Are You Living with Shame from Your Past?

October 13, 2014

Shame on you!

Doesn’t that phrase just make you cringe? Do you think you might still be living with shame?

I have yet to see an abuse survivor who doesn’t wrestle with shame. It is a paralyzing emotion and. It makes you feel as though everything that happened was your fault. Or at least a good part of it.

Ask yourself what you could possibly have done as a young child to invite all that abuse. A child literally cannot do anything to ask for sexual molestation or rape. A child can certainly misbehave, but does not invite beatings and bruises.What does Jesus say about children? When the disciples wanted to shoo the kids away as nuisances, Jesus spoke up and invited them to stay (Matthew 19:14). He understands children and loves them. He said we are His children and He loves us.

Ask Jesus about your shame. What do you think He will say? I don’t know exactly how He will phrase it for you, but I know shame from my past is not to be part of my life now. He died on the cross to take away our shame.

I heard a good explanation of shame versus guilt. It seems that guilt is the feeling that you’ve done something wrong (we all have, haven’t we?). There is hope for redemption from guilt.

However, shame is the feeling that we are something wrong. No hope of redemption.

When shame rears its ugly head, ask Jesus to tell you the truth.

And don’t forget to listen for the answer.

Let’s continue this in more detail. It’s a big, painful subject.

This is part 16 of a series on abuse recovery

Part 1| Am I Alone in my Pain?