Christine Caine - Unashamed study guide with dvd

I spent the first twenty-two years of my life shackled by shame. Looking back, I realize I had always felt it. It had been a part of my life from my earliest memories.

I felt it when I was rejected. Made to feel unworthy. Of no value.

I felt it when I was abused. And couldnt tell anyone. And believed it was somehow my fault.

I felt it when I tried to hide who I was, apologize for who I was, minimize my talents, or overachieve and compensate for feeling somehow less than.

Have you felt it? If youre human, you haveand the result is always the same.

Shame makes us feel small. Flawed. Not good enough. And controlled.

Shame is the fear of being unworthy, and it adversely affects our relationship with God, others, and ourselves. It greatly hinders our ability to receive Gods unconditional loveand share it with others.

Because of Gods great love, I began to discover the power of Gods Word to break through the lies I had believedand to reveal the truth of who I am and why I was created. Breaking free from the shackles of shame is not an overnight experience or a quick-fix, ten-step process. It is, however, a grand, ongoing adventure of discovering the depths of Gods love and the huge scope of Gods power to transform us, re-create us, and continually renew us. This process will not end until we meet him face to face.

The development of this curriculum, along with the writing of the book Unashamed, is yet another step in my journey. I pray that my story and this study will open your heart and allow God to lift the shame off you so you can flourish and become all that he has created you to be.

Do you struggle with the fear that you are not enough?

Are you afraid to let your true self be seen and known?

Are you always trying to gain approval? Trying to prove you are valuable and worthy to be loved?

Do you want to break the power of shame in your life?

If so, join me and your small group members as we learn to drop the baggage of shame, pick up our freedom in Christ, and step into the fullness of the destinythe shame-free lifeGod has in store for us.

I pray that these five sessions of learning, and the exercises you will do between the sessions, will help you take the next steps on your journey to freedom. As you read, the enemy will be trembling, because he knows that once God has broken the chains of our slavery to shame, there will be no holding us back!

God created you for a unique purpose. He has a specific plan for your life, and he has a powerful destiny he wants you to fulfill. And guess what? Shame has no place in that purpose, plan, and destiny. Jesus came to set you free from shame.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).

Introduction

Anna went to the doctor for a routine checkup and some additional age appropriate tests. At forty, she had been super healthy all her life. As a matter of fact, she had never had a broken bone, a surgery, or even a cavity. When she spoke of her good health, she would often say, I guess I just have good genes! When the doctors office called two weeks later, she was shocked to learn of a number of serious concerns, including the possibility of cancer. She was given the number of a specialist to contact immediately. Two months later, Anna had still not told her husband and children about the doctors report, and she had not yet called the specialist her doctor had recommended.

Simon was a curious eight-year-old boy. He loved to play, explore, and experiment with anything and everything... including fire. He found a pack of matches and went out into a field near his home to see if he could light them and start a little campfire. In the dry summer conditions, starting a little fire was easy; the hard part was keeping it little. In less than sixty seconds, Simons experiment had gotten out of control. He ran home as fast as he could. Instead of telling his parents, he hid in his bedroom. He did not want anyone to know what he had done.

Ricardo and Maria could see that their daughter was not the same happy, joy-filled young woman she had been two or three years ago. At seventeen she had become sullen, a recluse who stayed in her room most of the day. She rarely smiled and had very little to say. They did not want to intrude or seem overly concerned, so they decided to leave her alone and hope she figured things out on her own.

God always runs toward us, not from us.

Talk About It

Think about one of the three scenarios in the session introduction and tell about how this story might end if the pattern of running away were to continue.

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or

How might the same story end on a happier, healthier note if there were a decision to run to the right person and address the challenge at hand?

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