Shame.

Shame Shame Shame. . .  I don't wanna go to Mexico no more more more. . . remember that hand game little girls play on the playground?

We've been talking about shame with church this week and the topic has come up a few times. Shame goes all the way back to Genesis with Adam and Eve. As soon as they ate from the forbidden tree, they felt shame, they felt separation from God. Before they ate, they didn't know any different, they were innocent and communed with God, the Creator of the Universe. After they ate, they knew shame.

We suffer with that same shame to this day.

When we sin we experience shame.

When we fall into our bad habits again and again we feel shame.

Grace is hard to wrap our minds around, but it was God's grace that He sent Jesus to die for our sin, for our bad habits so we wouldn't experience shame anymore and we could still commune with God. And yet we still feel shame because we know we screwed up.

How do we find freedom from our shame?

I was talking to a friend recently and she's going through a similar difficult season right now that I went through about 7 years ago. I fell into my bad habits, felt guilty, prayed through it and then fell into my bad habits again.

It was a dumb vicious cycle.

But here's the TRUTH I've discovered . . . WE are the ones who sin and fall into our bad habits over and over. None of us are perfect. Then God comes along and teaches us (or tries to!). Some of us need to learn the hard way, some of us need hit over the head with a bat and some of us learn our lesson the first time. That is what we call GRACE. . . God teaching us and showing us where we're wrong. He doesn't have to do that. He could just leave us to keep screwing up but His grace stops us and protects us.

We could still choose to ignore Him our whole lives if we wanted OR. . . we could see He is trying to stop us and protect us from more mistakes and pain.

I came through that difficult season 7 years ago. I could've beat myself up over it everyday since, lived with the shame and kept it a secret with my husband, but I didn't. I finally saw God was teaching me so that I could overcome the sin and bad habits. I started talking about it and the more I shared it with others, the more it became a GREAT STORY. Now I could happily share my story with anyone, in fact, I look for opportunities to share it with someone.

I find it so exciting when God shows me my mistakes. Then I can tell people "I used to screw up in that area but God showed me another way" or "satan kept beating me down in this area but God picked me up".

"BUT GOD" stories are exciting to share!

My sin and shame is a story of when God protected me and loved me at my lowest, and took the time to show me where I was wrong. And that my friend is grace.

I was at my lowest BUT GOD. . . .