Screwtape's 20th letter: When "beauty" makes you sick. With Breast-Implant Illness Survivor, Joanna Hall.

Listening to this episode around children is not advised.Letter 20 of Screwtape takes an even deeper look at the mechanics of spiritual warfare in terms sexuality — specifically in the context of society’s portrayal of beauty. There are SO many avenues that I could have explored in this chapter, and as someone who grew up in purity culture, I initially bristled at the idea of discussing the topic of beauty, the reason being that so often, women are targeted by messages of beauty in Christian evangelical ministry in such a way as to imply that beauty is the only thing that concerns us. And I simply don’t believe this to be true. That said, it would be foolish to ignore the oh-so-prevalent fact that society tries to define beauty for us — often in the most damaging and harmful ways.Because Lewis mentions this phenomenon explicitly in Letter 20, I knew it would be a perfect opportunity to get my amazing mamma on the show. She has an incredible story of recovering from breast implant illness, and as someone who works in the beauty industry in Southern California, she has an informed and wise perspective on how we can pursue beauty without surrendering the true picture of beauty which God has sewn in us from the very beginning.As a warning, this episode does touch on the topic of fertility and infertility, which we try to handle with the utmost care, but if that’s not something you feel prepared to engage with right now, I invite you to skip the latter half of this episode.Mentioned in this episode:Isaac’s essay on C.S. Lewis and beauty.Psalm 34:5Magic Like This episodes with Anna Shuman: Part 1 & Part 2Further resources:The Yuka app helps you to scan cosmetic products to determine whether they are clean or whether they have ingredients which can impact your endocrine system: https://yuka.io/en/Join the Magic Like This Book Club:https://magiclikethis.substack.com/subscribeRead my essays and join my Celtic Prayer Writing Workshops at The Battle Cry:https://christinalynnwallace.substack.com/subscribeFind me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/magiclikethispodcastFor fellow writers:Battling imposter syndrome? Purchase my 7-day journalling devotional for aspiring Christian writers: https://www.christinalynnwallace.com/shop/p/invited-by-joy-digital-devotional-for-aspiring-authorsWanting to write a book about what God’s done in your life, but don’t know where to start? I teach a course to help with that!You can enrol in Pick Up Your Sword at https://christinalynnwallace.com/courseAlways wondered about the difference between a colon and a semi-colon? Join Swordsmanship, my free 21-day email course to help you master punctuation: https://www.christinalynnwallace.com/swordsmanship.Wanting personal support to develop your writing practice? Book a Writer’s Audit, 1:1 writing mentorship calls with Christina.Or if you just want a little magic sent straight to your inbox each month to encourage and inspire your writing practice, you can get my free monthly newsletter, The Grammarian, here: https://christinalynnwallace.com/newsletterClick here to find me on Fable This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit magiclikethis.substack.com/subscribe