Don't Try This AloneSample

When a favorite pastor, worship leader, or Bible teacher loses their church or platform due to a moral failure, everyone’s shocked. Why? Well, because no one saw it coming! The leader was hiding! Shame makes us hide. Shame is an identity attacker. It forces us into a dark place with voices that spew lies like, “I am unworthy of good things. My past discounts me. I should hide because I’m too broken to be used anyway.” If hiding is the kryptonite to healing, shame is the villain in the story, ready to defeat us by taking away the very things God designed us for—connection and withness.

Defeating shame will cost you. I’m not trying to scare you from facing it, but I’m a no-fluff kind of girl. At this point in my life, with all of the trauma in my story, I’m out to set some people free, so I’m gonna say the thing! It’s going to cost you to stop hiding. It’s going to push you past your instinct to hide, and I don’t want to pretend that it’s not hard to step into the light. It’s terrible and sometimes embarrassing and absolutely worth it. It will always be worth it to get out of hiding. Let me show you why.

If the shame in you says, I don’t want anyone to know, not only will you have to walk through the reality of the pain you’re healing from but you’ll also be doing it alone. When the anxiety hits, you won’t have someone reminding you to breathe when it feels like the grief is suffocating you. When depression hits, you won’t have anyone to encourage you that maybe the best you can do today is take a shower and celebrate that. When you’re feeling unwanted because your single season is taking far too long for your heart, you won’t have a gal friend that sends coffee or a mani-pedi on her. You’ll also risk someone finding out instead of you willingly telling them. And when someone finds out you’re going through something hard alone, the connection you really want is thrust onto you versus being gently invited in. Connection by invitation is always sweeter than by discovery.

Prayer

Lord, I have tried to hide my shame, and I need Your help to bring it to light. Please give me strength and courage as I share my pain with my loved ones. Amen.