God, give me back my honor

God –

I am so ashamed of myself.
I feel like an embarrassment to everyone around me,
Even you.

It feels impossible to look anyone in the eye
And when I stand in front of the mirror my head weighs a thousand pounds.

But I take heart in the knowledge that you, too, were shamed.

You were humiliated by the peers of power
And they branded you with the iron of suffering.

Yet - you didn’t deserve it
And they were exposed by you
As liars and frauds.

You triumphed over the ones who controlled you
And shamed you
And, in doing so,
You shamed them back.

You made them ashamed of the way they shamed you
And their pride was exhausted by your humility.

I do not feel humble now,
But I do feel low.

Please raise me up
And teach me humility from a place of confidence
In you.

Please help me hold my head up high
And look my own peers in the face
With the knowledge that I cannot be shamed any longer
Because you have depleted the power of shame.

Amen