He has borne our griefs, sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses… Jesus paid for your guilt and bore your shame. He didn’t cause your pain, but He’s ready to help you through it. That kind of treatment is not in His nature. He is for you, not against you - and will never shame you or humiliate you (Romans 8:31). As you trust Him with your pain, He will gently shine His healing light on all your wounds. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible - and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. The apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians 5 that bringing what’s hidden in the dark - our secrets of shame - into the light, into God’s merciful presence, is how they lose their power over us.įor you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Until we let in the light - the truth - we will remain hindered, unable to fulfill our potential. That light is the understanding that sets us free. The entrance of his Word gives light (Psalm 119:130). We need the light of God to shine on us - shackles, shame, and all. Our wounds need treatment, and the only way they’ll be healed is if we acknowledge them, uncover them, and hold them up to the One who can help.īut here’s the challenge: We’ve been shackled in the dark for so long that the darkness has crippled and immobilized us. Like me, you probably spent years covering up your shame wounds - so why would you now want to uncover them and look at them? When you’re suffering from shame, the last thing you want to do is make yourself vulnerable. Your vulnerability is one of the reasons you’re suffering from shame in the first place - so why would you want to open yourself up for more? Because what we don’t reveal can’t be healed. The journey from shame to freedom and a full life in Christ must be a blatantly honest, nothing-hidden voyage. But to be healed, we must acknowledge all of our wounds.
We’re ashamed to admit that we need healing, that we have been damaged in ways that cause us shame. It’s ironic, but the strongest resistance to the process of healing from shame is shame itself. I did… even though I felt powerful reluctance as my journey progressed. But as the woman who took her shame to Jesus - who risked stepping out of the house, who in fear and trembling reached deep into her well of courage and confessed her need for Him right there in public - found healing, we can too. Whether the cause of our shame was forced upon us or was the result of a choice we freely made - or as in my case, both - each of us bears that wound, that secret, that blemish. The power that healed her is available to us as well. That’s why I love this story! We all have shame wounds that are bleeding, and nothing we’ve done - no passage of time, no procedure, no ritual, no conversation or compensation - has been successful in closing them. The story of the woman with the issue of blood speaks to each of us.
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