Recently, I was thinking about a woman I met many years ago. I met Nancy at the church where my husband was the lead pastor. While in that church, I worked in several areas which also included counseling with women.

Nancy came to my office and took a seat, and before she said anything she began to cry. I sat quietly giving her a moment to release the obvious pain she was carrying. Nancy began to talk with me saying that she never felt good enough to be a part of God’s Kingdom. She proceeded to tell me her story.

When Nancy was seventeen, she got pregnant out of wedlock. Nancy was a teenager during a period when couples usually got married if this was their situation. As she and her parents sat with the priest of the church to set a wedding date, she confessed that she was pregnant. (There are several churches that have priests, so I am not trying to call out a denomination.)  The priest shamed her in front of her parents and proceeded to tell her, that because of her sin, she could not be married in the “holy part” of the sanctuary. As a result, those who attended her wedding knew the situation. She felt ashamed standing there on her wedding day.

As I listened to Nancy, my heart had such compassion for her. Sitting in the chair in my office that day was a seventy-year-old woman, who had been bound by shame for more than fifty years. Her question to me was, “Am I good enough to be forgiven and accepted?” A big smile was on my face, and I held Nancy’s hands in mine and said, “You were forgiven the day you asked God to forgive you. Don’t let anyone hold you in the chains of shame.”

I then asked Nancy to follow me as we walked into the church sanctuary. I took her by the hand and walked her all over that sanctuary. We walked through the church, behind the pulpit, sat down at the piano, and finished at the altar.

I reminded Nancy of these words from the great Church hymn “There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood.”

There is a fountain filled with blood
  Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
  Lose all their guilty stains:
  Lose all their guilty stains,
  Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
  Lose all their guilty stains.

As we concluded our time together, my parting words were, “Nancy, don’t ever let anyone hold over your head what Jesus has placed under His feet.” Nancy’s whole countenance changed. Her face lit up, and from that time forward, she was always glowing during worship. Nancy now resides in heaven, and I know she is smiling in the presence of the One who forgave her.

Have you ever felt ashamed? Maybe it was something in your past, something people want to hold over your head. Shame can be an overwhelming emotion that imprisons us, especially if it comes from Church leaders.

Let me be emphatic! Jesus Christ gave His life on the cross to free us from sin and shame. If people or Satan can heap shame upon us, then our emotions might tell us that God is withholding His love from us because of our actions. The good news of the Gospel, however, is that God’s love is not about what we have done for Him; God’s love is about what He has done for us!

Today, let the shame go. Jesus offers you an invitation to rest in His unfailing love, and to live in the freedom He has granted. It is no longer shame on you but shame off you!

“Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” – John 8:36