{"id":3339,"date":"2023-07-27T05:04:51","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T23:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/perthescortsdirectory.com.au\/blog\/navigating-shame\/"},"modified":"2023-07-27T05:04:51","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T23:34:51","slug":"navigating-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perthescortsdirectory.com.au\/blog\/navigating-shame\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Shame"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I was recently asked to teach a two-hour workshop on navigating shame. As with any such invitation, I pray, read the Word, and reference other notes and materials I may have written or taught through the years. As I began to prepare for the workshop, I researched many binders of notes. I was surprised to find that even after fifteen years of teaching ministry, I had almost nothing in the way of content on shame. I was shocked. I began researching our ministry\u2019s website and found that it, too, lacked in-depth teaching on shame. I have been teaching single mothers for over fifteen years and had written almost nothing on shame. Shame\u2019s persistence in the lives of so many women and single mothers should\u2019ve surely lent itself to hundreds of writings on the matter! So, today, alas, we begin the journey through the shame struggle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If anyone is, I\u2019d like to think I\u2019m a resident expert on the matter of shame. I\u2019ve certainly carried its heavy weight through the years and on many occasions. Like an astute student eager to learn all its nuances, I\u2019ve often perfectly positioned myself to experience it through a myriad of wrong choices and complex, unhealed wounds. For a young church girl, four pregnancies outside of marriage lent itself as a chief teacher on shame. Poverty, finding myself living in government housing using food stamps and welfare, was a close second. An alcoholic father who married six times and struggled with infidelity. Abusive boyfriends. Promiscuity. Shame has had a field day in my life\u2019s journey. And yet, here I am, writing and sharing freely about the ugly intricacies of a life riddled with sin \u2013 both my own and others. Why?<\/em> Because shame no longer binds me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guilt vs.\u00a0Shame<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

To begin our successful battle overcoming shame, it\u2019s important to first understand the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt is a result of a poor choice<\/strong>. It\u2019s often tied to an action or an event. It\u2019s the who, what, when, where, of an occurrence. Guilt is the instant realization that a decision we made didn\u2019t line up with who we are in Christ. We are created in the image of God, so when something doesn\u2019t feel<\/em> right, it\u2019s not right. When we surrender to Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit that convicts us and helps us navigate guilt. Guilt becomes the what you do<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shame, however, transitions from what we do to who we are.<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>Shame impacts our decision-making, thought life, and the lens in which we see the world. Shame takes conviction and transitions it to bondage. Guilt says, \u201cI did something bad<\/em>.\u201d Shame says, \u201cI am someone bad<\/em>.\u201d Shame becomes guilt on steroids. It becomes a badge we wear that we accept as defining who we are.\u00a0 Shame is defined as long-standing guilt, it sticks with us for an extended time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the potential risk if we don\u2019t battle shame well?\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n