Peggy Boldizsar Nunley

There are a lot of things in life that define us. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes years to peel back the layers of lies to see what should and shouldn’t be those defining marks.

I will never forget those moments that God used to confront my packed away treasured lies and mark me with His beautiful healing truths. They were unexpected gifts and hidden blind spots in my walk with JESUS. When the lies were uncovered, I stood amazed that the operating truth I lived under was so far from the Biblical truth I thought I believed.

The most revealing lie that seemed to dominate my thinking was shame.

Today I would like to share with you my journey of becoming unfiltered. No crops, light enhancements, special effects or Instagram filters can cover a life dominated and oppressed by a spirit of shame. The paralyzing torment of its power keeps you silent, hidden, and enclosed in isolated darkness that makes you believe you are powerless to overcome.

Today I want to offer you Freedom.

Freedom to have a voice.

Freedom to explore the “what if’s” of peeling back the scab, exposing the wound and imagine the “what if” God would pour out His healing antibiotic over your heartache.

Freedom to wave your white flag of surrender and confidently embrace a walk of vulnerability that leads to confidence, openness, and deep healing.

Freedom to receive the Father’s love and grace to forgive yourself, others, and your offender.

Freedom to go from a prison of darkness to a light that doesn’t blind you, but gives you sight to see beyond your darkness.

The spirit of shame is powerful. It speaks loudly and tells you definitive truths about your identity that hold you hostage to the stronghold of its lies.

Growing up, shame began its calculated assaults early. It began in ‘ordinary’ moments that led to relentless comparison and internal rejection from words spoken over me or situations with those I desired approval.

The enemy always begins when we are young to destroy the purpose of God to be fulfilled when we are older. He dismantles our purpose piece by piece, so by the time we realize God has a plan, we are fractured, wounded and entrapped.

Many, unfortunately, never graduate from the fractured pieces and exchange their unseen purpose for prisons of unforgiveness, bitterness, and insecurity, never knowing freedom is one step away.

The world we live in is relentless in its brokenness and the enemy leverages every opportunity to sabotage hope, steal purpose, and mar the glory of God we are called to represent.

Shame hovered over my heart as I compared my broken family to those that looked perfect and whole. I would hear the whispers of the enemy that I would never be enough, never measure up and didn’t deserve the love I saw others walk in.

I longed to be loved without performance or conformity. But shame told me because I was abused, it was my fault, that I was unlovable and deserved the actions of my abuser.

This was a lie.

But, shame owned me.

It told me if I told others I felt this way, I would be rejected.

Again, another lie.

Shame flourishes in the secret.

Shame gains it power in the dark and dominates in our insecurity.

Maybe today you realize you have been hiding as well because of the lies shame has told you.

Maybe you hear things like, “Because I look different I’ll never be accepted” or “If they knew where I came from, they would never trust me” or “If they knew what I did or what was done to me, I would never deserve love.”

Friends, these are all voices of shame. They are all lies designed to keep you in silence, locked in an isolated prison, and held hostage to its power.

How you look, what you did, or what was done to you, is NOT your identity.

You see, when we come to know JESUS our positional truth changes.

We literally go from Darkness to Life. From an Orphan to Adopted. From a Prisoner to an Overcomer.

We are infused with a new identity sealed by the blood of JESUS and are given authority to walk in the Light as He is in the light. We are gifted back the identity we were created to walk in from the beginning. An Image Bearer of God. A Glory Reflector of all that is beautiful, perfect and right.

Shame is powerful but JESUS is more powerful! JESUS breaks the spirit of shame.

Friends, we have all felt the weight of shame throughout our lives.

For me, shame began when I was a child, but it tracked me and assaulted me my whole life. From poverty, to abuse, to foster care, to family in prison, in ministry betrayal and slander, through failure and most recently through my father committing suicide.

Shame tracks us and is relentless to paralyze us from fulfilling God’s purpose over our lives.

I have learned though, that if I want to live shame free, I must FIGHT as relentless as shame tried to steal my purpose from me.

Here are a few steps I have practiced in my life………

• Recognize the Truth – I compare my operational truth to THE Truth of God’s Word. ( John 8:32)

• Wave your white flag of vulnerability. Shame lives in the hidden. When you expose what is in the dark the enemy can no longer use it over you. So I shout from the mountain top- So it can no longer be leveraged over me by the enemy! (Romans 8:1; Mark 4:22)

• Replace your lies with THE TRUTH – I make a list of what I’m believing and then from God’s Word I compare it to Truth, then I speak the truth Over my lies. I Pray, Claim, Proclaim, Declare, and Break the lies with the Truth of God’s Word. (Ephesians 6:12; 1 John 4:1

• Ask Holy Spirit to Fill You with His power to Overcome. It’s never in our strength we Overcome, but in weakness Christ is made strong. Being filled with the Holy Spirit empowers us to fight from His strength instead of ours! ( Ephesians 5:18)

• Surround yourself with safe people who will speak truth to you when the flood of lies come. I find people I can trust with my fractures and allow God to use them to remind me of His love, Truth, & Faithfulness. (James 5:16)

• Use your freedom to help others find freedom. ( Never keep your freedom to yourself!) Your healing is suppose to be used for someone else’s healing! (Galatians 5:13)

My prayer for you today is that you will see your value, how precious and loved by the Father you truly are, and that you would boldly risk your hidden prison for an open door to Freedom and healing in Jesus.

Jesus ALWAYS breaks shame.

He conquers its lies with Truth and dismantles its power with love.

Today Jesus wants to heal your heart and gift you with His boundless Love that always leads to FREEDOM.

“Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.” Psalm 34:5