Shame robs us of joy as surely as a fire eats up up all the oxygen in a room. It is relentless and destructive.
Guilt simply says that i did something wrong. Shame, on the other hand, says that there is something wrong with me.
Guilt says that I made a mistake. Shame clobbers me by saying that I am a mistake.
Guilt can be productive. It leads us to make corrections and changes.
However, shame is highly correlated with destructive behaviors, addictions, low self esteem, inability to move forward in life, feelings of being stuck.
shame tries to snare all of us in various ways. It never stops trying to destroy us.
Finding our true worth and value through receiving forgiveness, grace and mercy leads us out of shame and into freedom to be our best self.