Diane Murchison came to Made for More carrying a long history of searching for healing. Her upbringing had been deeply difficult, but for many years she believed the effects were contained within her own life. After marriage, she began to see how unresolved pain was also affecting the person she loved. At the age of forty, she made the decision to seek help.

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That journey taught Diane to reinterpret parts of herself she had previously rejected. Tears, which she once considered a weakness, became a gift. She also discovered a capacity for forgiveness. Yet one part of the journey remained unfinished. Although she could forgive others, she recognized that genuine happiness would remain difficult until she learned to forgive herself.

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Diane identifies this as one of the most important gifts she received through Fr. Dominic's retreats. The teaching, personal insights and shared experience offered her practical ways to approach self-forgiveness. More importantly, the retreat helped her see herself again as a child of God.

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That identity challenged her dependence upon other people's opinions. When a person has lived through dysfunction or rejection, the approval and judgment of others can carry enormous power. Made for More reminded Diane that her deepest identity does not rest upon what another person thinks. It is received from God.

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She also valued meeting people from different walks of life. Their histories were not identical, but they shared a desire to move closer to God and allow him to lead them towards the people they were created to become. This common searching created a place where individual pain did not have to result in isolation.

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One teaching about freedom remained with Diane. Freedom is not simply the ability to do whatever we want. Deeper freedom involves releasing the desires and needs that control us so that we can receive what God desires for our lives. It is the freedom to become the person God created us to be.

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Diane believes that God created his children for happiness, although some people must work through more obstacles than others to receive it. For her, Made for More became a place where that work could continue honestly and prayerfully.

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Her story does not pretend that one weekend erases the past. Instead, it shows how a retreat can become part of a continuing journey—one in which self-forgiveness, identity and freedom are gradually restored through the love of God.