FAITH INSPIRATION... | LISA DUNN

Working with therapeutic foster children for 10 years exposed me to the damage abuse and neglect can have on the psyche of a

child. Heinous crimes against children make the headlines and spark rage in physical and emotional courts around the world. Often, the stories that make headlines spur us to guilt when we think about the emotional scraps and scars we carry from our childhood. We bury our wounds. We ignore the hurtful words spoken in the heat of the discipline or discourse. One day, we roll over and find we are trapped in the cage of our past, unable to find release. I have found that writing, then creating a new story can change our vision of ourselves and others.

There is a powerful and necessary move within the African American community, finally, encouraging those in mental or emotional distress to seek a reputable therapist. Gone are the days, hopefully, when the tribe encourages that mentally ill family member to have a drink, get laid or “go somewhere!” We are finally seeing the rising acceptance of therapy. Shannon Evette, Pastor of the virtual Sanctuary offered a session called, Therapy and Jesus. A virtual revival connecting the Faith we have in our Savior and the work we need to do to achieve emotional and mental well-being. I attended.

As a child with severe headaches, I used writing to get the pain out. Eventually, I used journals to express what was locked in my soul. When I moved from Springfield, Ohio to St. Louis, met Shirley LeFlore and joined CAEL, the Creative Arts and Expressions Laboratory. It was then that my journals, full of despair, pain and confusion became playful and passionate poems. Pushed even further, CAEL gave our writing voice and drama and chorus and community. We performed that which once had caused us such anguish. I did not know I was just scratching the surface with this great gift of ministry.

On January 2nd and 3rd, I attended the Women on Fire virtual conference and met Dorothy Wilson. She invited writers to contribute to an anthology called Live Your Faith Out Loud. I have joined 31 Christian writers telling our stories of faith and voice and how we have survived the journey. My soul and spirit connected a challenging mental and emotional experience with the hope and healing power of the Holy Spirit. The poems I shared and the narrative transformed the sorrow of the past to a new vision for the future. I never realized, because I grew up in a fully functional, happy Christian home, how much my buried sorrow had built barriers and strongholds to my success. My mountains of journals and gallons of ink are not wasted. They will produce beauty from the ashes. As I continue to explore my soul issues, brick by brick I can dismantle everything that hinders my success using my passion, poetry. As an outreach, write customized poems for grieving families, as well as for times of excitement and celebration. I am Soul X Sighted and I am Living My Faith Out Loud.

Lisa Watkins Dunn, aka, Soul X Sighted has been a published poet since the 1990s. She was named Poet Laureate of the St. Louis Black Pages in 1995 and an Antioch Writers’ Workshop Scholarship Recipient. For the past five years, the National Council of Negro Women, Clark County, Springfield, Ohio section has commissioned her to write a poem, giving her creative voice to the Mary McCleod Bethune history. She’s performed at Clark State College, in ministry at St. John Missionary Baptist Church and for Dr. PK’s XTreamFX Midnight Prayer Call. You can order the Live Our Faith Out Loud book using this link: https://tinyurl.com/xyne3kp3