Writing from Healing by Sally Cressman

 Write from Healing

by Sally Cressman

“He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God”

(2 Corinthians 1:4, CSB).

As a number four on the Enneagram, I have deep emotions and a familiarity with melancholy. But my melancholy lingered for years and burrowed too deep. When my sister and brother died within two months of each other and COVID-19 struck, I finally reckoned with family dysfunction.

Counseling sessions proved weighty and demanding. I had to admit that I still dragged around hurt from my mother’s lack of affection. I didn’t want to walk through the pain, but the time had come.

The sessions led to healing, not only emotionally but also in my writing. I could now write from a place of healing, not hurt, betterment, not bitterness. I found my spirit lightened, and thus my writing.

Most of us carry some form of trauma. If we want to minister to others through our words, we must write from a space that has taken the time to process the pain and mend from the hurts.

I remember sitting next to a woman at a writers’ conference. As we talked, she mentioned writing a book for divorced women after recently finalizing her divorce. In this brief exchange, I heard bitterness. She had not taken time to process and mend from the divorce. Her words could not minister to others until she experienced healing ministry for her hurt.

I had to learn that also. When I finally dealt with the trauma, others noticed. My husband commented on my lightened spirit. I saw a breakthrough in my writing projects. I discovered great joy and energy which I had not possessed before.

My writing can now minister to others because I took the time to be healed.

Merciful Father, give me the courage to do the hard work of healing. Walk with me through the pain and into a space of restoration. Surround me with your love and use my words to minister to and comfort others.

Sally Cressman is the author of The Dance of Easter, which was released in March. She has written children’s Sunday school curricula, devotionals, and articles. Her publishing credits include LifeWay Kids Ministry, Focus on the Family, Moms in Prayer, and the Nashville Christian Family magazine. Sally and her husband of thirty-four years enjoy a relaxing rhythm in their empty nest south of Nashville.

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