Shame Can Cripple Us!

I struggled with shame my whole life, and felt from a very early age that I
was a mistake, that I was not good enough and nothing would ever make me good enough. Failure seemed certain, even though I tried so hard at all that I did. Shame told me that I was too fat, too stupid, too needy, too emotional, too immature, just too TOO.

This shame is what cripples us in our relationships with others, and with God Himself. When we are born, we are born into original sin, the "sin nature", as a result of Adam's sin. What that really means is that we are born inadequate and needing a savior. We are inadequate in relationship to GOD, inferior to Him, and in need of His salvation, deliverance, healing, and love. That is a healthy concept of ourselves, which is not this paralyzing shame that I am focusing on here. We ARE inadequate and less than, in comparison with God. But God didn't make us to be inadequate and less than in comparison with each other. That is where shame comes in. We believe lies that have been told to us-- either in words, gestures, actions, body language, or insinuations. We believe we are defective and without hope.