Healing Through Creativity

Rev. Dr. Alistair Petrie

Pastor, Author and Executive Director, Partnership Ministries

Marie and I have been devouring the pages of this fantastic book. It is absolutely outstanding! I thoroughly recommend it for anyone who wants to experience the fulness and promise of what it means to be created in God’s image! But be prepared – this book will be life changing – even for the seasoned leader! It will unveil the depths of a God of love who touches and heals, bringing revelation and understanding to every level of life – spirit, soul and body! This book will be a profound tool in the hand of the Lord!

And Marie Petrie adds:

This beautifully written book, weaves real life struggles and breakthroughs with the earthing of God’s loving plan for us all, bringing hope and encouragement. Wonderfully blended with Scripture and easy to read, it answers the ‘why’ and ‘how to’ for those who pray for healing for others, but have not yet discovered creativity as a tool for breakthrough.

Bishop Graham Dow

Former Bishop of Carlisle, UK

This is a wonderful book for those whose heart is to see people healed. For over twenty years Fiona and her team have watched the Holy Spirit use messy painting, outdoor walks, and all kinds of creative play to bring far reaching healing and restoration. Affirming strongly that every human being is created in God’s image and, therefore, good, creative play releases aspects of the person that have been suppressed and shut away. Through creativity God finds the real person in us that has been lost. Jesus enters into our suffering, assures us of complete forgiveness and recreates us in his love. The book is soaked in moving personal testimony. Later chapters illustrate many practical ways through which these ground-breaking insights bring healing to the wide range of human pain. It is a magnificent and comprehensive guide.

Rev. Dr. David Kyle Foster

Founder of Mastering Life Ministries

The Church needs this book, and badly! Why? Because our head-centered western focus has disconnected us from a God-centred heart, turning us into human doings rather than human beings. We’ve lost that intimate walk with the Lord and replaced it with knowledge about Him, setting us adrift from the very purpose of life, which is relationship with Him. Someone once said that the longest distance in all of life is the one between the head and the heart! Healing Through Creativity will help you connect with God again. It takes you on a journey of healing and discovery that is salve to the soul for anyone who has been struggling with intractable brokenness and performance-based living. These principles have set me on a path to wholeness in ways I could never have imagined!

Arie de Waard —Retired Psychiatrist (Netherlands) — Prayer for healing is an adventure. Knowing about God is not the same as knowing God and having a special relationship with Jesus, His son. This brings healing to all relationships, especially the one we have with ourselves. The testimonies in this book tell us in plain language how the depth of God’s love is beyond our understanding. I was moved to tears reading some of these stories. As a retired psychiatrist, and now a member of the Ellel Ministries Netherlands prayer team, I am privileged to regularly witness the changes God brings to people through discovering our creativity. Fiona explains the essence of God’s purpose for our lives and encourages others to share in this special work of God. I recommend you read it for yourself!

Diane Daune

Retired University Lecturer and Textile Designer

This comprehensive resource demonstrates that although creativity is not an end in itself, it forges a powerful connection to ourselves, others and most importantly to God, bringing healing and restoration. For 15 years I have been part of Fiona Horrobin’s creativity team. I have been able to combine my gifting in textile crafts, a professional background in health care and the arts, as I helped people embark on their personal journey of healing through creativity. I have seen how the Lord comes close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34 v 18). Fiona presents profound truths in a straightforward and understandable way. By taking the time and space to allow God to touch your heart as you read, He will use the ordinary to do the extraordinary. The potential for blessing is limitless.

Zoltán Dörnyei

Professor of Psycholinguistics, University of Nottingham and author of “Vision, Mental Imagery and the Christian Life.”

Creativity can mean various things in psychology, from intellectual originality to artistic talent. In this fascinating and inspiring book, the essence of human creativity is understood as a reflection of God the Creator. But, as Fiona explains, in many of us the creative side has, sadly, been “crushed along life’s way,” to the detriment of our health and well-being. The good news, however, is that our creative gifting can be rediscovered and released, so that “God is able to bring His presence and healing” into our lives. She offers convincing biblical principles, tried and tested experience and shares real-life ‘success stories’ that all point to the same conclusion – that when we tap into our inner font of creativity, it leads to divine restoration. This is a uniquely useful book. It glorifies God, the Creator and Healer, and offers hope and practical pathways not only to people who are struggling, but, also, to anybody who wants to get closer to God through their own God-given creativity. I concur with the author in saying, “I cannot think of anyone for whom it would not be relevant.”

‘Sarah’

God has done an amazing work of healing in my life. I was a psychiatric patient taking maximum dosages of psychiatric drugs in my desperate struggle to stay alive. I had been sexually abused since the age of three. I was trapped in a well of darkness and there was no way out. Yet through creativity, in ways I could never have thought or imagined, God reached the ‘real me’ on the inside. The healing He brought has been totally life-transforming for me and my family. I’m no longer suicidal, have been free of all medication for many years now and no longer need my lifetime Government disability pension! I thank God for the psychiatric care which kept me alive and safe, but ultimately it was only God who could transform my life. I will never cease to thank Him for my healing. I don’t think I would be alive today if it wasn’t for all that God taught Fiona Horrobin and the Ellel Ministries’ team about Healing Through Creativity. The principles Fiona describes so powerfully are life-changing and life-giving. I know – for through them God saved me and gave me my life back!

1 Dirty Shells – A Vision is Born!
2 Made in His Image
3 Disaster Day – and Rescue
4 Round Pegs in Round Holes
5 Free Will – God’s Risky Gift
6 Space, Time and Limits
7 Beauty for Ashes
8 Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – It all Makes Sense!
9 Creative Connections
10 Fun, Play and Imagination
11 What a Mess!
12 God’s Creative Family
13 God’s Creativity – Summary of Healing Principles in Part One
14 God’s Creativity – What it Does
15 God’s Creativity – Where it Breaks Through into Hidden and Subconscious Areas
16 Creativity – How God Uses it to Bring His Healing, Restoration and Truth
17 Creativity – Creative Elements in the Journey of Healing
18 Illustrations and Stories of Healing Through Creativity
19 Practical Prayers
20 The Master Craftsman and His Glory