The Shame Game
Some weeks are just plain harder than others. Last week was one of those weeks. I had the opportunity to share some of my past with the women in my Bible study group, some of whom I have known for a few years and some I have gotten to know over the past handful of weeks. Do I trust them? Yes. Enough to share the hard things? I sure thought so. We had been studying the I AM statements Jesus made in the New Testament and as the study came to an end, we were taking turns going around the table and talking about which statement was our favorite or meant the most to us. For me it was His saying "I am the gate for the sheep." In our study, we learned that this was a reference to shepherds literally laying their bodies at the entrance to the sheep pen to keep predators from getting in. What a powerful image that is for this little girl who grew up feeling so unsafe, and still struggles at times with feeling protected. As I shared with the group, I started with saying, "As some