By this point your journalling will have had a number of opportunities to loosen the soil of your memory and to become more aware of the deeper movements of your life experience which undergird the unique circumstances and concrete relationships of your life.You may have uncovered a lot of pain and trauma, but equally you will have had the opportunity to connect with energy and creativity.Reading through the whole of your journalling work and dwelling with it for some time, going down the deep well of your life and connecting with the underground stream, you wait in the silence for new insights and possibilities to emerge from the relationships and situations you have worked with.

Each journalling exercise is drawn to a conclusion by allowing images, thoughts and insights to blend into a summary of the movement of your life as you allow the future to emerge.  As you do that, that it is helpful to consciously link your journalling with insights from stories and themes in the bible, and allow each to mingle with the other.God in Jesus wants to draw us from unfreedom, darkness and death into freedom, light and life.  Journalling is one tool to help you in your response.

Some bible stories very readily link to journalling work.  Take, for example. the raising of Lazarus St John Chapter 11 vvs 38-44.  Lazarus is an image of Everyman/Everywoman.  His graveclothes may be viewed as symbols of our anxieties, fears, poor self-image, resentments, unforgiving spirit and so on.Which gravecloth is God in Jesus inviting you to take off as a result of the journalling work?  Notice Jesus does not release Lazarus from his graveclothes himself but instead turned to the disciples and said to them, “loose him and let him go”.  Who can we turn to today to help loose us from our graveclothes?

Reflect on the questions which Jesus puts to people who he encounters.  His purpose is to draw from them a deeper response to him, “Do you believe that I can do this?What do you want me to do for you? Do you want to be healed? and so on.

The man born blind in St John’s Gospel, who we meet in Chapter 9, experiences a gradual return of his sight goes through a similar process to you prayerfully working at your journal.  

Re-call a person in the gospels relating to Jesus with whom you can identify.  Imagine yourself as that person in conversation with Jesus about insights which have emerged from your journalling.  You might want to write down the conversation and spend some time in thankfulness for blessings.

Spirituality and Remembering by Elizabeth Culling is a Grove Booklet  (Grove Books Limited, Ridley Hall Road, Cambridge CB3 9HU.). Memory –and the Christian Faith –and God –and the Bible –and Prayer –and Pastoral Care –and Identity are covered in this 24 page pamphlet , with many helpful personal exercises.

Healing Wounded History by Russ Parker explores the power of group stories and helps us understand how they affect the people and the places where they first happened. He shows how history repeats itself until we find ways to listen to it, locate where it is happening, and find healing for its consequences.

Healing Wounded History: The Workbook by Russ Parker and Michael Mitton, the Director and Deputy Director of the Acorn Christian Foundation, is a seven session course designed for small groups.Its aim is to enable individuals, small groups and group leaders to bring healing and renewal to their churches and communities.It summarises the approach of Healing Wounded History in simple, straightforward language and has questions for discussion, practical exercises and examples of group healing.