poetry to sing out your suffering and pain
I know they can hurt. And they can be hard to hold: these feelings of ours that overwhelm—a particular moment, a certain memory. We hold them in our hearts, our bodies. Yes, it can be hard to breathe.
Even feelings of joy—moments where we inhabit freedom and hope—can be difficult to process. How do we live in joy? Walk in it? Feel it is not an imposter but a true home?
Pain and joy. Suffering and hope. Each can be a tangle of both beauty and heartache that God can help us understand.
In the mornings when I write, the room dark except for a small light that illuminates my page, I try to honor the cry of my heart. What is it feeling? What does it see that I don’t? What does it want, so much, for me to understand? What, really, is it trying to say?
When you don’t know where to begin—how to begin writing what it is your heart is feeling, give yourself space. Be kind to yourself. Sometimes, my writing time amounts to me sitting there, in the dark, with God. My eyes are sometimes open. Sometimes closed. When I struggle to get words out that feel true, I can get frustrated, impatient. Sometimes self-condemnation pushes its ugly way in. And this is when writing is not fun. And not productive. And not true. And I ask God to help me surrender all that is false to Him.
But, truly, in these moments where our hearts ache, either because of a past wound or a current situation of suffering, we can do two things: Ignore our emotions, do our best to bury them. Or ask God to help us see and understand—for the sake of His healing—our deepest pain.
We know the toll, physically and mentally, of ignoring the pain of our hearts. Anxiety. Depression. Panic. Stress. Addiction. We hurt ourselves even more deeply when we ignore the initial pain we feel. So, let’s not do that. Addressing our emotions is going to take courage. It’s going to take perseverance, determination, hard work. But it’s going to be worth it. Let’s ask God to show us our deepest pain. He invites us now to address it, to feel it with Him, to trust Him with it, and enter in.
Let’s not put off what God is offering: freedom, wholeness, and deep healing. Want to try this now?
Here is the Loop Poetry Project prompt for this week:
In a poem, consider expressing, with specificity and detail, a present or past suffering where God is inviting you to enter in for the sake of helping your heart heal. Write about a moment of pain or suffering you no longer want to ignore. An experience of suffering you want to reclaim, you want to feel, you want (even with tears and heartache) to sing.
What have you been avoiding? How have you been hiding? From what have you been running away?
What past or present suffering do you now want to engage your heart around, with courage and trust? How can your suffering be something about which you can sing? (A song of lament? A song of pain? A song of hope? A song of desperation? A song of joy?)
In this deep place of your heart, how do you need God to come? How do you hope God will take the broken pieces within you and glue them—glue you—together?
In the place of this suffering, what and who are you inviting in?
This is so easy task. I know.
But write. You can do this. For you don’t do it alone.
Pain and suffering that is ignored can be too much for our hearts to hold. To participate in the rescue mission God is already doing in our hearts, we must delve deep into experiences of pain we’ve pushed off for far too long.
Writing poetry about our suffering and our pain helps us to see it. We are not ignoring it. We are not disowning ourselves (which is what we are doing when we ignore our pain). Rather, we are making our own emotional health and personal wholeness a priority. But, most importantly, we are saying no to self-pity—that insidious and debilitating disease of the heart that distracts us from pursuing the true healing and wholeness that God wants to bring.
Now, this poem—or poems—you write might bring about more questions than answers to your suffering and pain. This is why poetry is the beginning, always the beginning, of more and deeper engagement with our hearts. An opportunity to delve into the questions the writing brings up.
Let poetry help you to see the truth God has always wanted you to see. Say yes to healing. Say yes to the more that He has. This is just one step with Him. You can trust Him to show you step two.
And if you feel that sharing your poems would be part of your healing process, please use the hashtag #looppoetryproject on social media.
Much love to you, from this one true heart,
jennifer
14 Comments
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Am new to this site
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Welcome, Lynda! So wonderful to have you here!
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#looppoetryproject
You ask?
I give.
But what you ask shatters me.
I lay in pieces.
Will I ever be put back together?
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I am struggling with the fact that my son doesn’t honour his marriage and that he keeps running back home . He’s been here for months now , with the children who attend school nearby ….who my hubby and I have to fetch , feed ,check studies . Our home has been loud …noisy …rules are broken when parents walk in .My son refuses counseling of ANY sort ….the children have become out of hand. I’m at my wits end and just want all of this to go away.
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Hello! Just ran across this…I recently published a new Christian poetry book (late Aug.) After going thru a horrific, dark place with mental illness in 2010, God totally gave me a new life. I have come to know His Sure Hope & promises. The new book the Holy Spirit enabled me to write, is all about His Sure HOPE. There are over 100 poems in the book. My poetry is rhymed & has meter. There also is a section in the back of the book called ‘Daily Prayers, Life’s Lessons, Daily Thoughts’ which are short poems. Jesus Christ took a mess & turned it into a message of hope I am meant to share. He took a test & turned it into a testimony of who He is. The book is entitled ‘To God Be The Glory!’ By Karen R. Lueders
It is available on Amazon & BarnesandNobles.
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Unravelled by S.B Gombele
Who am I that you’re so mindful of me
Even when I doubt to think, that you’re even there
Who am I that you so thoughtful of me
Even if I was to dare, to think you even care
I’m unravelled when I think about your love
No, my mind can’t fathom depths of your great love
You loved me in my weakness
When I doubted your existence
still persisted in unconditional love
Who am I that you’ve opened my eyes
to see your beauty everywhere
Who am I that you know me by name
You knew the story of my life, even had a purpose in my strifes
I see your beauty in the sparkle of the stars
I see your beauty in the healing of my scars
I see your smile in the sun
I feel your warmth in the rain
I feel your love persisting in my deepest pain
I am forever grateful Adonai…
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Thank You for sharing Sarah.
This is so beautiful.
Sx
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Unconditional love
I see myself as no one special, no claim to fame nobody knows my name;
My life seems to have no real meaning,
My mind is in total conflict, walking around with a frown choosing to be sad so many disappointments I had, no one seems to care I carry around the heavy cloak of dispare.
My heart discolored from the many times it’s been trampled on, hatred and bad mind constantly knock on my door hoping they’ll torment me some more.
I see no where out for my eyes remained closed trying to shut out the darkness around me.
Until that day when I was introduced to the Saviour who gave gifts to anyone who will receive it; that gift was called unconditional Love, the love that never allows you to wallow in self pity, self doubt, selfishness convincing yourself nothing is good enough for me,
Yet here I am given a chance to live again, love again leaving the abuse, scorn, the worries, confusion,
The filthy clothe was taken from me a new garment of righteousness was given to me
A sweet melody in my heart, a praise on my lips as I shouted out the message of that unconditional love a love like no other knows no boundaries the pure sweet
Unconditional Love
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It’s so great to let out what’s on your heart so that it can be a testimony of the goodness of God’s love
Thanks Jennifer for letting us share.
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Thank You for sharing Alma!.Love Su
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WOW!
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Thank you so much. This is so apt for my journey with myself and God.
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Distracted
I sit to write
I hear a bing
I want to talk
I get a ring
Distractions from the outside world
Keep me from listening to what I am being told
Emails, text, social scroll
The never-ending to-do list
Adds an emotional toll
Making me wonder, what else have I missed?
Distractions from the outside world
Keep me from listening to what I am being told
But I don’t have to jump or re-act
To every bing or ring
Trying to distract
While distractions from the outside world
Try to keep me from hearing what I am being told
I have the power to step away
And ask my Lord to lead my day
Here I am asking Him
Hold my hand as I step out on this limb
Distractions from the outside world
Can’t keep me from what I am being told
For when the to-do list feels too long
I am reminded that
it is He who makes me strong
When distractions from the outside world
Try to keep me from what I am being told
I come back to Him
Asking for direction on where to begin
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Yvette, I love your voice here. Confident and strong. You invite us into this confidence. Thank you.