Though this project began as an assignment for a seminary theology course, it began in my heart and my life story far before. In fact, it began before I even was a Christian– when, indeed, I was a committed atheist. I was 17 when I developed anorexia, binge purge subtype. The eating disorder reared its ugly head in my life a month after I a significantly painful sexual trauma. I struggled for years, not only with food and my body, but with the desire to live. I realize now that the eating disorder was my way of coping and surviving. I felt dirty, bad, and broken. I became obsessed with the idea that if I could fix my body and control my food, then I could be safe in my own skin. Flash forward 7 years, I ended up in residential treatment. But this treatment is not what brought me onto the path of recovery. While in treatment, I attended my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. A week later, because of the power of the 12 steps, I surrendered to God and thus began my true path toward life and wholeness. I know I have only shared the bare facts of my story. But all I wish to do here is vulnerably share with you, dear reader, so that you know that this is not coming from someone with any hidden agenda, nor from some detached academic. It is from someone who is struggling just like you. I have found great healing and hope in the path paved by the assurance of Christ's unconditional favor, love, and power. It was through the pastoral lens of a 'theology of the cross' that I began to see my body not as a project to be perfected, but as a gift to be received: a vessel of grace Christ has already claimed and redeemed. My only hope is to offer a soft place to land for those who, like me, have felt the weight of self-striving and long to find rest in the finished work of Jesus. Take what you want, leave the rest, and trust most upon not this work, nor the works of any man, but upon God, to whom this catechism merely aims to point and bear witness.