The Role Confession Plays in Telling Your Story
Recently, I attended a funeral and saw a loved one who was very near and dear to me when I was growing up. During my childhood, this woman made such an impact in my life that I imagined myself growing up to be a lot like her. She spent a lot of time with me, invested much wisdom, and ignited a belief in me at an age and during a time when others didn’t seem to care.
In short, her interaction had been such a major influence in my growth and development. Now, however, things were quite different. I had heard it mentioned previously that something was wrong. My loved one had changed through the years. I remember standing there, talking to her after the funeral, and the conversation was so awkward, so disconnected…
Something had happened for sure. Another relative mentioned to me that some family members believed she had experienced a nervous breakdown at some point that went untreated.
How is something like that ignored?
How can you be surrounded by people who love you and fall apart?
When someone encounters any type of stress in life and it goes undiagnosed, unmentioned, unrecognized, or unconfessed, it causes them to build a prison around their soul.
I believe that one of the most underrecognized invisible prisons is SILENCE. This is the secret weapon that keeps us held hostage to our past — past hurt, pain, mistakes, and shame. When we can’t speak about the ugliest details of our existence, it causes a false wall of safety to form around our psyche to protect us; but in all actuality, we are only sinking deeper into the abyss of silent imprisonment.
Silence keeps you alone on an island filled with insecurity, torment, hurt, pain, shame, and depression. You’re like a leper exiled, quarantined, and sentenced to a life of walls and nothing more than solitary confinement. One of the highest forms of punishment in prison is to have the prisoner serve time in solitary confinement.
For these reasons, I encourage everyone to find a confidant, even if this means they must pay for one. Counselors, spiritual leaders, mentors, and friends are just a few options. Whatever the role of the person, it is so important to have someone to be that outlet so that the stresses of life can be released.
There is a saying, “Alone we die but connected we live.”
Another avenue of stress relief and a silence breaker is journaling. Even if you’re doing nothing more than writing down your thoughts and concerns daily, it is therapeutic to be able to release these inner dialogues, conflicts, and emotions that are transpiring. This is not only how many great writers begin their journey, but it is how many stories that impact and change the world are birthed.
Do you remember the Academy Award-winning movie, Twelve Years a Slave? It is both a graphic and completely horrifying true story of a free, successful Black man from New York who, in 1841, had a home, a wife, children, and a comfortable life — until one day, he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the South. Solomon Northup’s memoir of the 12 horrific years he spent in slavery is a story that is a part of our history that needed to be told and should never be forgotten.
What is it that you need to confess on paper, get out of your system, and release from your soul?
What secret?
What pain?
What shame and discomfort do you need to let go of?
I encourage you to begin to take your pen and write. Write and release. Let go and find the freedom from the prison of silence that has held you captive for way too long.
Confession truly is good for the soul!
~Pastor Kish
Your Book Publishing Coach & Self-Publishing Servicer
P.S. Here is another video from one of our newest authors, Renee Gardner. Renee exemplifies the message I shared with you today. There is something God is calling you to write and release so that others can be blessed by it. After viewing the video, be sure to visit her website at www.reneegardnerministries.com to find out more about her book and ministry.
Thank you Renee for your uplifting and encouraging video because those words of God has assignment for us to is so true for me. I have been trying hard to find help about finish ing up a book God spoken to me about.God bless you.
Wow!! You’re welcome and thank you so much Carolyn Keep going and keep writing. There is a message inside of you that the world needs to hear. God bless you!!