The Journey to Freedom from Sexual Shameናሙና

Hope, Resurrected

Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers. He was eventually lifted out—by slave traders. After being sold into servitude, he began to experience favor.

Then he was thrown into a prison cell.

After another rise, his life saved the lives of multitudes, including the very family that had rejected him. His resurrection from a desert pit brought salvation, and while we experience his story in just a few paragraphs, Joseph's journey spanned decades, and the highs and lows we read in a few verses represent years of living one day at a time through the peaks and valleys.

So, too, with our journey from the pit of shame.

Even after we've been lifted out of the darkness of hiding and self-condemnation, there's a pathway yet to walk, one on which we will encounter the whispered indictments of the Accuser, as well as the encroachment of the old patterns of fear and contempt.

That's why we need each other.

Before Jesus left his disciples, He told them to "love one another," and prayed "that they may be one." It's together, in authenticity and truthfulness, that we remain free from the pit, from the cave of shame and separation. It's with others that we experience forgiveness, acceptance, and healing.

The deeper the wounding, the more powerful the shame, the more necessary open, honest relationship is. The abuse that we suffered as a child, the abandonment we endured, the betrayal, the addiction and adultery--these create the strongest impulses to hide, yet experience the most joy when brought into the light of loving, attentive community and friendship.

Resurrection is a process. Like the shoot breaking through the soil was once a seed and must receive sun and rain before it blossoms, our resurrection to new life has many stages. Even Jesus experienced years in Egypt, weeks in the wilderness, and days in the tomb before resurrection, while walking to Emmaus and ascending to the heavens while waiting for the fulness of time.

After the pit, our resurrection life continues, one step at a time, one day at a time, a combination of waiting, hoping, and resting in God's daily provision. It's a journey out of bondage and into freedom--a journey from prison cells to promised land.

It is a journey to celebrate.

Is something preventing you from celebrating today's journey? Can you confess it and release it?