Cassie Peterson has a heart and passion for women’s ministry. She desires to see women walking in the full freedom and grace that the Lord has given! She studied Christian Ministry at Regent University. She spent several years serving as a children’s director. When she got married to her husband, Seth Peterson, she stepped down from her position so that they would not be at serving and working at two separate churches. Although she has a personal call to ministry; she is not currently serving in that capacity. She is focused on supporting her husband in his role as youth pastor at their church, First Norfolk, in VA, and raising their beautiful daughter Selah, who is almost 1 year old. Although ministry does not look like holding her own position, she still desires to minister everywhere she goes, in every season she is in. 
Have you ever hidden yourself, your sin, your shame instead of facing it? I am sure you have, we all have. Maybe you are right now hiding something because of fear, or shame, or regret. I walked in shame and fear for a long time, even after I gave my life to the Lord. My past sin weighed me down in chains, keeping me in a state of fear and regret. It is in our sinful nature to hide, to be afraid, be ashamed. It’s what Adam and Eve did in the garden. They hid themselves from God because they were ashamed of their disobedience, their decision to betray, and chose something other than what God had for them. We see this in Genesis 3:
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.'” – Genesis 3:8-10 (CSB)
Maybe you are living and hiding in shame from your past before you knew the Lord, or a decision, or mistake you made in disobedience to the Lord. Whatever it is friends, I am here to tell you, come out of hiding. Face it. Head on. Uncover that shame because we are not called to live in that. We are called to walk freely!
I gave my life to the Lord later in life, so naturally there were many decisions I made prior to following Him that I regretted and felt ashamed of. Upon salvation I felt a freedom and a peace that I didn’t even know was possible. In spite of this, there was one pre-salvation decision I made that haunted me long after being saved. I didn’t even realize how much it troubled me until I met with a counselor. It was then that I began a true healing process.
When I was 21, I got pregnant, and I made a choice to terminate the pregnancy. I didn’t know the Lord, and I didn’t understand what I was doing. At the time, I didn’t even think life started at conception – I thought it started at birth. I was so wrong.
A couple years later, I hear the gospel, receive it, and am running fast towards God, on fire. Then the weight of my decision to abort my baby settles into my heart. Pain. Regret. Fear. Shame. So many heavy emotions. What will people think of me? How can I face them? Does God really forgive me? I wish I could tell you that I was saved and every pre-Christ decision I made I felt free and forgiven from. But that is not my story. This one went deep, and I had to go deep in order to get the healing I needed. I walked around carrying the heaviness of this decision and felt like I was in chains because of it. I needed to forgive myself, and accept the forgiveness that God had already graciously given me.
The truth is the Lord DOES forgive the sin that you feel most shameful about. He does not want us to live in fear, regret, or shame. If you are holding onto a decision you made, and allowing it to weigh you down. Please, release it to Him! He is good. He wants you to have healing and forgiveness. He is calling us to a life of walking free!
