By mid-April, your body is tired in a way sleep doesn’t fix. You’ve been saying yes since August. Yes to early practices. Yes to games that run late. Yes to weekend tournaments, four-a-days, summer conditioning packets already sitting in your inbox. And now, instead of feeling excited for summer, you feel… exhausted just thinking about it. Tennis. Golf. Swim team. Softball. Tryouts. Camps. More. Maybe sports is your whole world. Maybe it’s just one small part of your life.

Maybe you love it. Maybe you’re low-key burned out and feel guilty admitting that. And maybe you’re reading this thinking, Great…a sports article. This isn’t even for me. But stay with me, because this isn’t really about athletics. This is about your body. Your worth. Your temple.

Somewhere along the way, girls got handed the message that we’re supposed to be small and quiet and cute, not sweaty and strong and taking up space. So when your legs get muscular or your shoulders broaden or your face is flushed after practice, it’s easy to wonder if you’re becoming “too much.” Too strong. Too big. Too intense. But what if we’ve had it backwards the whole time? What if your strength isn’t something to tone down… but something sacred? Scripture says your body is a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). Not an ornament. Not a decoration. A temple. Something built to hold the presence of God. Something sturdy. Intentional. Set apart. Temples aren’t fragile. They’re strong. Those muscles you’ve worked for? Gifts. Evidence that your body can carry you farther than you thought. That sweat dripping down your neck in the last ten minutes of practice? That can be worship. Every sprint, every drill, every time you show up when you’re tired is you stewarding what God gave you. That’s not unfeminine. That’s faithful.

Proverbs 31 says she is clothed with strength and dignity. Strength isn’t the opposite of femininity; it’s woven into it. God didn’t design girls to shrink themselves. He designed you with lungs that expand, legs that push off starting blocks, arms that serve and throw and lift and hold. Power lives in you on purpose.

So instead of criticizing your body all summer—pulling at your shorts, wishing you were smaller, hiding the very parts that make you capable—what if you honored it? What if you thanked God for it? What if you treated it like holy ground?

Whether you’re headed into another season or stepping away for the first time, your identity isn’t “athlete” or “not athletic.” It’s beloved. Chosen. God’s. Sports may come and go. Seasons change. Teams change. Your jersey might too. But this body? This temple? It’s a gift. And strong girls aren’t less beautiful. They’re living proof that strength itself is sacred.

Check the Source

If God Didn’t Say It, Don’t Believe It

By Leigh Young (the faith)

We live in a time where we know to fact-check the news. We check how many stars something has on Amazon before hitting purchase. We read reviews before buying a new product at Sephora. We’ve all been told to make sure we have reliable sources before adding a fact into a paper for school. We can’t just add something and claim it’s true without backing it up, right?

What about the thoughts regarding our identity? We rarely stop to question where they came from and how they got there. Have you ever thought, “I’m not enough,” or “I’ll probably fail,” or “I don’t belong here?” Sometimes, we just…accept thoughts like these. We allow them not only to stay, but sometimes even take root like weeds crowding our beautiful minds.

I wish I had learned this sooner: just because a thought regarding my identity exists, it doesn’t mean it’s from God. Just because a thought is loud doesn’t mean I should listen to it—especially if it defines who I am.

For a long time, I listened to comparison, insecurity, and shame without realizing I could choose where to direct my attention. I could choose what I believed about myself and what I hold on to as foundational truths constructing my identity. I often had thoughts that sounded like my own voice, so I assumed they must be accurate. Here’s the thing: I didn’t check the source.

A wise mentor of mine told me years ago this simple but powerful statement: If God didn’t say it, you don’t have to believe it.

Mind. Blown.

If God defines who I am, why am I listening to anyone or anything else? I had never thought about fact-checking what I believed to be true about myself.

When the source is God, everything has a new, stable grounding in truth. Somewhere along the way, many of us start finding our identity in things God never said—and those beliefs quietly begin to shape who we think we are.

Here’s the deal: the God of the universe created you and calls you His masterpiece—created on purpose and for a purpose (Ephesians 2:10). You are too beautiful and too precious to God to be anyone other than the amazing girl He carefully and intentionally designed you to be.

In John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.” The enemy can steal our confidence and destroy our identity when we don’t pay attention to the source of what we believe. This is why checking the source matters.

Before you internalize and embrace a core belief—cementing it into the foundation of your identity—ask yourself, “Does this sound like my Father?” God corrects, convicts, and guides, but His voice does not sound like constant criticism. If the voice in your head is harsh, hopeless, or humiliating, it simply cannot be from God. When He speaks about you, He speaks with love.

Your worth was settled long before you were ever born. It’s not up for debate or discussion. It is not something that can be earned or that changes over time.  Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.”

You are intentionally made, loved, chosen, redeemed, and set apart. Nothing you do merits this favor, grace, and blessing. Who you are is not earned. It is declared by the One who created you. So the next time a thought tries to tell you who you are, slow down before you accept it and check the source.

- Is the thought lovingly calling you into growth?

- Is it consistent with who God is, and who He says you are?

- Does it reflect the truth in Scripture?

You were never meant to build your identity on other people’s opinions, what culture says, your insecurities, and certainly not comparison. You were meant to build your identity on who God says you are—nothing more, nothing less.

If God didn’t say it? Don’t believe it.