There’s a wounding for which words were never formed, yet healing begins when relinquishing fear to pour one’s being onto that proverbial papyrus – transcribing tears from sorrow to soul. Giving trauma titles to be shelved, witnessed chapter and verse devoid judgment – remembered without fear. Many who’ve endured religious trauma had stories rewritten by corrupt parties, where language itself became a weapon. Confessions were punished instead of heard, diaries/journaling mocked and confiscated. The written word was not a sanctuary, rather seen as potential evidence, resulting in liability. 

This collection of writing prompts was created for survivors navigating the delicate terrain of spiritual abuse, indoctrination, or exile from faith communities. You won’t find hollow affirmations here. Each prompt is crafted with care to help unearth what has been buried, giving form to memories long denied – daring explore questions one was never permitted to ask. This is not about “Moving on” rather reframing. An inner journey of soul in solitude, unencumbered by noise and confusion. 

Some will write enraged while others quill in grief-stricken paragraphs. One might ink an emotional passage, rewrite beauty from ashes only to throw away the page. All of which is encouraged. The writing process is not about producing something beautiful – it’s about reclaiming that which locusts have stolen – the sacred. Your voice. The sound which existed before shame was sold as virtue – that cry for help ’neath layers of doctrine and fear.

Your pen is a veritable sword of righteous indignation, and having doubt won’t be your downfall. Your words – however messy – matter. These prompts aren’t meant to complete your sentences, merely awaken stories premature for burial grounds.

FOR THE EXILED, AWAKENED AND BRAVE

1. “They Told Me God Was…”
Finish the sentence without filters. Now, write what your mid/body/spirit knew God to be prior to indoctrination. Notice the difference.

2. “The Day I Learned My Conscience Was a Sin…”
Describe the moment you were taught to distrust your inner compass. What did it cost you to obey instead?

3. “My Silence Was Mistaken For…”
Who misinterpreted your quiet? What were you really holding back, and why? Unspool the silences you once swallowed.

4. “I Was Punished for Asking…”
Name the question. The moment. The consequence. Then, write the answer they were too afraid to admit.

5. “My Journals Were Confiscated Because…”
Write a letter to your past self about why you kept writing despite the cost. Let that younger version know what was sacred within those pages. Validate your inner child.

6. “Before They Told Me Who I Was, I Remember Being…”
Return to the earliest untainted memory of you. Trace it. Protect it. Reclaim that precious voice before the script.

7. “The Sound of My Voice the First Time I Disobeyed…”
Write about the physicality of that moment. Your pulse, breath, trembling resolve. What was said – or suppressed?

8. “If I Could Tattoo One Truth I Had to Learn Alone…”
What phrase, symbol, or sentence would you etch into skin reminding yourself of a truism that saved you?

9. “I Mistook Shame for Holiness When…”
Explore the lie that appeared as virtue. When did you confuse self-erasure with righteousness?

10. “The Words I Was Never Allowed to Say in Prayer…”
Write the prayer that would’ve gotten you condemned. Then read it aloud like a liturgy no longer afraid of thunder.

11. “I Buried This Story Because…”
Dig it up. Dust it off. No one can punish you now. Not for bleeding. Not for remembering. Not for naming names. 

12. “My Tears Were Labeled Rebellion When I…”
Describe how you were taught to bottle grief. Now, let those same tears baptize your healing.

13. “When They Called My Doubt a Demon…”
What did that accusation do to your trust? Your mind? Write a manifesto defending your right to question.

14. “A Letter to the Doctrine That Tried to Kill Me…”
Not the people. The dogma. The demand. The distortion. Write to it as though it were a living entity. Express yourself in ways you never could.

15. “My Faith Didn’t Die… It Transformed When…”
Tell the story of your spiritual metamorphosis. From ashes to ember, submission to sovereignty.

16. “I Pretended to Be Okay Because…”
List every reason you wore any mask. Then write a eulogy for false personas never authentic to you.

17. “I Still Miss…”
A sacred ritual? A sense of belonging? A shared song? Name what you grieve without minimizing the harm that coexisted with it. Remember, this excuses nothing. 

18. “The God I Was Given vs the God I Now Know…”
Write it as a dialogue between the two. Let them wrestle. The winner – if any – gains your trust.

19. “If My Rage Could Speak Without Fear…”
Let it speak. Not in polite tones or poetic metaphors. Let it roar, uncensored and glorious! 

20. “My Survival is Not Bitterness, It’s…”
Redefine your healing. Explain, for once, why anger, boundaries, or truth-telling is not a betrayal of grace, but embodiment.

Each prompt touches long-hidden scars beneath laters of dogma. None require perfect grammar, polished poetry nor prose – only the loneliest word – honesty. Let pages weep as ink screams through the silence – in that your soul might breathe again. 

– ReLOVution