Recently it became very evident that I was carrying a lot of shame. The root was "I am not enough".
Looking back to my earlier years as a child and teenager, there were definitely moments that this feeling was birthed.
Looking back to my earlier years as a child and teenager, there were definitely moments that this feeling was birthed.
The book "Fighting Shadows" by Jon Tyson really impacted me and helped me truly understand shame. It was nothing profound, I just didn't realise that it was shame I felt. It was like I had to recognise what it truly was to then allow God to heal me.
Through counselling, EMDR therapy, reading books, I feel it has helped me take big step forward against this toxic shame I felt and it does not impact me like it did. I feel like I can differentiate between real shame (when I act in a way against my beliefs and morals) and toxic shame (there’s something wrong with me) and can deal with it. It doesn't have a grip on me anymore. Praise God!
Toxic shame we get from trauma is such an awful tool for the devil making us feel inherently flawed, leading to self-sabotage in relationships or a belief that we are incapable of genuine love. It's awful but thank you Jesus that He can heal us.
I was watching the new Lilo & Stitch movie with my wife and kids recently and something Lilo said to Stitch really stuck with me. “Stitch, you’re not bad. You just sometimes do bad things.”
I was watching the new Lilo & Stitch movie with my wife and kids recently and something Lilo said to Stitch really stuck with me. “Stitch, you’re not bad. You just sometimes do bad things.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV):
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
-Ben