🌿SANCTUARY LETTER

Family & Marriage: The Places God Grows Us

Beloved,

There are seasons when God brings us back to the place that shaped us
-not to reopen old wounds, but to show us how much we’ve healed.
Family and marriage are two of those places. They are not just relationships;
They are classrooms. They reveal who we are, what we believe, and where God
is still forming us.

Family is where we learn that love is not one-size-fits-all. Children raised in
the same home grow up with different stories, different wounds, and different
emotional assignments. Some become rescuers. Some become survivors, some become protectors. Some become quiet. And some become strong in ways we
never expected.

Marriage is where we learn that a covenant is not about avoiding storms, but
about surviving them with our souls intact. Some marriages break us wide open
so God can rebuild us from the inside out. And some marriages reveal the parts
of us we didn’t know needed healing.

But her is the truth God keeps whispering to me:

Healing doesn’t erase the past- it changes your posture toward it.

I no longer relate to my children from survival.
I no longer relate to my past from pain.
I no longer relate to myself from guilt.
I no longer relate to relationships from fear.

I relate from peace.

And peace has become my new boundary, my new language, my new identity.

Family will stretch you.
Marriage will shape you
Life will break you wide open.
But healing will teach you how to
stand again –
not as the woman you were,
But as the woman God has formed
through every season.

If you are navigating family dynamics, adult children, blended homes,
betrayal, distance, or reconnection, hear this:

You are allowed to love without losing yourself.
You are allowed to support without absorbing.
You are allowed to be present
without being pulled.
You are allowed to honor others
without abandoning your peace.

This is the work.
This is the growth.
This is the grace.

May this be the season where you relate from your healed identity,
not your wounded one.
May this be the season where peace becomes your posture.
May this be the season where God shows you how far you’ve come.

You are not who you were,
And that is the testimony.

-Debra
GraceVoiceMedia