Overcoming Shame: A 9-Day Video SeriesPrimjer

Once the feeling of shame gets its claws in us, silence only makes it worse. 

Shame disconnects us from others and causes us to doubt our worth, as if we don’t have anything of value to offer others. This lie is perpetuated by silence, and it can be exposed as false only through having the courage to speak honestly about how we feel to others who will listen.

Our fear is that our worthlessness will only be confirmed if we open up to others, but the irony is that only by opening up to others can the toxic power of shame be dispelled. The psalmist tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). This is the truth about us. Shame is based on the lie that this is not true, and that our worthlessness disqualifies us from the right to connect with God and others.

Believing this lie leaves us feeling profoundly alone and incapable of the intimacy for which we were designed. Marital difficulties, family troubles, psychological problems, workplace relationship conflicts, authority clashes, and multiple other tragic effects will follow.

Your own doubt about your self-worth is one of the greatest sources of dysfunction in your life, and refusing to keep silent about the sources of your shame is one of the most significant things you can do to help you be the person God created you to be.