Twelve years on the other side of goodbye 📖 "He brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me." — Psalm 18:19 (NKJV) Twelve years ago, at forty-four, I said farewell to everything I knew. I packed up a life, relationships, the familiar corners of a world that had shaped me, and stepped — with more faith than certainty — toward a country I barely knew, called by something I couldn't fully name. New Zealand. A new beginning. That's what I told m

A Reflection on an Afternoon of Courage, Story, and the Power of a Message Delivered Well What happens when eleven people step up, stand tall, and dare to say the thing that's been stirring inside them?🤔 Magic. Pure, electric, goosebump-worthy magic. That's exactly what unfolded at the Speakers Tribe NZ Mini-TENx 2026, and I'm still smiling thinking about it. Eleven speakers. Eleven stories. Eleven invitations to the room — to lean in, to listen, and to be moved. Each voice

When a prophecy spoken over a twenty-one-year-old in a blue and white dress becomes the mark you carry into the world 📖 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." — Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV) It was 14 November 1991. I was twenty-one years old. I sat in the back of The Lighthouse Christian Church in my blue and white dress, trying to hold myself together. A guest pastor from America

When preparation gives way to presence — and the heart learns to simply receive 📖 "Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established." — Proverbs 16:3 (NKJV) 🕯️ Tomorrow, we gather. I've been sitting with those three words all morning, and I don't think I'll be able to shake them loose. They keep settling back over me, soft and weighty, like a quilt I didn't know I needed until I felt it. Tomorrow, we gather. After months of planning, praying, preparing

When the waiting becomes the gift There's something about a countdown that does something to you on the inside. Seven days. That's all that stands between now and the afternoon we've been working toward, praying over, and pouring ourselves into for months. Seven days — and yet, sitting here this morning, it doesn't feel small at all. It feels like standing at the edge of something beautiful, watching it come into focus at last. On 20 June, eleven remarkable people will walk o

There’s something magical about gathering around a canvas, brush in hand, with friends or even strangers, and letting your emotions flow through colour and form. I’ve found that paint parties are more than just fun social events - they’re a way to heal, to express, and to reconnect with parts of ourselves that often get lost in the noise of everyday life. If you’ve ever thought about hosting or joining a paint party, you’re in the right place. I want to share everything I’ve

There is something sacred about standing in your story. Join us for Speakers Tribe NZ Mini-TENx on 20 June — an intimate storytelling event where ten speakers share ten minutes of truth, courage, and transformation.

Some mornings, God speaks before you even know you're listening. This is the story of a birthday wish, two vintage photographs, and the man whose quiet faithfulness helped change the course of my life. Pull up a chair. This one comes straight from the heart.

How God uses speaking to regulate the body, restore the heart, and rebuild connection 📖 "They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." — Revelation 12:11 (NKJV) Speaking is one of the first gifts we are given — and one of the first to be wounded. Before we learn to write, before we learn to reason, we learn to cry out. Our voices announce need, signal safety, and invite con

Two Stages, One Calling An Invitation to Gather, Listen, and Let Your Heart Be Unlocked 📖 "The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned." — Isaiah 50:4 (NKJV) There are things God prepares in secret long before they appear in public. A quiet shaping of the voice. A slow deepening of the story. A patient, purposeful work in t

How Comparison Stole Twenty Months — and What God Said About It 📖 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” — 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) There’s a painting on my easel. It’s been there for twenty months. Mountains in ivory and grey reach toward a wide blue sky. A bold red train presses through the landscape, flanked by deep evergreen forest, a river catching the light at its edge. It’s alive with colour and story — and yet, th

How dancing restores joy, strengthens the body, and releases the soul 📖 "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness." — Psalm 30:11 (NKJV) Some loves are woven into us before we know what they mean. Dancing was one of those for me. I remember being on stage as a young girl in primary school, part of the cast of Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat. There was something alive in it — the music, the movement, the

When Your Story Finds Its Stage 📖 "The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned." — Isaiah 50:4 (NKJV) There are things God prepares in secret long before they appear in public. A quiet shaping of the voice. A slow deepening of the story. A patient, purposeful work in the hidden places of the heart — until the moment arrives

A Paint Party, a Promise, and Four Women Who Showed Up to Create 📍 Story Moment: A Saturday evening in the studio — brushes in hand, blue paint on the palette, and something sacred quietly filling the room. There's something that happens when women gather around a table with paintbrushes in their hands. The walls go quiet. The busyness falls away. Somewhere between the first brushstroke and the last — something opens. Last Saturday, four of us gathered for a "Hope Anchors My

How Nine Women, One Year Ago, Left the Plan Behind — and Found Something More Beautiful 📍 Story Moment: Trixi's Creations' Studio, 29 March 2025 — nine women arrived with brushes in hand, a sunflower to paint, and a canvas full of possibility. There's something holy about a blank canvas. It stands waiting — white, wide, and full of promise — like an unopened morning, like a held breath before the first word of a song. Nine canvases lined the table in Trixi's Creations'

How paint, prayer, and honest conversation became a sanctuary for every woman in the room 📍 Story Moment: A sunny Saturday morning in Auckland, 28 March 2026 — women gathering in a studio that holds more than paint, discovering they're holding more than brushes. 📖 "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." — Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) My studio is a sanctuary. I don't use that word lightly. It's t

Learning to grieve, to be carried, and to trust God in the limbo There are seasons that do not arrive with clear edges. They do not announce themselves as beginnings or endings. They simply settle in, quietly, heavily, like a mist that lingers over everything. This is one of those seasons. Grief has a way of entering not only through loss, but through timing. Just when something in the heart has softened, just when forgiveness has been released, something shifts again. It can

The physical and emotional healing power of writing, revealed through science and Scripture There are moments when the heart is full, yet the mouth cannot speak. Thoughts circle endlessly. Emotions press against the chest with nowhere to go. In these moments, the simple act of writing becomes more than expression. It becomes relief. It becomes regulation. It becomes healing. For decades I've used poetry, journaling, and blogging as a means to process pain. Ink carried what my

The physical and emotional benefits of painting, and why creativity restores what life has worn thin There are seasons when the soul carries more than words can bear. Thoughts circle endlessly, emotions feel tangled, and the body holds tension it cannot name. In those moments, God often invites us not into explanation, but into expression. Painting offers such an invitation. Not as performance.Not as productivity.But as presence. When we paint, something gentle yet profound t

A gentle relocation of words, healing, and holy remembrance There are moments in life when a shift feels small on the outside, yet deeply significant within. This is one of those moments. For some time now, This Is My Story has lived under Trixi’s Creations. It has been a beautiful home, a place where creativity and testimony met on the same page. Yet as the journey has unfolded, it has become clear that these reflections carry something even more personal. They hold memory.