I Write to Save my Life

It was a crisp autumn evening in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, 2016. I stood in a room as one of several women who had gathered for fellowship, refreshing, and seeking a touch from God. It was strange that I was there. I don’t particularly like those sorts of women gatherings filled with silly games and evening chats about Rom-Coms, shopping, and families.

Families. I especially didn’t want to talk about that one. I was in the middle of a traumatic divorce, fighting for my children, feeling abandoned by most in my life, and living in survival mode. I dragged myself to the meeting room, forced my mouth to sing, and stood numb as the leader prayed for each one of us. She came to me, snatched my hands in hers, looked me in the eyes, and matter of factly stated, “You will write to save your life.” And on to the next woman she went.

Besides one who doesn’t jump at quaint women’s weekends, I also am not one to easily believe future foretelling, known in the Christian church as Prophecy or Words of Knowledge. I scoffed, but I also pondered. Writing wasn’t new to me; I had been writing almost daily since I could pick up a pen. True to my fashion, I scribbled the event in my journal, retired to my room, and anxiously awaited the end of the weekend.

Four years later, I can tell you, I write to save my life. Few things force a person to feel and for me, those things are writing and dancing…more on dancing later. The pen in my hand transfers the treasures in my heart to paper, to reality, and there I can discover. I can feel, heal, grow, grieve, and rejoice. In the words of American Novelist Flannery O’Conner,

“I write to discover what I know.”

What I didn’t fully know four years ago was that my life needed saved; I needed saved. There was a hero in my story and I was embarking on a life-changing journey to find her. I scoffed, but I held that woman’s words in my heart, “You will write to save your life”, and in doing so, I found my hero, and my salvation.

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