The Healing March: An Invitation to Something NEW

Poetry, Prompts, and Possibilities for a NEW Month

“Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not, 'How can we hide our wounds?' so we don't have to be embarrassed, but 'How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?' When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.”

HENRI NOUWEN

Hello, my lovely Substack community. I wanted to share some goodness I posted on our Instagram yesterday to ring in March. I think you will really love it. And then stick around for a secret poem for my second collection of poetry, Exalted Ground, along with some great opportunities and ways for YOU to get connected!

Let’s do something different as we start a NEW month! See it as a spiritual reflection. Feel free to take this challenge & post in the comments. Take a step further & curate a post & tag us so we can connect (here on Substack or Instagram).

🎉Who’s up for the INVITATION a NEW month brings? May we accept it!

✨Friend, you have made it through another month—29 beautiful, difficult, sacred, stretching days. Carve out 30 minutes today to reflect on those 29 days & get intentional about the next 31, as we embrace March, a month that brings many thoughts, like spring, new life, & change. And though March is often our first taste of invigoration, it can carry trauma for some.

I know it does for me. So, this March I will be intentional about how I choose to heal & thrive:

❤️‍🩹March 2021: I collapsed from sepsis alone in my home after a failed surgery. I didn’t work or walk for a year. I faced more surgeries, procedures, & loss than I can count.

❤️‍🩹March 2022: I returned to work part-time, which was a season full of beauty & pain. I came to understand the phrase, “You can’t go home again.” The very thing that was a beacon of light became a dark shadow over our lives.

❤️‍🩹March 2023: I collapsed in my classroom from relapse & stress. I officially lost everything I fought to get back & later learned God was protecting me & preparing me for something better (TWBTO).

❤️‍🩹March 2024: This year, as I recover from another surgery, I am RECLAIMING March! I will be intentional about healing, growing, releasing, & choosing to let my pain be an offering to others so that they may heal & feel seen, too. God gives beauty for ashes!

✨So, beautiful soul, please enjoy the PROMPTS BELOW & share with writerly friends & the faithful creatives you love!

March will be a month of healing!! #thehealingmarch

OPPORTUNITIES TO CONNECT

🎉April 2 is our next Poetry Hour with @writtentospeak. Learn more & sign up at the blog: You’re Invited: The Poetry Hour- A Night with Tanner Olson — THE WAY BACK TO OURSELVES (thewayback2ourselves.com)

SEATS ARE LIMITED AND SELLING FAST!!

🎉Some BIG NEWS about my writing course, and you are the FIRST TO HEAR: “How to Grow Your Writing Life” is on SALE in a BIG way RIGHT NOW for a limited time March 1-15. Click on the link below to see the savings and grab yours!

And here’s the even more exciting part: ANYONE WHO HAS BOUGHT OR BUYS THE COURSE by March 15 will be invited to a Zoom Write Night and Q&A with me. It’s all about you, your writing, feedback, connection, you name it!! So, get the course and let’s get connected here: How to Grow Your Writing Life Course by Kimberly Phinney — THE WAY BACK TO OURSELVES (thewayback2ourselves.com)

🎉What are you doing MARCH 10 at 8:30 pm EST? Wanna hang out on Zoom for FREE? I’ll be the guest presenter at Vessels of Light Poetry Write Night on Healing. You won’t want to miss this! Email Lexi, founder of Vessels of Light, to get your link and the details: vesselsoflightjournal@gmail.com. Tell her I sent you!

🎉Have you been keeping us with The Way Back Podcast? Well, you definitely should! A brand-new episode is out, and I got to sit down with best-selling author, podcaster, speaker, and tech entrepreneur Jordan Raynor. We talked about his new book The Sacredness of Secular Work, which was a game changer for me. And I know it will be for you, too.

You can listen here: The Way Back Podcast.

When we follow Christ, everything in our lives is sacred; and that means your work--no matter what it might be--is sacred, too!

🎉Also, stick around until the end, where you'll get to hear me read my new poem, "Women's Work," which will be in my debut poetry collection, Of Wings and Dirt, out this spring with Wipf and Stock Publishers.

You can connect with Jordan Raynor in a few places:

Instagram: @jordanraynor

Website: www.JordanRaynor.com

Podcast: Mere Christians Podcast

And you can buy his new book, as well as his other big hits, like Redeeming Your Time, Master of One, or The Creator in You, wherever books are sold, as well as on Amazon.

🎉OTHER EXCITING NEWS:

-We will be interviewing

Jenn Schultz

and

Rachel Marie Kang

on The Way Back Podcast this month!

-COMING SOON: I will be going on the Makers and Mystics podcast this spring with

Stephen Roach

to talk about community, creativity, and my debut poetry book. I am beyond stoked because this is a BUCKET LIST item for me! You must listen to this podcast, friends! I’ll also be joining Dr. Jen Bennett on the She Impacts Culture podcast to talk about faith, servant leadership, and overcoming obstacles to serve God and others, and I am so excited and honored.

A SECRET POEM FOR YOU

a blessing for you as you heal a bit more this March…

A BLESSING FOR HEALING WARRIORS
by Kimberly Phinney

What you are doing is hard.
No one tells you how much the healing hurts.
No one says, healing sometimes looks like depression, 
as you mourn and move on from what was
because you know it must be done.
No one says, healing sometimes looks like anxiety, 
as you put your armor on 
for the journey up ahead,
full of new unknowns.
No one says, how heavy the expectations are, 
that say “You must be so relieved—
so elated—
so unbelievably free.”

Even relief can feel like heavy steel 
you must hoist.
Even elation can feel so strange 
because you’ve forgotten how it felt.
Even freedom can feel like a terrifying abundance 
you must relearn to navigate.
No one says, that choosing to heal 
is a warrior’s task,
as you mask 
all your growing pains 
and fight like hell for every gain—
in secret.

So, if you haven’t heard it,
here it is:
You are blessed and not alone.
You’ve made the harder choice to heal, 
while others choose their pain.
So, rest your head, knowing this:
You are held by the God of the Universe.
And don’t forget, the greatest gift:
Our Man of Sorrows suffered, too,
to bring forth a healing we get to choose.

Healing Warrior:
inhale love, exhale doubt.
Breathe deep sighs.
You’ll get your healing here on Earth—
and if not, Heaven-side.

So, sweet souls, let’s GET TO HEALING and THRIVING just a little more this month, as we all join in on #TheHealingMarch.

You belong here,
♥️me