When Bad News Hits Home: Choosing Hope Over Fear

When the bills are piling high, when you see more than 40% of your hard-earned money go to taxes, and when the price of groceries, electricity, and gas keeps skyrocketing, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed. It’s hard not to stress. For many of us, faith is our anchor during tough times. We read about casting our burdens onto the Lord, choosing not to worry, not to fear, remembering that God goes before us, but let’s be honest, that’s easier said than done.

My husband recently got served a plate of bad news. He’s been worried, and I’ll admit, we’ve had a couple of fights about moving forward from this situation. There is NOTHING he can do about it right this second, so as a newly self-proclaimed positive thinker, I keep coming back to the same truth: Ruminating, spiralling, speaking fear and negativity over the situation doesn’t solve it — it just amplifies it. I genuinely believe that refusing to speak life is choosing to make things worse.

Speaking life isn’t just a faith concept. It’s actually science.

Neuroscience has been telling us for years that what we say and think literally changes the structure and function of our brains. This is neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to rewire itself through repeated thoughts, words, and experiences.

• Speaking life gets stress and cortisol under control: it is proven that negative words activate the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, which triggers the release of cortisol. Chronically elevated cortisol increases anxiety, irritability, pessimism, and even memory problems. Positive language and affirmations, on the other hand, calm the amygdala and activate regions of the brain responsible for emotional regulation and problem-solving. Studies from universities like Stanford and UPenn show that positive self-talk can reduce stress hormones and improve emotional resilience.

• It also activates your reticular activating system (RAS): that’s your brain’s internal “filter”, deciding which information gets your attention. If you constantly speak fear, loss, and defeat, your brain starts scanning for evidence that confirms those beliefs. But when you intentionally speak possibility, hope, and solutions, your RAS shifts. You begin noticing opportunities, new ideas and pathways forward. In other words, your words literally train your brain to see a different reality.

• It strengthens your neural pathways: Every thought you repeat becomes a groove in your brain. Repeating a negative story makes negativity automatic. Repeating a positive one (yes, even before you fully believe it) makes optimism automatic. This is why elite athletes visualize success. Their brains become conditioned to expect it. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has reinforced this for decades: thoughts lead to feelings, and feelings lead to behaviors. Change the thought, and you change the outcome.

In short: speaking life works because your brain was designed by God to respond to expectation, repetition, and belief.

Practical Ways to Speak Life into Hard Situations

The goal is not denial. You don’t need to pretend everything is wonderful. You’re simply choosing the perspective that strengthens you rather than destroys you.

• Acknowledge the emotion without fusing with it. Instead of “I am angry,” say “I feel angry.” The difference is subtle but powerful: One defines you. The other describes a temporary experience..

• Reframe negative thoughts: Instead of “This is a disaster,” try “This is hard, but I will find a way through it.”

• Focus on solutions: Negativity freezes creativity. Solution-oriented language activates the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain responsible for problem-solving.

• Practice daily affirmations: Even if they feel awkward. Even if they feel like a lie. Because eventually, repetition becomes belief, and belief becomes action.

• Build gratitude into your routine: Gratitude rewires the brain toward resilience. It increases serotonin, reduces stress, and shifts your perspective back to God’s goodness.
And as Christians, gratitude isn’t optional — it’s obedience.

I’ve written before about the power of gratitude and affirmations. The Mayo Clinic and leading psychologists agree: positive thought patterns don’t deny reality — they influence outcomes. My husband disagrees. He feels that speaking life is lying to ourselves. And I say: “heck yeah”! Much of our negative self-talk isn’t fact; it’s fear. And fear lies so why not challenge fear with better “lies” — ones aligned with hope, faith, and God’s character — until a new narrative forms? Faith itself is believing in what we cannot yet see. Sometimes you have to tell your brain a “lie,” and keep telling it, until your brain decides it’s true and aligns with God’s truth instead of your fears.

The Three Keys I Lean On in Hard Times

1) Gratitude resets the heart
Romans 8:28 says everything works together for our good. EVERYTHING! So if it aint good it aint over!
If everything is meant for our good, then choosing gratitude (even in the middle of the mess) aligns us with what God is already doing behind the scenes.

Like any good parent, God delights when His children acknowledge His goodness: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6-7).

2) Affirmation and visualization strengthen the mind
I’ve talked about this tool before. Visualization is expectant faith, it’s aligning your thoughts, feeling and actions with the belief that God is moving. It’s standing on Isaiah 30:18, that God longs to be gracious to those who wait expectantly for Him.

When you visualize God intervening, you’re not dictating the outcome. You’re practicing trust.You’re choosing expectation over despair. It’s training your mind to partner with God’s promises instead of worst-case scenarios.

3) Asking others to pray strengthens your spirit

Yep, it requires humility to say that we’re going through a rough patch. But Scripture is clear: unity in prayer releases power. “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20).

When you invite others to pray, you multiply faith, not fear. Jesus tells us that when two or three gather, something shifts. Unity brings spiritual reinforcement. And when God responds, many will glorify Him because they witnessed the journey.

In the end, the entire Bible is either true or it isn’t. Either we cling to God’s promises or we do it on our own. On the days when hope feels thin, remind your heart of what’s true, and yes (sorry babe) tell your brain the “lies” it needs to hear, until you find peace and rest (that’s a promise too!).

SPARK: I Drive Fast, I’m a Little Bougie, and I Love Jesus

I like a red lip, high heels, funky sneakers, oversized glasses, and Botox.
I live in black tailored clothes, I drive a two-seater, and I love traveling, dining out, and going to the spa.
I’m bold and passionate. I speak loudly. I laugh louder.
I’m a leader, a bridge builder, a fighter for the ones I love.
I embrace my “bougieness” as well as my black belt in shopping.
I love Gucci, Tom Browne, and Chanel—and yes, I love Jesus.

While some in the Christian community may condemn this as vain or worldly, I see style, fashion, beauty, décor—and all things beautiful—as expressions of who I am. My look and my space are pieces of my identity. And though I understand that we’re “not of the world,” we live in it. We’re called to move in it, to build relationships in it, to reflect Christ within it.

Who Does Your Style Attract?

There’s a common question: Can faith and fashion co-exist?
My answer is yes. Emphatically, unapologetically yes.

There’s a difference between fashion and style. Fashion is seasonal. It’s what’s hot right now. It’s about the hype, the collective, the algorithm.
Style, on the other hand, is personal. It’s timeless. It’s your signature. Style is the thread of consistency that weaves through your life, regardless of how much you spend on a garment.

Style says: This is who I am. This is what I value. It speaks before you do. It helps people understand if you’re their kind of people.

We can’t erase the truth that while God doesn’t look at the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7), humans do. That’s not shallow—it’s reality. And if the people you want to influence are moved first by what they see, then what you wear can be a bridge, not a barrier.

Your appearance can be an invitation. It’s not about impressing. It’s about expressing.

Style as Ministry

God placed us in different environments with different gifts and talents. If we’re meant to be His ambassadors, we must be relatable and current in the worlds we move in. We’re judged by our appearance, whether we like it or not. It’s how we’re first perceived. It’s often how people decide whether or not they want to engage with us.

Even if God didn’t give me the income to match my taste, I know this: style doesn’t require designer labels. Style is about confidence. It’s about clarity. It’s about showing up in a way that aligns with the message you carry. The clothes I wear are part of my armour. They tell my clients and collaborators that “I belong here”, that I take myself—and my calling—seriously, and that they can too. They open doors. And in a world full of noise and distraction, they help me cut through, connect, and be seen.

God Loves Beautiful Things

We serve a God of beauty. He didn’t just make the earth functional—He made it breathtaking. He designed sunsets in shades no designer could replicate. He created wildflowers that bloom in places no one may ever see. He mixes greens, browns, and blues in ways that break every fashion rule—and still somehow, it all works. Beauty isn’t trendy. It’s embedded in the DNA of creation.

Even in the Old Testament, God gave detailed instructions for the garments of the high priests: gold thread, precious stones, embroidered fabrics. He didn’t have to. But He did. Because beauty matters to Him. Detail matters. Symbolism matters.

If we’re made in His image, then our appreciation for beauty, for colour and texture, for form and self-expression—it isn’t shallow. It’s sacred and it’s a reflection of His image in me.  

Dressing with Intention and Purpose

For me, style is not just preference—it’s purpose. It’s part of my calling.

When I walk into a room, what I wear can spark connection. It creates familiarity. Sometimes it creates curiosity—and that curiosity leads to conversations. And those conversations? They often open the door to deeper things. To faith.

We’re called to be salt and light—not invisible and bland. And showing up fully as ourselves—unique, bold, intentional—is one of the ways we honour the God who made us.

So if you see me in my oversized sunnies and red lip, know this: I’m not dressing to impress. I’m dressing to align. I’m bringing every part of me—bold, beautiful, imperfect, passionate—into agreement with the God who made me this way, on purpose.

Yes, I drive fast.
I’m a little bougie.
And I love Jesus with everything I’ve got.

“I’m a woman of God but I’m street”…

Watch it here.

SPARK: The boost we need to take on the week!

…BUT GOD

Even if I’m in the waiting room right now (and that’s a whole other article), my life has been filled with “…but God” moments. It’s funny how clearly I can see them now—only in hindsight. Those pivotal times when everything felt uncertain, and yet, God was quietly at work, redirecting my path.

Looking back, I see His hand in my move from Montreal to Toronto. At the time, it felt like a leap into the unknown, but now I recognize His intervention in every step. I see Him in how I met my husband, in the launch of my business, and in the milestones we hit—like last year’s sales goals that once felt impossible. None of it was coincidence. It was divine orchestration. I couldn’t see it then, but I can now.

One of my favourite words in the Bible is “but.” Because when “but God” appears in Scripture, it signals a turning point. It’s where the story shifts—when what was lost is found, when death gives way to life, when blindness becomes sight, when there was no way…

Those two simple words are packed with possibilities. They speak of a God who interrupts despair with hope, impossibility with promise, and endings with new beginnings. They reveal His nature—gracious, compassionate, redemptive. A God who saves in more ways than we can count.

In fact, the phrase “but God” appears 587 times in the New English Translation. And almost every time, it follows a moment of weakness, crisis, or failure—when human strength has run out, when the storm has hit, when it seems like the story is over. That’s when God steps in. He has a track record of epic comebacks.

Some of the Bible’s greatest heroes experienced a “but God” moment:

• Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 20:1–3)

• Joseph, betrayed by his brothers: “But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles” (Acts 7:9–10) and “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good…” (Genesis 50:20)

• David, relentlessly pursued: “But God did not give him into [Saul’s] hands” (1 Samuel 23:14)

• And Jesus himself: “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead” (Acts 3:15). As Matthew 19:26 reminds us, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Every one of these stories pivoted on those two words.

When “but God” enters the narrative, get ready for divine intervention.

So if you're in a tough season right now—waiting, praying, wondering if God is even listening—take heart. “But God” moments don’t show up in comfort. They come when the odds are stacked against you, when strength is gone, when you’ve run out of resources and options. It might feel like you’re down to your last strike—but the game isn’t over yet. Maybe your “But God” moment is just around the corner.

And trust me—you won’t want to miss it.