What does it mean to respond with love?

We all want to be loved, valued and affirmed. After that, we may want many different things, but at our core we want love. Unfortunately, for so many of us, we did not see what true sacrificial love looks like in our childhood, so we grabbed onto the counterfeit. It is so clear that the love of the father has such an important role on our sons and daughters. The vast majority of men in prison had no father figure in the home. Many women who are dealing with self-esteem, body image, love addiction, etc. point back to what we flippantly refer to as ‘daddy issues’.

On social media we are reading how people define love. And in many cases it is the counterfeit kind. It is based on emotion and it is fleeting. God’s love for us was set in motion back in Genesis when He provided a way out for us after the sin of Adam and Eve. His love for us was fulfilled with Jesus’ birth, death/sacrifice on the cross, and resurrection. Love is a choice. Love is selfless. Love comes at a cost. Love has boundaries. Abuse of love has consequences. 

We need a lot more authentic love today. Love that listens with soft eyes. Love that allows honest sharing, but allows for healthy disagreement. Love that is displayed far more than it is spoken. This kind of love begins with how we treat our own families. How parents treat their children and how they teach them to treat others, including those in authority, shows them what authentic love means.

Love is not defined nor exemplified on social media. It is done day-to-day out in the real world. It is messy. We are all flawed and we will make mistakes. But we must invest in one another in real and tangible ways if we ever hope to model the authentic love our Father showed us through the gift and sacrifice of His Son. That is the love that will cross the great divide happening all around us. That is the love that really does win.

Hope Clinic for Women has a wonderful training for parents that can take place in a 4-week group session or alone with our male counselor on staff. He also provides excellent couples and family counseling. If you are interested in rediscovering healthy love and healthy relationships for you and your family, please contact us at 321.0005 or www.hopeclinicforwomen.org.

Renée Rizzo, CEO of Hope Clinic for Women

Media and a Healthy Self-Esteem

The Prevention Program of Hope Clinic for Women exists to provide targeted education to teens and young adults in the community, not only on the risks of becoming sexually active, but also the importance of healthy relationships and healthy self-esteem. One area that we discuss in our prevention presentations is the importance of understanding true empowerment. This is the empowerment that comes from having a healthy view of self and pursuing the things in life that bring lasting results.

A major topic of this discussion of empowerment is the cultural view that states if a woman exposes her body or poses provocatively, she is modeling empowerment and a healthy view of self. One problem we highlight with this view is when an individual is posing for these types of pictures, she may feel empowered for the moment, but once the photos are published she loses all power of what others do with or say about these images. While entertainment reporters might state that “owning” one’s sexuality is empowering, it ultimately takes away the power of the woman posing and impacts the prevalent view of women as a whole.

Sometimes I end up being out of the loop on things that are going on in pop-culture, so just this week I was made aware of a story that aired in February of this year drawing attention to the impact this type of exposure had on a model in her relationships and view of self. Kylie Bisutti, a former Victoria Secret Angel publicly stepped down from modeling lingerie and other provocative and revealing fashions in order to align her professional work with her personal faith and views. She credits this decision to the fact that she wanted to honor her husband by not sharing her body with the general public and the impact she felt her modeling was having on the views of younger women who look up to her, including her cousin who had expressed that she thought she might want to stop eating so that she could look more like her model cousin.

I applaud Mrs. Bisutti for taking a stand for what she believes and publicly making a statement to younger women who look up to her. This story further emphasizes the need provide education on these topics. Hope Clinic for Women is that source of education in the Nashville area.

For more information on our prevention program, contact Amy Moseley amoseley@hopeclinicforwomen.org

To find out more on this story you can follow the links below:

ABC Good Morning America video: http://youtu.be/5CDKLrsUyco

BLAZE February 7, 2012 article http://www.theblaze.com/stories/kylie-bisutti-quits-victorias-secret-lingerie-modeling-career-because-of-her-christian-faith/

Amy is the Client Programs Manager at Hope Clinic for Women. She has worked in the field of Mental Health Advocacy and Counseling since 2008. In addition to her work at Hope Clinic for Women, Amy has experience working with victims of sexual assault, special needs foster care, and individuals dealing with issues related to trauma as well as over 10 years of experience in full-time Christian Ministry.