I have a confession to make.

This is kind of hard to do, but I want to be as transparent as possible.

Earlier this week, some last-minute plans came up. The idea of sitting in a rooftop hot tub surrounded by city lights with some of my friends should have sounded like a really good time, but instead all I could do was think about the fact that I had to wear a swimsuit.

It was so bad that I broke down in tears when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I was changing. My boyfriend saw how upset I was when I came out of the bathroom and offered to stay in and watch a movie with me instead. I almost threw a big enough pity party for myself to say yes, but I forced myself to go anyway.

Thankfully, I have an awesome guy in my life who spent the entire ride there convincing me to eat the chicken wings he bought me and telling me how beautiful he genuinely thinks I am. When we got there, I was able to flip a switch, put on my happy face, and act like nothing was wrong. I even ended up letting go of everything and having a good time. Regardless, this experience got me thinking.

Let me break some things down.

Have I put on some extra pounds since I’ve gone off to college? Yes. Is it so much that other people would notice? Honestly, probably not.

Deep down, I know I’m not obese or even overweight.

Then why the heck do I feel like the most disgusting person in the world sometimes?

You can try to tell me that it’s simply the fact that we see people with perfect bodies in ads, on tv, and all throughout our Instagram feeds, but I won’t believe you. While I do believe all of that has us trained to compare ourselves to those people, I know it’s something much more serious than that.

You see, none of that would mean anything if it weren’t for the devil whispering in our ears that we aren’t good enough. Satan is constantly trying to bring us down, and he’s petty enough to attack something as meaningless as our bodies.

When you think about it, our bodies really don’t matter. Yes, we need to take care of them. Yes, they are capable of doing some pretty incredible stuff. Yes, they are the things that determine whether we live or die. But really, they’re just houses for our souls.

I’m sure you’ve heard time and time again that it’s what’s on inside that counts. As cliché and overused as it is, it’s true. We have to protect our hearts and stop caring about the way we look from the outside.

Ladies, guys, kids, adults… Stop listening to the devil. Stop letting him get to you. I know we slip up every once in a while and things are much easier said than done, but the next time you’re looking at yourself in the mirror ready to cry, speak the name of Jesus. Let Satan know that he isn’t welcome and that you’re not going to let him get to you.

Don't let him win.