Beauty for ashes: receiving emotional healing by Joyce Meyer
Authors: Joyce Meyer
Tags: Religión, General, Family & Relationships, Spirituality, Christian Theology, Abuse, Child Abuse, Christian Life, Spiritual Growth, Religious Life, Christian Life - General, Adult child sexual abuse victims, Meyer; Joyce, Adult child sexual abuse victims - Religious life
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definition of the word translatedashamedin theKing James Versionof Genesis 2:25 is: tobe disappointed,ordelayed . . .confounded."7
This wordconfoundedsimply means to be frustrated or confused. Webster'sNew World Dictionarydefines the verbconfoundas: "confuse"; "bewilder"; "damn."8Webster defines the verbdamnas: "to condemn to an unhappy fate"; "doom"; "to criticize adversely"; "to cause the ruin of"; "make fail."9
If you will take the time to really study these definitions, you may discover that the root of your problem is shame.
Dealing with Shame
My life was filled with confusion because I was trying desperately to do right (so I could "feel right"), but no matter how hard I tried, I always failed. It seemed as if I were doomed to failure. I did not fail at everything, however. I was successful in the corporate world, and in a few other areas, but I was a failure at godly behavior. I always felt defeated because no matter what I accomplished on the outside,Istill felt bad about myself on the inside.
I was ashamed of me!
I did not like who I was. I did not like my basic personality. I was continually rejecting my real self and trying to be someone or something I was not and never could be. (I will discuss this topic more fully in another chapter.)
Multiplied thousands of Christians spend their entire lives in this pitiful condition-living far, far below their rightful position as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. I know, because I was one of them.
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Paul wrote that the suffering we endure now will one day be worth the glory of the inheritance due to us:And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to usandin usandfor usandconferred on us! (Romans 8:17-18)
It was a great day when the Holy Spirit led me to understand that shame was the source of many of my problems! There are promises in the Word of God that assure us that we can be delivered from a sense of shame. For example, it is written in Isaiah 61:7: "Instead of your [former] shame you shall have a twofold recompense; instead of dishonorandreproach [your people] shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double [what they had forfeited]; everlasting joy shall be theirs."
Let's examine more closely this passage, which offers "a twofold recompense." Arecompenseis a reward or compensation for injury. In other words, if you trust God and do things His way, He will see to it that you are repaid for every injustice ever done to you. You will receive double what you have forfeited or lost, and everlasting joy will be yours! That is a wonderful promise, and I can vouch for the reality of it. God has done that very thing for me, and He will do it for you too.
Another promise from the Lord is found in Isaiah 54:4: "Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed; neither be confoundedanddepressed, for you shall not be put to shame. For you shall forget the shame of your youth, and you shall not
92
[seriously] remember the reproach of your widowhood any more."How inspiring and encouraging it is to know that you will forget the harm of your past and will never have to seriously remember those hard, hard times! This is even a promise that you can stand on if you are still being abused or mistreated.
Perhaps you feel that the Lord has told you to endure for a season some verbal or emotional abuse while He is doing a work in the person who is hurting you. How can you protect yourself from developing a shame-based nature? The prayer of the psalmist can be yours also: "O keep me, Lord, and deliver me; let me not be ashamedordisappointed, for my trustandmy refuge are in You" (Psalm 25:20).
God can keep you from
This wordconfoundedsimply means to be frustrated or confused. Webster'sNew World Dictionarydefines the verbconfoundas: "confuse"; "bewilder"; "damn."8Webster defines the verbdamnas: "to condemn to an unhappy fate"; "doom"; "to criticize adversely"; "to cause the ruin of"; "make fail."9
If you will take the time to really study these definitions, you may discover that the root of your problem is shame.
Dealing with Shame
My life was filled with confusion because I was trying desperately to do right (so I could "feel right"), but no matter how hard I tried, I always failed. It seemed as if I were doomed to failure. I did not fail at everything, however. I was successful in the corporate world, and in a few other areas, but I was a failure at godly behavior. I always felt defeated because no matter what I accomplished on the outside,Istill felt bad about myself on the inside.
I was ashamed of me!
I did not like who I was. I did not like my basic personality. I was continually rejecting my real self and trying to be someone or something I was not and never could be. (I will discuss this topic more fully in another chapter.)
Multiplied thousands of Christians spend their entire lives in this pitiful condition-living far, far below their rightful position as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. I know, because I was one of them.
91
Paul wrote that the suffering we endure now will one day be worth the glory of the inheritance due to us:And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to usandin usandfor usandconferred on us! (Romans 8:17-18)
It was a great day when the Holy Spirit led me to understand that shame was the source of many of my problems! There are promises in the Word of God that assure us that we can be delivered from a sense of shame. For example, it is written in Isaiah 61:7: "Instead of your [former] shame you shall have a twofold recompense; instead of dishonorandreproach [your people] shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double [what they had forfeited]; everlasting joy shall be theirs."
Let's examine more closely this passage, which offers "a twofold recompense." Arecompenseis a reward or compensation for injury. In other words, if you trust God and do things His way, He will see to it that you are repaid for every injustice ever done to you. You will receive double what you have forfeited or lost, and everlasting joy will be yours! That is a wonderful promise, and I can vouch for the reality of it. God has done that very thing for me, and He will do it for you too.
Another promise from the Lord is found in Isaiah 54:4: "Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed; neither be confoundedanddepressed, for you shall not be put to shame. For you shall forget the shame of your youth, and you shall not
92
[seriously] remember the reproach of your widowhood any more."How inspiring and encouraging it is to know that you will forget the harm of your past and will never have to seriously remember those hard, hard times! This is even a promise that you can stand on if you are still being abused or mistreated.
Perhaps you feel that the Lord has told you to endure for a season some verbal or emotional abuse while He is doing a work in the person who is hurting you. How can you protect yourself from developing a shame-based nature? The prayer of the psalmist can be yours also: "O keep me, Lord, and deliver me; let me not be ashamedordisappointed, for my trustandmy refuge are in You" (Psalm 25:20).
God can keep you from
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