#209: Healing from Shame and How it Impacts Your Writing (Breakthrough Series)

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Hey, Kingdom Writers, this is Shelly Hitz. Welcome to the breakthrough series. So this is going to be a series of 12 episodes that we're going to dive in deep to the obstacles that you face as a Christian writer. We covered all of these topics in our online prayer meeting episode, and now we're going to dive deep into some practical things and some scriptures that. That can really help you. So I hope you enjoy this series. We did record it live on Facebook, and so you may hear us say, you know, comment here, or we're gonna have some Q and A at the end. But just know that you can always join us live over on our Facebook page, Christian Book Academy. And we also wanted to provide this on our podcast so that you can listen to these as many times as you want to help you receive Breakthrough. As a Kingdom writer, have you ever felt that if you write a book and then it doesn't become a bestseller, that you're a failure? Or have you ever just felt like you're not enough? If. So this episode is for you. My name is Shelley Hitz, and I'm here with my husband, cj.

Hey, happy Wednesday to you guys. Hump day.

Yes. And we are continuing our breakthrough series. We're almost to the end. This is 11 out of 12, so. So we will have our final episode next week on Wednesday. But today our title and our topic is Healing from Shame and how this impacts your writing. And so this is a pretty deep topic, but I think it's a really powerful and impactful topic for all of us as writers to consider and to talk about. And what makes this breakthrough series different is that we're coming about this from. From.

A Christian standpoint with scripture and with prayer to help you really break down these obstacles that may be holding you back. So CJ Is going to start us off with our scripture and the theme kind of for this episode.

Yeah. So Shelley was the one that originally found or ran across this scripture, and I think it's just perfect for this whole topic of talking about shame, breaking free from that stronghold. Psalm 34. 5. And this is the new living translation, and it says, those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy. No shadow of shame will darken their faces. And I love that. You know, shame really does say not good enough, you know, And I can relate to that. Throughout, you know, a lot of the last. I'd say probably 10 to 15 years, I have repeated things in my head off and on, like, you're a failure. You're not adding up. Your life isn't good enough.

You know, you failed and blown it. And there's really no way to get that back. Just a whole lot of things that I've repeated in my head that were really just essentially calling myself shameful or calling myself a failure. And when you repeat that over and over again, you can sometimes believe those messages in just the way that you live out, or maybe the lack of producing what God has called you to do, whether it's writing or some other kind of ministry or something that he's calling you up into. And instead, you're wallowing in that shame. And I can relate to that. And so just right off the start, I want you to know that you're dealing. You're looking at a couple people, one in particular that has dealt with this area of shame and yet has been able to break free in a lot of ways by believing God's word, the truth. Scriptures like this that tell me, hey, I'm being called up into Christ and no longer have to wallow in that mud pit of shame.

Yeah. And I've dealt with shame as well. And just that feeling of always, like, never feeling good enough, like, I have to do more, be more, or I'm too much and I need to tone it down. So, you know, I felt both of those. And so I think that a lot of us can relate. For me, I've realized that, you know, I had some trauma in my childhood growing up, and I had an instance of sexual abuse. And I'm not blaming things on that, but I know that. That some of you can relate. Maybe you had some abuse growing up. Maybe it wasn't sexual abuse, but maybe there was something, or you've had a traumatic event, or there was something that happened and has really just caused a stronghold or a root of shame. And I know for me, I also struggle with a pornography addiction. CJ has as well. And so we've both had those things that really can get you rooted in some deep shame. And so we understand, we've been there, and yet Christ has set us free, you know, able to now share from that place of freedom. Not that we never struggle anymore, but we have definitely both been there. And I was looking up some definitions, and Brene Brown, she's somebody that's really talked about this topic a lot more in the secular realm. But I think she has some really good things to share, and she can say it better than I can. So I'm actually going to read a quote from her. She says, shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging. Wow. I know. I felt that before. Have any of you? It's the fear that something we've done or failed to do, maybe some of you are even feeling that with the fact that you haven't written your book yet. Something that we've done or failed to do, an ideal that we've not lived up to, or a goal that we've not accomplished, makes us unworthy of connection. I know that's probably what you really felt a lot of over the years. C.J.

Yeah.

And then she says, you know, goes on to say, I'm not worthy or good enough for love, belonging, or connection. I'm unlovable. I don't belong. And for years, I know I really struggle with that feeling of not belonging just because I. I don't have children. And all the women my age are. That's what their whole life revolves around. And I just never felt like I fit in or I belonged. But God has shown me, Shelly, it's not about fitting in and being the same as everyone else. It's about, you know, embracing the path I have for you. And you do belong. You do belong. And so it's really been a path for me over the years. And lots and lots and lots of layers, right? Renee Brown also gives these definitions of shame versus guilt, because they're different, right? Shame is a focus on self. Guilt is a focus on behavior. Do you get the difference? And then shame says, I am bad. Guilt says, I did something bad. And guilt says, I'm sorry, I made a mistake. Shame says, I'm sorry, I am the mistake. So do you see the difference? Like, there is a very real need for conviction, right? And for confession of sin. And we all have that natural guilt. But there's a difference when it switches and it gets into the shame, and it's no longer about the behavior. We're the bad person, we're the mistake. And that's where the enemy wants to keep us trapped in this lie, that we can't do anything worthy of the kingdom of God. Who are we to write a book? If our book doesn't become a best seller, we're a failure. Who is this voice in our head to even Say those things, you know, we are enough in Christ.

And that's really the key right there, is that, you know, in and of myself, I'm just going to tell you guys, I am a wretch. Without the blood of Jesus covering me, I have nothing good to offer outside of what God gives me in terms of value. Any value in me comes from what God has instilled in me. It's everything regarding what Christ did for me in uniting me in that relationship. And you know, scripture even says that every one of our works, our deeds, our good deeds even, are like filthy rags before a holy God until we are cleansed by the blood of the Son of God. And so, you know, I thank the Lord, you know, for what he's done in uniting me to him. And the truth is, is that God already approves of you and I in Christ. He already approved.

And yet I think so many times we're trying to still prove ourselves. We're trying to still pass a test of some kind. We're always trying to pass a test and instead we've already passed the test under the blood of Jesus. And.

There have been lots of people throughout the history of the human race that have failed over and over and over again. You know, Thomas Edison was one of those people. Thomas Edison, I love this quote by him. He says, I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Yeah, and you know, how's that for optimism? You know, the guy tried over and over again in terms of his experiments with light. And the guy had how many patents for inventions? I mean, it's thousands of one of the brightest minds. And yet he failed over and over again. One of the greatest athletes who's ever lived, Michael Jordan. Listen to this quote by him. I've missed more than 10,000 shots in my career. I've lost over 300 games.

26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. You see, these people learned. Abraham Lincoln, how many elections did he lose before he was finally elected to a representative position and eventually would go on to be a president.

Over and over and over again. You know, if we can learn to fail, well to where that failure doesn't infringe upon who we are personally. But it's just things that we've tried we learn from and then we move on from. If we can let it roll off our backs like water off a duck. Wow, we're going to Be dangerous people in the hands of a powerful God.

Yeah. Pamela says, ha. I have not failed. I've only written 10 books that no one wants to buy. LOL.

Yeah, we've all been there, Pamela.

And yet, don't give up on those books, Pamela. You just never know because the switch could be turned on just like that, where somebody finds it and it's exactly what they needed. And then they might be a key voice that shares that with a whole lot of other people that need that same bread in terms of, you know, a beggar that's found bread and wants to share that with somebody else. And so we just never know. This is all about what God wants to do in bringing our books and our writings to people who need it.

You know. And so just a little more, you know, serious note, you know, this whole shame thing came into existence with Adam and Eve, you know, with the very first sin in the garden. And after that, it says that they went and they hid because they felt ashamed. They even realized, oh, we're naked. And you know, before that, it says they had been walking with the Lord in the cool of the day, enjoying, you know, just that time, I bet you the Father just, you know, was looking forward day after day to that time of walking in the garden with Adam and Eve and just being able to converse. And one day they were hiding. And God's, you know, he shows up at the usual time, but where's Adam and Eve? And they were hiding. And so God called out, where are you? Where are you? And I think he was almost doing that, probably with tears in his eyes, like, what's going on here? We had a daily appointment. I love walking with you talking. I like hearing about your day. How'd you name the animals today? What'd you see? What'd you eat? What was your favorite thing out of the garden today? I mean, I think that there was this rich time of fellowship, and all of a sudden it's broken. I think the Lord does this to us. He says, where are you? Where are you, son? Where are you, daughter? No need to hide. Come out in the open. And God eventually would restore. And of course, we suffer the consequences for that sin. And yet the Lord has clearly brought us a second Adam. That second Adam, Jesus was willingly stripped naked, whipped, nailed to a brutal Roman cross. And he wasn't ashamed because of the joy set before him. And what was that joy? That you and I would no longer have to hide behind our sin or in shame. He took the shame for us on that cross, bloodied, beaten, and let's not mince words. He was naked upon that cross. We don't see that in the pictures. Jesus was stark buck naked in front of people that were laughing at him, spitting on him, cursing him. Why don't you come down from that cross? And Jesus hung up there without shame so that you and I no longer have to live in our shame.

What the first Adam couldn't accomplish, the second Adam Jesus accomplished. He finished the job so that you and I could live free. So I want to encourage you today to just live out of that truth that God is still calling people today. He's still saying, where are you? Come out. Come into fellowship with me. My son has accomplished everything you need.

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, many times when, you know, we're writing, it's a very vulnerable thing. You know, sometimes you almost feel like you're, you're standing naked before people. It's just a very vulnerable thing because it's, it's you, your heart and your creation and your creativity. And I actually got a message from someone the other day that she's told me she has not let anyone read her writing, not even her husband. But God is beginning to call her. And you know, I was like, one small step at a time, one small step at a time. But it's such a vulnerable thing, right? And it reminds me of, you know, when Adam and Eve were in the garden and they had that shame and, and they hid, you know, they felt vulnerable and they hid and you know, so the enemy, I think sometimes will twist things and use shame to cause us to hide, to hide our writing, to not share, to not tell our story, to not, you know, give those life giving words because we still have that shame of the past. And when I wrote my book, broken crayons still color. The main, you know, the main message of the book is that God can use the broken, messy regrets, mistakes of the past. And sometimes those are the things that he uses the most in our lives. And I share in that book, you know, my pornography addiction and how I don't share the gory details, but I share enough to let people know I've been there and God has set me free. And you know, as I was going through the book with my beta group and I was getting their feedback and I was hearing from them, I began to realize that I was not just writing that book to share my story. I was writing that book because God wanted to heal people of shame. He wanted to set others free of their shame because I had lived with shame for my sin. Of the past. And he set me free. He wanted to heal other people so. So that they could then share their stories, share their testimonies. And you see the ripple effect. It wasn't just about me sharing my story to impact those people. It was so that those people could then get free friend, heal from shame, so that they could tell their testimonies and share their stories. And what God led me to do was then create the Broken Crayons still color podcast, which then I interviewed people and was able to share their stories. And some of those women, it was the very first. First time they had ever publicly shared their testimony. It just gives me chills even just thinking about it, because there had been so much shame wrapped around that past. Even though you know you're free, even though you're walking with the Lord, you know, there can just be things that hold you back. And so my friend used to say that when you're in the middle of something, it's a moaning. You know, you think about moaning, a moaning like. And that's not the time to share publicly your testimony. You know, it's a moni. And you're in the middle of it. But you. You know, that's the time to share with a few people that you can really trust. When you're on the other side of it. Once you have the freedom, once you have the healing, that's when I believe God has called us as believers to share our testimonies, to give him glory so that people will know this is not about me. This is about God. Look what God has done in my life. I used to be addicted to pornography on the Internet as a Christian married woman. We were in ministry at the time. And God has set me free. I had been sexually abused and went through all this trauma. My grandma had been murdered and all of these things. And God has healed me. He has set me free. And he can do the same for you. He can do the same for you. And. And so can you. See, like, when we are captured and stuck in shame, many times our lips are zipped, and that enemy wins in some way. But God has the victory. He has the victory, and he's given us the victory. As CJ Was saying on the cross and my life verse is Isaiah 61:1. Do you want to go ahead and read that, C.J.

Yeah. The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me. Because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and Release from darkness for the prisoners.

Yeah. So I just really believe, you know, that's what God has done for me. He's healed my broken heart. He set me free, and now he's using my testimony to help others in that way. And I actually just got an email this morning. I shared it in the Christian Book Academy group about someone that was like, shelley, your book on gratitude changed my life. Like, literally, like, I was just, like, tearing up because, like, who am I for God to use? Like, I wasn't even going to do anything in ministry, you know, of any kind because of my past. And the Lord was like, no, you're forgiven. It is time to move forward. I want to use you. And so he wants to use you as well. And one of the things CJ and I often say when we teach on sexuality to teens, and we've done that a lot because of our own past and our own testimonies, is that mold grows best in darkness. Right? And I found this other quote by Brene Brown that I thought was good to share. She said, change. So changing from shame, change starts with, let me share my story with one person. Let me find one person in my life who has the capacity to hear my story and be with me in it. This isn't blasting it to the world. It's finding one person that can be with you in that story. And then she says, shame cannot survive being spoken. It cannot tolerate having words or wrapped around it. What it craves is secrecy, silence, and judgment. And if you stay quiet, you stay in a lot of self judgment.

And, you know, you know, Shelly mentioned that bit about the mold. You know, the mold grows in damp, dark places and so does sin. But more specifically, our shame. You know, shame really grows. And, you know, in Revelation, it says that we overcome the enemy by two things. And the first thing is.

The blood of the lamb. You know, the blood of the lamb is not going to be defeated. The enemy already knows. He's already lost on that one. But the other is the word of our testimonies. It says that they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. And Shelley mentioned the whole thing about testimony. And, you know, that's the thing that the enemy tries to suppress. If he can suppress that part, then he's at least won that side. He's taken out one of the two main things that overcome him and his whole agenda with his cohorts, his demonic army. He wants to take our testimonies out. And if he can keep us buried in shame, then it just Continues to fester and grow. And yet when it's brought out into the light, you think about mold. When it's brought out into the sunlight, it begins to kill. Doesn't thrive like it did. And in the same way, our shame will not thrive when we bring it out into the. The sunlight. S O n, you know, the Son of God, his light.

Yeah.

And that's what the enemy is trying to stop. And so, you know, again, Shelley mentioned, we used to speak in Christian schools around the country. We did it on a pretty regular basis, and that kept us pretty busy, especially me, for a lot of years. Used to share. There would be, you know, schools that would have us split into two groups. Shelly would take the girls, I would take the guys. We would essentially talk on the subject of sex. And we would even share our personal testimonies of struggling in some of those areas, including dabbling in pornography and getting caught up in that. And, you know, the shame that gets heaped on that whole area. It's no wonder that it was an uncomfortable subject. There were many teachers that we'd even confess, man, I'm glad you guys are here talking about it. I don't want to talk about it. They were just honest. And it wasn't that we loved, you know, talking about sex. In fact, we always felt a battle, you know, over this. And yet when we brought it out into the open, when we shared our testimonies, but we also shared the Word of God and other stories and illustrations that God had put on our hearts.

Wow.

It was like these teenagers would come up to us and just say, thank you. Thank you for talking about this. It was almost as if they were. They were free to come up and say, man, this is something that was sort of a dark secret. Nope. I didn't even feel like I could talk about it in my Christian school. And yet, wow. The freedom of being able to just expose that, get it out in the open and allow the truth of God to.

Work. And so the answer is really found in intimacy with Jesus. And as we ourselves come to the Lord and bring our shame and bring all those things to him. And we even have that person that Shelly mentioned, that trusted person that we. That will walk with us through that.

And it could be a counselor. That that was who I had walked through, you know, my pornography addiction when I was going through that. You know, it could be a counselor, it could be pastor, it could be a friend. I mean, you know, whoever that is for you, that you have someone that you're bringing it out into the Light. You know, I also had an accountability partner, and I think I told my mom and, you know, my sister maybe, you know, there was a few people, like maybe four or five, a few people that knew in the midst of it. Now the whole world knows or could know, but now it's. It's a testimony. Right. But going back to what CJ Was saying about when we would speak in the schools, I remember one specific instance. I think she was an administrator or a teacher, I can't remember which. And she came up to me, and we never talked in the gory details. We kept it very respectful and yet honest. And we really came about it in a way that was through the light of a biblical worldview. But she came up to me afterwards, and she was like. I just. She was kind of, like, flustered. She's like, I just don't think that you need to be talking about that kind of stuff. And I could. Like, she was not happy at all. And I could just tell that she was just, like, not wanting me to say anything about sex, you know, or that whole topic. But yet that same school, teen girl after teen girl after teen girl came up to me and were just like, thank you so much. I needed to hear that. And, you know, some confessed to me that they had been struggling with some things, and, you know, they felt comfortable finally, you know, talking to somebody. And what it made me realize, and I feel like the Lord revealed this to me, is that that person that was so uncomfortable with the topic. I don't know for sure. I don't know her past, but I almost can imagine that she probably has some shame around sexuality, that there's some unhealed shame in her that then she just doesn't even want to talk about it at all. And so, you know, when we have something unhealed in us, then it's just like, please, you know, I don't want to hear that. I don't want to talk about it, even when it's done in a very respectful way. And so that's where, you know, I think, you know, just being able to bring it to the light and be able to resolve these issues and realize that the answer really is in Christ.

Yeah. And along with that, just knowing that we're loved changes everything, doesn't it? I mean, when you're. When you know you're loved by your spouse or you know that you're loved by, you know, another relative, your mom or your dad, when you're. When you know you're loved by your Father in heaven, it Changes everything when you know that at the deepest core. And so we don't have anything to prove. But how many know that we live in a culture that's obsessed with self?

Yeah.

I mean, you look at even just the tagline of YouTube, which is broadcast who? Go ahead and type that into the box. Who's the fastest.

And broadcast yourself. And that's the whole tagline of that, that whole social media, you know, social media. Over and over again, we're filled with selfies. You know, we're all about self. And so it's. It's no wonder that we sort of lose track when we're so focused on ourselves and we lose track of the God of the universe that loves us. We forget that we're protected by him. We forget that we've been healed, that we no longer have to live in that shame. But sometimes we come become very self conscious. Now, this is me talking. I don't know about you, but when I'm most self conscious, I don't want to be on a video like this. Okay, that's uncomfortable. And for a long time, I didn't want anything to do with. With, you know, having my picture on the Internet or being on a video like this because I was sort of, you know, very self conscious. And part of that was probably shame rooted in, you're a failure, you're just not good enough. You need to sort of just, you know, go into hiding and do your own thing and go about, you know.

Maybe working hard still and doing what you can do, but not doing it in a very public, you know, kind of way. And so this is something that just me being on video with Shelley is good for me. It shows you that the Lord's doing work in my heart that is ongoing. But it's proof that he's done incredible things in me, and I'm grateful for that.

And I can affirm that he definitely did not want to do the video portion of this. But so many of you have told me, we want to see your faces. And so C.J. is like, I just want to be on audio. I don't want to be on video. But now after this is like, we did our prayer, online prayer meeting, and then 11 episodes. This is our 12th one. It's getting better, right?

Yeah. I mean, I'm just grateful.

Yeah.

To me, it's fun to be able to partner with my best friend here. By the way, we celebrate 21 years. Tomorrow we're going to go away for one anniversary getaway. But I'm grateful for that because yes. Shelly and I have had some rough moments through the course of those 21 years. Lord only knows. And yet the Lord has now brought us to a place where our love seems to be growing more and more sweet, you know, as each year passes. Not perfect by any stretch of the. We're all under construction, you know, between now and when we take our last breath, we're under construction. But, oh, Lord has refined and molded and shaped. And I'm just. I'm grateful to be sitting here and have the opportunity to share anything the Lord wants put on my heart.

Yeah. And Pamela says, I love seeing both of you. CJ's tone is so soothing. A nice balance to Shelly's exuberance.

I love that. But as we kind of close down today, I just want to think. Want you to think back to that definition of shame that Brene Brown gave us. That, you know, it's a focus on self versus guilt, which is a focus on the behavior which we can confess, which, you know, God can, you know, he, you know, forgives us all of that. But what if. What if we put our focus instead of on self or what's been done to us or, you know, whatever has happened, focus on God's love for us instead of focusing on ourselves? What if we found our identity and worth in him alone? How would that impact our writing? I think it would cause us to write from a deep, deep place that then could have a ripple effect for generations. You know, I think that's part of what my book Broken Crayons Still Color did. It was. It came from this deep, deep place, and it was what I really believe God wanted me to share into the world. And so what if you did that? What if you. You put that focus on God and his love for you? And I want to share a story of Dominic.

Voyome. Voyome.

French name.

I was like, cj, I was hoping you would share this, because I don't know how to pronounce it. It's from Brennan Manning's book, the Signature of Jesus. And I'm just gonna read this because it's just a powerful story of someone who was not attached to. To themselves, someone who's not attached to this world, who had let go of the shame fully and fully accepted the love of God for them. And so Brennan Manning says that Dominic influenced his life as few people ever have, and that's a pretty big deal. So Dominic lived in a community of little brothers of Jesus in France and served the poor. He eventually moved to Paris to an extremely poor, poor neighborhood, took up a job as a night watchman in a factory. And when he got up in the morning, he went to sit on a park bench where the disillusioned and disenfranchised, the addicts and the homeless, those who had been marginalized by society because they had nothing, they usually hung out there. And Manning says he never criticized, scolded, or reprimanded them. He just laughed, told stories, shared his candy. I love that. And accepted them as they were. He goes on to say his simple witness lay in accepting others as they were, without questions, and allowing them to make themselves at home in his heart. At the age of 54, he was diagnosed with cancer. And one day he was found dead on the floor of his cold water flat in a Parisian slum. And he kept a journal. And according to Manning, this was his last entry. You could think a guy like that would be forgotten. Like what? What use was that? But he says this, all that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truly say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and my witness. And that's the same thing with us as with our books. You know, if God wants it to be, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If he wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices. But the usefulness of my life is his concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that. And he ended up being buried in a simple backyard of the little brother's house in France. And Manning writes, more than 7,000 people gathered to attend his funeral.

Powerful.

And so, you know, again, just in closing, as believers, we have been set free from shame.

Amen.

Let me repeat that. We've been set free from shame. Christ has set us free. And let's live and write now out of that freedom. We have the opportunity to write out of a freedom that we found in Christ. And that's why we write, isn't it? We write to lift up the name of Jesus. We write to.

Perhaps encourage someone else to draw close to Jesus. And so, you know, you and I were actually made for freedom. We were made for this. And that picture before Adam and Eve sinned of them walking daily in the cool of the garden with God. That's the picture that God always wanted for you and I, and that's what Jesus came to restore, was you and I walking in the cool of our day, writing out of that freedom that we have in Christ. And so the truth again. And this is John 8:32. We always read this scripture. Then you will know the truth. The truth will set you free. Well, what is today's truth? Today's truth is Psalm 34. Five again from the New Living Translation. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy. No shadow of shame will darken their faces. And so we're going to close in prayer. And as I'm praying, maybe there's an issue that you want to lift up that you felt shame around. Maybe you've been hiding in different ways and it's just time. It's time to get the thing out into the light, allow the Lord Jesus to extinguish that mold, so to speak, so that it no longer has an effect on your life. It no longer has to poison your writing and leak into every other area of your life. So let's, let's pray. Let's just ask the Lord to extinguish that. Lord, we just thank you so much for each and every person that not only is tuned in live here, but those who will listen to the recording and the podcast. And we thank you, Lord. We I think of Galatians 5, one that says, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Let us not live under a yoke of slavery any longer. And so, Lord, I just pray that each of us would be able to break free from this issue of shame, that we would see ourselves as the new creation in Christ that we are. That we are not failures, we are not shameful, we are not.

People that are bad anymore under the blood of Christ, that in Christ all that is wiped away, that we are now sons and daughters of the King of Kings. And I pray, Lord, that we would be able to live out of that truth and that shame would be vanquished in Jesus name, that the enemy would no longer be able to hold that over us. And we come against every attack or every ploy of the enemy to bring shame upon us. And we extinguish that in Jesus name. And we just thank you that we can live under the truth under the covering of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, I pray that you would just allow everyone in this group to be able to live freely and write freely.

Out of who they are in Christ. We thank you for what's going to happen as a result of people being released from the bondage of shame. And we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. I just kept seeing a picture of like dirty, muddy water. And it just being completely transformed into clean, crystal clear water that, you know, it's, it's a transfer, you know, the old us has died and no longer lives and we are new in Christ. Amen.

Amen.

We don't just. It's not about self improvement as a Christian, you know, and that's where the self help world wants you to think. You just need to improve, prove who you currently are. It's not about self improvement, it's about self. It's about replacement, about dying to ourselves and being raised new in Christ Jesus. You are no longer that old person. That is not who you are. You are not defined by that. And I just kept seeing that picture of that clean slate, like a whiteboard being wiped down. You have a clean slate today. If you come to Christ and ask forgiveness and you know, get his power to be set free from whatever has either been done to you or whatever you have done, whatever's happened in your life, you can be set free and there is hope for you. Amen. So this has been our breakthrough series. And if this has been blessing you, we encourage you to go over and get our free gift. It's our PDF for five. You think I'd have this memorized by now? Five tips. Five practical tips for Christian writers to break through writer's block. And then we also have a PDF with 15 prayers for writers that you can also download. So you'll get that@trainingauthors.com breakthrough and we have a very special experience coming up next week. I'm so excited. It's writing week and we are going to have a free seven day writing challenge to help motivate and get you excited about your writing. We have hundreds of people already in the group and excited and ready. A lot of people saying, I've been stuck. I'm so glad this is happening. I need some help and motivation. So we're going to be praying for you. We're going to be with you in this and you're going to get a lot of practical tools and tips, but also the spiritual encouragement. So if you have not signed up yet, please join us. We're doing this as a group starting August 19th and you can sign up@writingweek.com we would love to have you. And because we're going away for our anniversary, we're going to do our next live video in a week. So next Wednesday be looking for that final episode of the Breakthrough series and it's going to be on Overwhelm. So be looking for that and Come join us at Writing Week. We're going to have a lot of fun, so thank you for being here and we'll see you next time.

Love you guys.

Bye Bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.