I spent the first twenty-two years of my life shackled by shame. Looking back, I realize I had always felt it. It had been a part of my life from my earliest memories.
I felt it when I was rejected. Made to feel unworthy. Of no value.
I felt it when I was abused. And couldn’t tell anyone. And believed it was somehow my fault.
I felt it when I tried to hide who I was, apologize for who I was, minimize my talents, or overachieve and compensate for feeling somehow “less than.”
Have you felt it? If you’re human, you have—and the result is always the same.
Shame makes us feel small. Flawed. Not good enough. And controlled.
Shame is the fear of being unworthy, and it adversely affects our relationship with God, others, and ourselves. It greatly hinders our ability to receive God’s unconditional love—and share it with others.
Because of God’s great love, I began to discover the power of God’s Word to break through the lies I had believed—and to reveal the truth of who I am and why I was created. Breaking free from the shackles of shame is not an overnight experience or a quick-fix, ten-step process. It is, however, a grand, ongoing adventure of discovering the depths of God’s love and the huge scope of God’s power to transform us, re-create us, and continually renew us. This process will not end until we meet him face to face.
The development of this curriculum, along with the writing of the book Unashamed, is yet another step in my journey. I pray that my story and this study will open your heart and allow God to lift the shame off you so you can flourish and become all that he has created you to be.
Do you struggle with the fear that you are not enough?
Are you afraid to let your true self be seen and known?
Are you always trying to gain approval? Trying to prove you are valuable and worthy to be loved?
Do you want to break the power of shame in your life?
If so, join me and your small group members as we learn to drop the baggage of shame, pick up our freedom in Christ, and step into the fullness of the destiny—the shame-free life—God has in store for us.
I pray that these five sessions of learning, and the exercises you will do between the sessions, will help you take the next steps on your journey to freedom. As you read, the enemy will be trembling, because he knows that once God has broken the chains of our slavery to shame, there will be no holding us back!
God created you for a unique purpose. He has a specific plan for your life, and he has a powerful destiny he wants you to fulfill. And guess what? Shame has no place in that purpose, plan, and destiny. Jesus came to set you free from shame.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).