There are moments in our healing journey when the words of others feel like open windows — suddenly, the air changes, light floods in, and you can finally breathe again. That was what the D-School Prayer Ministry session became for me: a doorway into peace after years of striving to fix what was never truly broken.

This session uncovered deep patterns around boundaries — both their absence and their overuse. I’ve experienced both extremes of boundaries: none with my parents and too many with my stepdad, leaving me “bouncing between all four boundary problems.”

Growing up, our home felt like a pendulum swinging between too few boundaries and too many. Mum and Dad were rarely home, so my brother Stefan and I spent much of our childhood home alone, learning to fend for ourselves in the silence.

Then everything shifted when I was 12 and mom remarried. By the time I was seventeen, life under my stepdad’s roof meant being home by five p.m. and in bed with lights out by 8.30 p.m. The walls felt close, the air heavy, my freedom gone. I went from invisible to confined, from having no boundaries to being surrounded by walls that silenced who I was becoming.

Yet even here, God whispered peace.

That instability shaped how I learned to protect, please, and perform for love — the very “human doing” that Sheree’s words spoke into.

Ophelia’s testimony became a hammer of truth, breaking chains of false responsibility.

In 2017, when I told my father that I was struggling with depression, his response pierced me:

For as long as I could remember, those words had echoed in my soul. They became a lie I unconsciously agreed with — that there was something intrinsically wrong with me from the very beginning.

Yet today, God began rewriting that belief. Through Kevin's fatherly prayer and the loving words of others, He spoke His truth:

Kevin’s reminder that I had “sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind” helped me see how striving had produced exhaustion, not peace. 

Michelle’s vision of a blossoming tree revealed how God saw me — every blossom a reflection of a facet He had lovingly designed.

And Sheree’s gentle words — landed like cool water on parched ground. They invited me to step off the treadmill of striving and simply rest in belovedness.

The Father whispered,

Those words felt like balm to my weary heart. For the first time in years, I allowed myself to simply BE — to breathe, to rest, to abide. His whisper directly dismantles the old lie that began in childhood when love was conditional or absent, embracing each season as a sacred classroom of becoming. 

When I look at it alongside my Core Values, it’s clear how deeply that encounter was aligned with the essence of who I am:

• My faith and spirituality were affirmed when He spoke, “Come, my child… rest in Me.”, anchoring myself in His unchanging love.

• My value of love and compassion was echoed in His assurance, “There is nothing wrong with you.” , extending the same grace to myself that I freely give to others.

• My longing for balance and rest was directly answered in His invitation to abide in His peace rather than perform for approval, recognising that rest is not laziness, but trust in God’s sovereignty.

• My core of creativity and growth was mirrored in Michelle’s vision — a blossoming tree where every flower revealed another facet of my God-given character. It echoed the beauty of my redeemed identity, uniquely formed by the Gardener’s care. Each blossom represents the redeemed parts of my character: courage blooming where fear once lived, peace taking root where chaos once ruled and compassion where criticism wounded. The Father of Peace calls me to rest — not to earn love, but to abide in it.

It was a sacred reclaiming of identity after years of blurred or broken boundaries and His peace became the new safe boundary around your soul.

The words spoken over me painted a picture of restoration.

These truths have become a cornerstone of my healing.

Abiding in His peace is not passive. It is the daily choice to believe what He says about me — that I am loved, chosen, and whole.

Today, I rest in that assurance. There is nothing wrong with me — only something profoundly right that He is restoring, one blossom at a time.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gentle way You untangle the lies that once held me captive. Teach me to rest in Your peace, to quiet my striving, and to remember that I am already loved and complete in You. Help me to breathe deeply of Your presence each day and to live from the stillness of knowing that there is nothing wrong with me. May Your peace guard my heart and guide my steps, now and always.

In Jesus' Name, Amen.