Christine Caine: My Testimony of Breaking Free from Shame | Stop Believing You’re Not Enough

Shame has a powerful impact on us; it cripples us, paralyzes us, and stops us from stepping into the fullness of God. Instead of drawing closer to God, shame causes us to run from Him. In Genesis 2:25, it’s revealed that Adam and Eve were naked and knew no shame. God designed humanity in His image, male and female, as stated in Genesis 1:27. This means we are not genderless; we reflect His image.

Before the fall, God created us without the burden of shame. He wanted us to live without knowing what it felt like to carry that weight. But the enemy, seeking to destroy God’s creation, introduced shame to weaken us, render us ineffective, and keep us from bearing fruit. It is God’s great desire that we bear abundant fruit, for this brings Him glory.

Shame cripples us and stops us from embracing the fullness of God’s purpose for our lives. It makes us feel inadequate and unworthy of God’s love, which pushes us away from Him. Imagine what it would be like to never know shame. For many, this is difficult to grasp, as most of us carry that burden in some form throughout our lives.

I, for example, was born into a migrant Greek family in Sydney, Australia. Growing up, I experienced a marginalized existence—being part of an ethnic minority, a woman in a culture that didn’t esteem women, and growing up in poverty. I endured sexual abuse for twelve years, and this deeply affected my sense of self. The abuse led me to believe the lie that something was wrong with me, which is the essence of shame: it convinces us that we are flawed, that we are not enough.

Shame is not reserved for traumatic experiences like abuse. It can also stem from everyday pressures—society telling us we’re not smart enough, rich enough, or attractive enough. Whether it’s feeling inadequate in school, at work, or in our personal lives, shame often makes us believe that we are never good enough for God to use. We strive to be smarter, richer, or more successful, but these efforts never seem to silence the feeling of inadequacy.

The enemy wants us to believe that we are not worthy of God’s love or purpose. This sense of being “not enough” can persist even in a church setting, where we might feel that God could never use someone like us. We spend our lives trying to be something we’re not, believing that if we were just a little different, God could use us. But this isn’t true.

For much of my life, I felt that God made a mistake when He created me. Then, two weeks before my 33rd birthday, I received a call from my brother. He told me he had received a letter from the government revealing that he had been adopted. This revelation led me to question everything I thought I knew about myself and my identity. It was a profound moment that challenged the narrative of shame I had been carrying for years.