Turning our Shame into a Testimony

This content was excerpted from the Ashamed Bible Study.

I love hearing people's testimonies. I love the colorful ones like the apostle Paul’s and the ones that point to faithful families passing down the good news.

The older I get, the more testimonies of my own I rack up.

I was a fourteen-year-old striver who saw her neediness and made a commitment to Jesus.

Then I was an anorexic bulimic who was healed and shown mercy by a powerful God.

Then, I was a panicked new mom who wanted comfort and protection more than I wanted God, and He reminded me of His love for me and my purpose in Him.

Then, I was a world-weary woman, too tired and too sad and too grieving to pursue the Lord, but He used people and prayer and His Word to pursue me and hold me and give me joyful endurance.

God is constantly turning brokenness into beauty. He turns shame into testimonies.

In 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul wrote, “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” — and I am the worst of them.”

What a stunningly beautiful sentiment when it’s spoken in earnest. But what a difficult thing to admit.

We spend our entire lives justifying bad behavior and trying to convince ourselves that we’re worthy. Or we distract ourselves away from thinking about it, but the reality is, it's not working. And it takes a lot of mental gymnastics to try to convince ourselves that we’re good people.

After Paul’s encounter with Jesus in Acts 9, he had the truth figured out. He was physically blinded, but his eyes were opened to his need, his weakness, his glaring failure of letting self-righteousness consume him.

He was finally able to see the giant Jesus-sized need in his life, and Jesus was there to fill it.

What a wonder that when we are able to be honest with ourselves about our own weaknesses, we are most poised to be free.