Did you know that depression is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, and that one in six New Zealanders will experience it during the course of their lives. I know that pit of despair. I have spent much of my life clinging to a rope so frayed and slippery it felt as though someone had greased it just for fun.

I do not stand here today as someone who has mastered healing, nor as someone who has arrived at the finish line. I stand here as a witness. A witness to the faithfulness of God in places where my own strength failed, and a witness to the quiet, holy ways He restores hearts that have been shattered.

Healing is not a theory to me. It has been lived slowly, painfully, and faithfully. I have walked through seasons of depression and suicidal thoughts where getting out of bed felt like a victory. I have known silence where prayer felt unanswered, and creativity felt unreachable. It was in those very places that God began to place keys back into my hands.

Scripture tells us that Jesus came to heal the broken-hearted.

Healing has always been God’s idea. From Genesis to Revelation, the heart of the Father has been restoration, not performance. What I share today flows from that authority, not human wisdom, but the steady faithfulness of a God who keeps His promises.

Every one of us carries a story. Some stories are visible, others are hidden deep within. Many of us have learned how to function while wounded, how to smile while bleeding, how to carry on while something inside us quietly aches.

Some of us are strong for everyone else, yet weary in private. Others feel stuck, unable to move forward, unable to name why. A few may feel disconnected from joy, creativity, or even from God Himself.

If that is you, you are not broken beyond repair. You are not failing at faith. You are human, and God meets humans with grace.

📖 "A bruised reed He will not break, And a smoking flax He will not quench." — Isaiah 42:3 (NKJV)

God does not rush healing. He restores with tenderness. He places keys in our hands that unlock healing gently, faithfully, and in His time.

During my journey of healing, God gave me Seven Keys That Unlock Healing.

🗝️ 1. The Key of Faith — The Foundation

Faith is the first key because it unlocks every other door. Faith anchors us when emotions are unstable and circumstances are unclear.

Faith does not deny pain. It declares that pain does not get the final word.

🗝️ 2. The Key of Singing — Breath Turned into Prayer

When words fail, breath remains. Singing allows breath to become prayer, and prayer to rise when language cannot.

Sometimes healing begins not with answers, but with worship, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

🗝️ 3. The Key of Drawing — When Words Cannot Speak

Drawing creates space for the heart to speak safely. Lines, shapes, and images often reveal what language cannot.

God speaks through sacred lines as much as spoken prayers.

🗝️ 4. The Key of Painting — Beauty for Ashes

Painting invites colour back into places that have gone grey. It allows grief, hope, anger, and joy to coexist on the same canvas.

Healing does not erase the ashes. It transforms them.

🗝️ 5. The Key of Dancing — Freedom in the Body

Healing is not only spiritual. It is physical. Dancing restores connection between body and soul.

Movement declares freedom where fear once lived.

🗝️ 6. The Key of Writing — Every Page a Prayer

Writing gives structure to memory, pain, and redemption. It allows us to name what happened and notice where God was present.

When we write truthfully, healing follows honestly.

🗝️ 7. The Key of Speaking — Legacy Released

Speaking completes the cycle. Testimony turns private healing into shared hope for others.

Your voice carries healing far beyond your own story.

These keys are not reserved for the gifted, the healed, or the confident. They are gifts from a loving Father to wounded hearts.

You do not need to pick up every key today. One is enough. One small act of faith. One quiet song. One honest line on paper.

Healing is not rushed. It is revealed.

May you have the courage to reach for the key placed in your hand today, and the grace to trust the One who holds the door. 🕊️

🕯️🪨 Truth to Hold

Healing is not a measure of spiritual maturity. It is a response to love. God is not disappointed by your pace, your pauses, or your process. He is present within it.

🌱🕊️ Hope to Carry

What feels small in your hands today may unlock something sacred tomorrow. God wastes nothing, not even the slow days.

💡 Reflection:

• Which key feels closest to your heart right now 🤔

• Where have you been trying to perform instead of allowing God to restore 🤔

• What has trauma silenced in you that God may be gently inviting back to life 🤔

• How might creativity become a safe doorway for healing rather than pressure to produce 🤔

• What would it look like to trust God with your pace, not just your progress 🤔

🎺 Affirmation:

I am not behind. I am not broken. I am being restored by a faithful God who heals in love and wisdom. What He begins in me, He will complete, in His time.

🙌 Prayer:

Father God, I thank You that healing begins with Your heart, not my effort. You see every hidden wound, every silent tear, every place where hope has felt distant. I invite You to show me the key You are placing in my hand today. Give me the courage to use it, the patience to trust the process, and the grace to rest in Your faithfulness. Restore what trauma tried to silence, and breathe life where heaviness has lingered. I place my heart, my body, and my story into Your loving care.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.