Do you know the silent killer that steals your dreams, your fire, and your voice?
Shame.
Shame holds you back from stepping into greatness because it keeps you playing small.
Why do we play small? Because we doubt what’s in front of us, what’s possible, and what’s within reach if we just show up and trust. It’s easier to fret over all the reasons why something won’t work than to buckle down and run with the reasons why it can work.
Can you relate?
But if we stay in that place, we stay in the grave of our comfort zone. Nothing grows there. No new dreams or movements are birthed there.
Everything is nice, safe, and predictable, and it’s also dead. The only way to live out the greatness of your calling is to challenge yourself to stay alive and progressive.
The only way to live out the greatness of your calling is to challenge yourself to stay alive and progressive.
Allowing shame to hold you back is allowing your calling to die because you won’t nurture it. Your dreams are bigger than you because they’re meant to outlive you. Your legacy is meant to point people to Jesus, set the captives free, and leave a lasting imprint of glory on the generations after you.
How do you do any of that if you’re too afraid to get it wrong so you can do it better and get it right?
The only reason you feel shame is because you’re looking at the wrong things. Whenever I get bogged down in shame, I’m magnifying past mistakes and ignoring the lessons that came with them.
Being so focused on what I missed then or don’t have now blinds me to what I do have now and what’s possible with it. I can only meet myself where I am when I focus on my assignment and what’s possible, not on my past and what’s impossible.
I can only meet myself where I am when I focus on my assignment and what’s possible, not on my past and what’s impossible.
When you think about it, shame only ever uses the past as a frame of reference to distort the present and darken the future.
You want to post that video, but you remember past hurtful comments, so you delete it.
You want to go to that event, but you remember a painful experience that was draining and expensive, so you don’t make the investment.
And you know you’re called to start your book, business, or ministry, but you remember something you tried before that didn’t work out, so you put it on hold again for “later”.
Do you see the pattern?
How to Conquer Shame
Breaking the grip of shame on your mind starts with getting a new mind and a new vision.
Isaiah 43:18-19 says, “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (NKJV).
The Lord is telling us here to forget old memories and experiences and look ahead to the new. Look ahead to new glory, new provision, new life in what’s in front of you.
Forget the past experiences of shame, of lack, of what went wrong and who did what. Focus on what the Lord says and receive His new direction and fresh provision. You don’t have to stay locked in the painful memories of what didn’t work and what didn’t survive.
Did you catch that?
You don’t have to stay locked in the painful memories of what didn’t work and what didn’t survive.
Today is your new beginning. Greater is ahead of you. Even if you feel trapped in a dry, weary land right now, “rivers in the desert” are coming (Isaiah 43:19b NKJV). Yesterday cannot inhibit today unless you let it.
So, get your mind right. Get your vision right. Dare to dream again, to accept the new thing that the Lord has for you, and to begin again. The life in your lungs has more work to do than just sigh in frustration because you’re not yet where you want to be.
And when it gets hard, because it will, remind yourself that you’re creating new experiences to make new memories.
Remind yourself that you’re imagining new things so you can see new things.
And remind yourself that the same God who worked miracles yesterday is calling you to believe in new miracles today.
It’s time to stop playing small and letting shame hold you back.
Because who God made you to be has nothing to do with what your past says about you.
Right on Otiti, ….
‘You don’t have to stay locked in the painful memories of what didn’t work and what didn’t survive.’
Well done. It’s the shame of past failures that keeps one playing small and safe. And missing out on the promise of abundant life. Hmmm.
May God help us all to break the stronghold of
shame. 🙏 🙏