Have you ever noticed how success feels dangerous? How just when things start going well, you find subtle (or not so subtle) ways to sabotage yourself? That voice in your head whispers, “Who do you think you are? Don’t live above your raising. You won’t amount to anything.”

I know that voice. I learned it early, watching my father deliberately break my cherished toy gun in front of my crying mother – not because the toy was wrong, but because I dared to have something precious, dared to feel joy, dared to rise above the station they assigned me.

The programming runs deep:

• Success feels like betrayal
• Joy feels dangerous
• Achievement feels like rebellion
• Rising feels like asking for punishment
• Hope feels like setting yourself up for pain

But here’s what I’m learning: What they meant for destruction, God meant for development. Every time they tried to program failure into my future, they were actually creating a testimony of His transforming power.

Think about it: How many times have you reached a level of success only to unconsciously sabotage it? How often have you pulled back just when breakthrough was within reach? That’s not your fault – it’s programmed response. But it doesn’t have to be your future.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). This isn’t just beautiful scripture – it’s direct contradiction to every lie they programmed into us.

The enemy’s strategy was comprehensive:

• Use abuse to ensure we’d never rise
• Use shame to keep us small
• Use fear to prevent success
• Use manipulation to guarantee failure
• Use pain to program hopelessness

But God’s redemption is even more thorough. Every attempt to destroy us becomes another opportunity for His power to be displayed. Every programmed limitation becomes another wall for His strength to break through.

I’m learning – sometimes stumbling, often struggling – that rising above programmed destruction isn’t about becoming perfect. It’s about becoming free. Free to:

• Succeed without shame
• Rise without retreat
• Achieve without apology
• Hope without hesitation
• Live without limitation

The journey isn’t easy. Even now, decades later, I sometimes find myself pulling back from success, apologizing for achievements, finding ways to sabotage progress. But here’s the difference: Now I recognize these patterns for what they are – echoes of programming, not truth about my destiny.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Even our programmed responses to failure can become testimonies of His transforming power.

To those still struggling with programmed destruction:

• Your past programming isn’t your future destiny
• Your learned limitations aren’t your lasting legacy
• Your wounds can become wisdom
• Your pain can become purpose
• Your struggles can become strength

Remember: You weren’t destined for destruction. You were designed for purpose. Every lie they programmed into you about failure? It’s becoming fuel for a testimony of God’s transforming power.

The enemy meant it for destruction. But God? He’s using it for development, for destiny, for display of His glory through your rising story.

Rise anyway. Succeed anyway. Hope anyway. Live anyway.

Because you were never destined for destruction. You were destined for demonstration – of His power, His purpose, His transformation in your life.