Interview:

Abuse, such an ugly word yet it was my childhood reality and my Dad and Granddad were my constant nightmare for too many years. Creativity never used to figure much in my world as a child, it took all my energy to simply face each day. Now however, art and writing are a huge part of my life and play a major role in how I express myself and earn a living. Discovering the release that art and creativity brought was literally like a light being turned on in a dark room. As I painted and wrote, little by little the shadows disappeared, the light flooded in and healing came.

My first cathartic story came in a rush of words as I prayed asking God how I could find healing from my childhood wounds. The story “Princess Ponytail” was born. Many other poems, stories, and paintings followed and culminated a few years later in an exhibition titled “Change Point” that chronicled in paint and poetry my journey to wholeness. I didn’t realize though just how much of a healing work had happened until one particular day, a day I will never forget; it‘s the day I met my Dad in Heaven.

Dad had died a few years before and I was okay with the fact that he was no longer around. On that particular day I was in a conference meeting and suddenly I found myself unaware of my earthly surroundings and saw that I was standing in a room in Heaven with Jesus standing beside me. Many people filled the room and as I looked around I saw my Dad standing there looking at me. My Dad was in Heaven? How did that happen? I didn’t realize until after the experience that I didn’t feel cheated or that it wasn’t fair that he was there. Inside me was just this surge of joy as I looked at him and a feeling of rightness that I couldn’t explain.

I looked at Jesus and he grinned at me with the goofiest grin and told me I could go and speak to my Dad. As I walked over to Dad, he opened his arms and I walked into them, loving his embrace and feeling safe in it for the first time in my life. We stood there, arms wrapped around each other, and he then put his hands on my shoulders, pushed me backward a little and said, “Lyn, will you forgive me for what I did to you?”

I was flabbergasted, my Dad asking for forgiveness, this had to be Heaven! I answered that I had already forgiven him, and he replied that he knew but he needed to ask anyway. We continued talking for a while and I learnt how he had come to be in Heaven. He told me facts I hadn’t known but was later able to verify from a family member. The few people who I’ve shared this encounter with have said to me, “That must have brought you such healing”, but my answer is always “No, it didn’t bring healing but it did show me how much healing had already been done”.

Art and writing were a huge part in that process of healing and continue to be a way for me to process life’s event even now. I may not ever have another encounter so profound, yet every time I paint and write, I am reminded of God’s wonderful healing love and power and His ability to restore all that is broken in us.

“Art and writing are a huge part of my life and play a major role in how I express myself.”
– Lyn Packer, Artist & Poet