The Journey to Freedom from Sexual ShameSample

Into The Pit

As you've walked the path of life, there have been highs and lows, joys and sorrows, achievements and failures. The peaks and valleys are a part of the journey.

But sometimes we stumble into a pit.

A pit is different than a valley, where at least you can continue to walk, to make progress, to advance in the hope of emerging from the shadows. A pit is a place of stagnation, of helplessness. You can't get yourself out of a pit—you have to be lifted out. You have to be rescued.

But here's the most devastating thing: sometimes we don't know we're in a pit. Or, we've been in it so long, we forget there is a reality outside of it. The darkness and confinement of the pit become our reality.

Shame is such a pit.

The darkness and confinement of shame keeps you from true relationships, from joy, from freedom, because shame is an inner judgment that you're not worthy, not lovable, not able to be your true self with others without being rejected.

As such, you might not realize you're in a pit. The isolation, and the whisperings of your Accuser, have made the voice of inner judgment the entire landscape of your reality. It's now a reality distorted and discolored by lack, scarcity, criticism, and constant threat of rejection.

Ever since humans ate of the forbidden fruit and immediately hid and covered themselves, our first impulse has been to hide and mask ourselves, because of the overwhelming sense of unworthiness our mortal, sinful nature generates. As life progresses, and we experience abandonment and abuse, criticism and crassness, exposure and exploitation, porn and promiscuity, the judgment becomes louder, more frequent, and more crushing.

And you cannot get yourself out of this pit. But there is One who can.

Jesus repels into the pits God's children have fallen into, lifts us, secures us, and climbs out to set us in the light of the Father's fellowship, fully known, fully accepted. You simply have to receive, to be willing to be lifted, to trust—one moment at a time—that as you step out of hiding and set down the mask you've worn, you are loved fully, accepted completely, and being healed and restored.

He is your shield, and the lifter of your head.

What self-condemnation do you carry? What would happen if you released those inner judgments?