sometimes it’s not tactical. Yeah, exactly. We’ve talked about that too. We talked about it. Like, I dunno, am I giving women tacticals and you’re like, you’re telling them to pray. Of course. And so I loved that. Treating your body like a temple first and foremost starts with getting rid of self.

(36:33):

So how amazing she said nothing about food, nothing about treating them going and working out, which is, I think it’s still important because your health is a way of, if you’re doing it for the right reasons is a sacrifice, right. It is a I’m treating my body. Well, that you’ve gifted me. Yeah. Yeah.

(36:52):

Are you guys doing it to honor? The Lord, like I learned from one of my spiritual mentors is Ashley to teach you, like she said, we can glorify God by eating a cookie. And then in another part of something else she said was, but we need to be careful that we don’t idolize the cookie. Right? Like, let’s do things to honor the Lord. Like, instead of doing your a hundred burpees a day to try to fit into your, whatever bikini, that’s why don’t we do it to think about like, first of all, like we’re even capable of doing this, you know, we’re in these able bodies maybe like for me, recovering from a rotator cuff injury.

(37:24):

And it’s really making me appreciate, like my exercise is a lot different because of my limitations and stuff like that. And it’s like, wow, God really made our bodies. Like this rotator cuff is super strong. Like this. I believe this is the strongest part of your body or I’m sorry. The most vulnerable part of your body is your rotator cuff, but he has healed it from the inside out. Right. Because, well, first of all, I had to do my part.

(37:46):

I had to make sure that I’m like not going all crazy and learning how to really rest physically and to trust that this is not my entire life. Like the Lord is going to make the world go on. I’m still going to be able to serve my family, but taking yourself away from the equation and seeing how God is working in like, yeah, let’s not run to Google, but let’s run to God to see how he’s going to continue to sanctify and transform you from the inside out like spiritually ladies.

(38:12):

Oh my goodness. We can be so dry. And I just always think about social media. I don’t know if that’s just me, but like once I got that quote, unquote, permission that from you as my coach stuff, I was like, oh my goodness, thank you, Lord. Because I really needed to get off social media. There was just so much comparison too much. This is like way too much. And just focusing on the podcast for creators for female has just been just transforming and I’m able to serve my family, still able to go work out.

(38:38):

So we’re able to whatever cook this and that. Yes. Your perspective has changed. Well, this has been so good. I think we covered so many incredible topics. And I think the biggest takeaway for me was to shift your perspective and really focus on serving him over self and treating your body like a temple starts with scripture and handing it to God, surrender that surrender of, I want to love this incredible body you gave me and that mindset shift of why you love your body so much because of him because it’s a temple for the holy spirit.

(39:16):

So that’s my greatest takeaway. I don’t know if you want to leave them with one last tip Jacqueline or one last takeaway that’s on your heart and then tell everybody where they can come and connect with you. Yeah. That was something that you said just made me think about like these words, the play on words, right?

(39:31):

And the thing that came to mind was ladies, if you get anything over this about body idolatry, body image, body image issues, or whatever it is, I want you to think about the letter V V as in victory, right? So Lee, I just wanted to leave you with this three little words. It’s just virtue over vanity it’s virtue over vanity, like being rooted in Jesus, being rooted in Christ so that he can create this virtue and the characteristics of who Jesus is in you and have that rooted in you over putting vanity as of utmost important.

(40:10):

So virtue over vanity is something that comes to mind. So good. I love that. And daily practice and it takes practice. You’re not going to be perfect. This is an evolution. Oh my goodness. So grain of salt every day, a baby steps. And it’s something that like for me, it’s, I’m trying to overcome myself from the holy spirit, from the power of Jesus and how he moves you.

(40:34):

But you can find me on my podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, wherever you listen to your podcasts and just search for courageous fit female. Jaclyn Castro. Yay. Well, Jaclyn, you have blessed me. I’m sure you have blessed all the ladies. Thank you for pouring into us today. And may God just bless you and keep pouring into your purpose work. Keep fighting SIS. Oh, thank you so much though.