The Writing Express
“Our feelings are unreliable and cannot be trusted to convey truth.”
~ Joyce Meyer
VISION STATEMENT
To enable and empower all writers to write with purpose, using their unique life experiences and intimate times with God to foster an uplifting community of support and friendship.
PURPOSE
As we navigate the different seasons of life, it is important that we get to know God on a deeper level, thereby strengthening our relationship with Him. Writing is one of those ways we can make God known to ourselves and to others.
BENEFITS
Writing provides healing and therapeutic ways to:
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Reduce stress and anxiety
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Enhance mood
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Decrease depression
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Manage anger
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Restore focus
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Boost self-awareness, confidence, and esteem
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Establish interpersonal communication
When we write, we give our heart an avenue of freedom to convey our true thoughts, feelings, and emotional traumas that we may have experienced or witnessed. Writing helps us to confront our pain and move any debris of our experiences out of the way so we could uncover their true meaning.
EXPRESSIVE WRITING
One form of expressive writing that is used as a mirror of self-reflection is journaling. It is personal writing that comes from the heart. Reflecting gives us an opportunity to observe and evaluate our own patterns of behavior, attitudes, thoughts, and actions, thus enabling us to gain a deeper understanding of who we are and then take personal accountability. We discover our areas of strength so we can build upon them and also identify areas where we need improvement and growth.
Whether we are writing poems, songs, or paragraphs, journaling is most notably raw and unpolished, completely abandoning the mechanics of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. When we eliminate the need to produce a “perfect” piece of writing, we allow our heart to open like a canal so that our thoughts and feelings can flow freely. Overall, expressive writing gives us a platform to stand on so that our heart could step up and speak the truth.
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MAKING CONNECTIONS
When God gives a message, an understanding of a situation or scripture, or even a testimony, putting those words in print can very well take us into that deeper level of who He is, what He’s done, and who we are in Him.
As we share those written revelations with others, reading them out loud helps us as individuals to convey the feelings that our heart has kept silent. This is an effective form of communication because it helps us to unravel our feelings so that we can begin to pull away freely from those webs that we become entangled in.
Reading aloud also helps to improve our active listening skills. Engaging in conversation with others provides us with opportunities to develop bonds, strengthen relationships, therefore fostering meaningful connections as we make a conscious effort to become more expressive in what we are speaking and receptive to what we are hearing.
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