In Genesis 1:28, God blesses humanity and says “Be fruitful”. I don’t think it’s about “more” - doing more, carrying more or proving more. The “fruits” (or resources) God has given us are meant to help us live with purpose while serving others and become all we were meant to BE. I believe that fruitfulness requires two things: nourishment and pruning. The former is what helps us grow; a balance of rest, work, time alone with God, time with family and friends who uplift us, challenge us, encourage us and inspire us to BEcome better. Pruning is harder. It means allowing God to show us what is depleting us. The situations, habits, activities or relationships that keep taking from us without producing good fruit in us. It is not pleasant and sometimes it hurts, deeply because cutting things and people out of our lives feels like a loss. I wrote about this before in the SPARK section of BE, about friends for a season and friends for a reason. God creates opportunities to cut or take away what no longer serves His purpose for us, so He can make room for more fruit. That is the reward that follows pruning! In this season of my life, as I reinvent myself, I’ve been praying for God to remove what no longer belongs. This time, I want to begin again closely with Him and not on my own. I want what He wants for me. I want the people, the work, the opportunities and the direction that will help me walk in the purpose He has for my life.

I often tell my son that God’s dreams for us are bigger than our own but to become all we were meant to BE, we have to be willing to let Him take away what is no longer helping us grow. Maybe fruitfulness starts there. Not with doing more. But with surrendering what is keeping us from becoming more.

In Genesis 1:31, after God looked at everything He had made, the Bible says, “it was very good”. We often fall into the trap of working and hustling toward a goal that somehow never feels like enough once we get there. We move from one thing to the next without stopping long enough to enjoy the work of our hands but God stopped, looked at what He had made and saw that it was good. Ecclesiastes 2:24 says that it is a gift from God to find enjoyment in their work.
I think too many people see Christianity as a long list of don’ts: don’t enjoy too much, don’t dream too big, don’t have too much fun! Let’s be honest, a lot of people think Christians are boring. But that is not the life Jesus came to give us. Jesus said He came so we could have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). In fact, His first miracle was not at a funeral or in a temple but at a wedding where He turned water into wine (not wine into water 😊). That tells me something about the heart of God. He is not against joy, having fun and a few laughs… He created them! So I want to live life to the fullest. I want to focus on what God wants for me.
One thing is certain: no one gets to the end of their life wishing they had worked more. Maybe part of living fully is learning to stop, to look at the work of our hands, to enjoy the journey to our goals. To see that it is good. And yes, to smell the roses.

Did you ever stop to think about the immense creativity Adam must have had to name all the birds, fish, and living things? A moment in nature paints a picture of God’s own imagination: blue sky, green grass, colourful flowers, we would never dare to put that colour combo together in an outfit, yet, somehow, when God does it, it becomes this magnificent canvas filled with colour and texture.
See, if we were created in God’s image, then creativity is not something reserved for a few talented artists. It’s part of our DNA! We were made in the image of a God who is creative, diverse, imaginative and never boring. Sometimes I think we forget that the same Holy Spirit who was present at creation is living inside us when we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
We are designed to need freshness and newness in our lives. There’s nothing wrong with “I need change”. The problem starts when we constantly chase the next new thing because we’re never satisfied.
God’s creativity doesn’t stop with aesthetic but is found in how he designs solutions to our problems, crafts opportunities we never saw coming and makes a way where we couldn’t see one. I think of past cover girls like @emz.obrien who built her popcorn empire out of prison and Amanda Stassen @buildwithbizu who was pulled into the world of witchcraft, divination and curses who now blesses business leaders and helps them to good in the world. That is the imagination of God.
We serve a colourful God. A God full of ideas. A God who creates beauty, makes new paths and writes stories we never could have imagined on our own. So maybe creativity is not just something we use when it’s time to decorate or put an outfit together… Maybe it’s something we were created to carry every day, to give hope to the world.

Genesis 2:24 says: A man leaves his father & mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. It sounds simple enough! We often think that the minute we say “hi do”, we're one! I beg to differ. This passage shows a 3-step process to unity: Leave, cleave, become one. While the minute the pastor declares you married, a couple is legally joint together, they've only begun the process of “becoming one”.
1st step - Leave: That does not mean cutting off your family. It means that after God, your primary loyalty shifts to your spouse – your mom, dad, friends, old patterns no longer have the final say in your life. It’s a team of two trusting and leaning on each other for validation, comfort and action.
Step 2 - Cleave: The word means to stick to each other like glue! It carries a powerful picture for a couple to no longer act as two people living separate lives under the same roof. It's the daily decision to turn toward each other, to protect the relationship, to build trust and to keep choosing each other, especially when life gets hard.
Step 3 - BEcoming one: This is not just physical, it's about joining body, soul and spirit over time. When both people in a marriage are born again, there's a spiritual foundation in place but often the hardest part of becoming one is the joining of two souls, two minds, two wills, two sets of emotions, two ways of seeing the world, two sets of luggage! That is where most marital conflict happen: Communication, sex, money, goals, children, expectations... The arguments on the surface are often symptoms of something deeper: two people still learning how to surrender, listen, forgive and come into agreement.
Maybe one of the most powerful prayers in marriage is not, “God, change my spouse” but “God, change my mind when I am wrong”. Because becoming one is not about one person winning and the other losing. It is about both people allowing God to bring them into agreement with His will, purpose and ways of loving. Marriage is not just a contract, it's a process: A daily invitation to leave what needs to be left, cling to what God has joined together and enjoying the journey of becoming one.

Genesis 6 paints a dark picture of the world in Noah’s time. The Bible says that the earth had become corrupt and full of violence, that people had lost their way, and that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was evil all the time”. It sounds extreme, but it also feels uncomfortably familiar.
We live in a world where so many things that once would have shocked us have become normal. We are constantly surrounded by noise, opinions, outrage, comparison, temptation, fear and compromise. Little by little, if we are not careful, the values of the world can start to shape our thoughts, our language, our desires and even our definition of what is acceptable.
Noah was different. Though he did not live in a perfect world, his heart remained faithful to God. So, in the midst of all the dark stories we hear, how can we, like him, guard our hearts? I believe it starts by paying attention to what is forming us: What we’re watching, what we’re reading, what we’re listening to… Do the people shaping our convictions share the same values we hold? What have we allowed to become a standard in our lives simply because everyone else seems comfortable with it?
We cannot constantly feed our minds with darkness and expect light to pour out of us. We cannot fill our hearts with bitterness, lust, comparison, fear and cynicism and then wonder why peace feels so far away. Garbage in, garbage out may sound simple, but spiritually, it is true.
Jesus said that to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must become like little children; tender, teachable, pure-hearted, able to hear, able to trust, able to respond to the voice of the Holy Spirit before the noise of the world hardens our hearts.
Noah reminds us that it is possible to live differently, even when everyone around us is going another way.
Staying true to our values does not happen by accident. It starts with the heart before it shows in our actions. Jesus said that what comes out of the mouth flows from the heart, and Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts, because everything we do flows from it.
So maybe it's not “What I believe” but rather “What am I allowing to shape me?”

When God called Abraham in Genesis 12, He did not hand him a full itinerary. He did not give him a map, a timeline or a detailed explanation of how everything would unfold. He simply said, “Go” And Abraham packed up without knowing the destination. He only knew step one: leave, go, obey.
Even if we don’t like the process, that’s often how God operates. He does not show the entire staircase, just the first step! We want confirmation, certainty, strategy, timing and the full picture of the plan, but faith often begins with trusting the One who gave the first instruction.
Abraham did not know step two until he obeyed step one. That’s part of how God builds our faith. With every step, we learn that there is sure footing beneath what He asks us to do, even when we cannot yet see the road ahead.
The promise in Genesis 12 was extraordinary. God told Abraham He would make his name great. But before the promise unfolded, Abraham had to be willing to leave what was familiar and move toward a future he could not yet see. Obedience often asks us to leave more than a location. Sometimes it asks us to leave comfort, control, old identities, familiar patterns, people’s approval or the version of life we thought we were building.
We love to rejoice over the promises of God, but sometimes we forget that many promises require participation. Abraham had to go before he saw. He had to obey before the miracle became tangible. And that's the lesson:
If we want Abraham’s kind of blessing, we have to be willing to have Abraham’s kind of obedience.

In Genesis 13, we read about a fight between Abraham’s and Lot’s people. To keep the peace, Abraham suggested they part ways, giving Lot the first choice over the land. When Lot chose what looked like the best, it could have been a moment for Abraham to become disappointed because, let’s be honest, it hurts when people take advantage of our kindness. But God had other plans for Abraham and said: “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, for all the land which you see I will give to you.” The lesson here is that instead of becoming discouraged, depressed or angry when people disappoint us, God wants us to lift up our eyes, to see beyond the disappointment, to look around and trust him to lead us into an even better situation. It’s not about fixing our eyes on what they did, what they took, what they got or what we feel we lost. God wants us to lift up our eyes to focus on Him and remember that He still has plans to prosper us and give us a future (Jeremiah).
In this season of my life, where “nos” have been difficult to take, where I have compared my achievements to others and, honestly, felt a little jealous at times, I am learning to see things differently. Maybe some nos are protection, closed doors redirection and maybe, just maybe, the same faith I have for the yes is also needed for the no, the delay and the disappointment. Genesis 15:1 says, “Do not be afraid, I am your shield, your very great reward.” That is the promise I am clinging to.
It’s frustrating to wait for a breakthrough. I know all about it but while sitting in the waiting room of life, we need to remind ourselves that if God planted a seed in us, if He is still waking us up in the morning, He’s not done with us! I heard someone say “if it aint good it aint over”… so take that has encouragement. The in-between is often preparation before the seed bears fruit and even when we cannot see it, God is still working everything together for our good (Romans 8:28). There’s activity going on that we cannot see. God does some of his best work in secret so lift up your eyes sister and look around… God’s not done!

Abram and Sarai got tired of waiting for God’s promise to come to pass, so they decided to help move things along. Sarai gave her maid Hagar to Abram, hoping that maybe this was how the promise would happen.
She had a plan and knew how to help! Sound familiar?
Have you ever tried to “help” God move things along? I have…
Have you ever been so tired of waiting that you started building your own version of the promise?
Abram and Sarai waited another 14 years after the birth of Ishmael before Isaac, the son of the promise, was born. It makes me wonder if it took so long because once we give birth to the “Ishmaels” in our lives, we also have to deal with the consequences and take care of what we created out of impatience. If we’re being honest, many of us want to carry out our own plans and then ask God to bless them (it would be faster wouldn’t it?). But God is not obligated to bless what I give birth to out of my own strength. Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain”. That is the reminder that God has great things in store for us, but He brings them to pass in His way and in His timing.
My favourite verse of the Bible is Jeremiah 29:11, where God says He has plans for us to prosper us and give us a future. Plans unfortunately take time to become reality. So let me encourage you, and myself too: Wait on Him (I know, I’m not good at that too!). Do not force what God has not released. Do not manipulate what God has not opened. Do not create an Ishmael because you are tired of waiting for Isaac. An Ishmael may become a burden but Isaac IS THE blessing.

In Bible times, names meant so much more than they do today. A name often spoke to a person’s character, a circumstance, a calling or a promise. In Genesis 17, God changed Abram’s and Sarai’s names and I believe that rebranding transformed their lives. It was not just a new label, it was God declaring what He was about to do in them and through them before it was visible to anyone else, calling it into existence (Romans 4:17).
Sarah had lived for years with the pain of infertility. In that culture, so much of a woman’s worth was tied to her ability to have children. I can only imagine the disappointment, the shame, the insecurity and the grief she must have carried. But God called her Sarah, which means princess. Before the baby, the miracle, the evidence, God gave her a name that spoke to her value, dignity and promise over her life to instantly change the image of herself. I wonder if every time someone called her Sarah, something began to change inside her too because the name essentially stated that she was beautiful and valuable, a king’s daughter! Maybe she started to see herself differently, maybe it caused her faith and self-esteem to grow.
Similarly, Abram also went through his own transformation to become the father of many nations. God was not calling them by what they lacked but what He had promised. And maybe that is the lesson for us! We have to be careful what names we answer to!
Failure. Rejected. Too old. Not enough. Unqualified. Unwanted. Those names may come from people, pain, disappointment or even our own thoughts, but they are not the names God has given us.
God calls us chosen. Loved. Forgiven. Redeemed. Daughters. His. So maybe the question is not only, “what’s in a name?” but “what name have I been answering to that God never gave me”?
I looked up my own name, Brigitte, and the French/German origin means strength and exalted one. In this season, I need to remember that strength is not just something I am trying to find, it’s something God has already spoken over me.

Lot’s wife is one of those Bible stories that has always felt a little harsh to me. She looked back and became a pillar of salt. But the more I sit with the story, the more I realize the issue was not only that she turned her head but her heart condition… She was still attached to what God had told her to leave behind. God was rescuing her from a place that had become dark, corrupt and destructive, but something in her still longed for it. Verse 26 says: “Lot’s wife looked back LONGINGLY”. God wanted to make her new, but she wanted her old life. It was familiar, comfortable, safe, easier than moving in the unknown.
There’s nothing wrong in remembering the past but by romanticizing it, we keep longing for something God already delivered us from: A past relationship, a lifestyle, an old version of ourselves, a season that felt comfortable, even if it was not good for us.
In Luke 9:62 Jesus said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God”. That is a hard verse, but I think it is also a loving warning because looking back can keep us stuck. When we keep looking back at guilt, we lose our freedom; while looking back at hurt, we keep bitterness alive, getting stuck in the past prevents us from moving forward. We keep who we USED TO BE and make it harder to BECOME who God is calling us to be.
This morning I’m asking myself: What has God asked me to leave behind that I keep revisiting in my mind? Lot’s wife reminds us that we cannot walk into the future God has for us while our heart is still attached to the place He told us to leave. We need to stop looking back and stalling on the old, not because the past did not matter but because God is trying to move us forward into who He created us to BE.

In Genesis 29, we read the story of Leah and Rachel. Rachel was the one Jacob loved. The Bible says she was beautiful and desirable. Leah, on the other hand, was the one he did not want and honestly, that part hurts. Have you ever felt like Leah? In my first marriage I was made to feel I wasn’t enough in every way. Not pretty enough, not smart enough, not spiritual enough. Little by little it destroyed my self-esteem, I gained a lot of weight, I isolated myself. I felt ugly, compared, overlooked. Undesirable. Unwanted.
All my life I’ve been a people pleaser, tried to do “all the things” to be loved, noticed, chosen and valued… I related to Leah’s story because we see her trying to earn Jacob’s love so hard! When she has her first son, she hopes Jacob will finally love her. Then another son. Then another. Each time, it feels like she is still looking for validation from someone who cannot give her what her soul really needs. But then something shifts. By the time she has Judah, Leah says, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Not this time he will love me or this time I will finally be enough but this time I will praise the Lord. Leah had breakthrough and it wasn’t about having babies. Maybe her breakthrough was realizing that her worth did not depend on Jacob’s affection. In fact, God chose Leah’s line for something extraordinary: From Judah came King David but also Jesus. That means the woman who felt unwanted was part of the greatest promise in history.
People may overlook us, compare us, fail to see the value God placed inside us but rejection does not cancel purpose! Being overlooked by people does not mean being forgotten by God. Leah reminds us that God sees the woman crying in the background.
He saw her and He sees ME and is writing something beautiful through my life and yours!
So if you feel overlooked in this season, remember that God does not need people to choose you in order to bless you. He already has.

In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with God through the night. Honestly, I love his determination to get a blessing. It pictures someone who knows he needs God and refuses to walk away without Him. But what’s with the limp?
I don’t know about you, but I often focus on my imperfections: my belly, my wrinkles, my temper, my lack of understanding of certain subjects like finance or tech. I often feel that my “limps” — my insecurities, past wounds and weaknesses — disqualify me from moving forward in certain areas of my life. But maybe Jacob’s story is a reminder that God can be glorified through people who allow Him to use their personal weaknesses, because that is often where He shines the brightest. Maybe it’s because we can’t take the credit for the outcome. We just can’t deny it was Him. In fact, the Bible says His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
We all limp in some way. We all have places in our lives where we feel less strong than we want people to believe. Places where we feel insecure. Places where we wish we were further ahead, wiser, stronger, healed, more confident or more capable. But our imperfections do not stop God from working through us. To the contrary!
The danger is when we focus so much on what is wrong with us that we idle, compare and overthink. We talk ourselves out of what God has called us to do. We assume our limp disqualifies us. But Jacob’s story tells me something different.
You can limp and still BE blessed, BE called, Carry purpose. You can limp and still walk into what God has for you. In His hands, even a limp can become a testimony.

In Genesis 37, God gave Joseph a dream of greatness and, in his excitement, he shared it with his brothers who weren’t nearly as thrilled about it as he was. In fact, his dream made them hate him so much that they eventually sold their own brother into slavery.
In a world where we share everything on Facebook posts and Instagram stories, this is a good lesson: not every dream needs an audience. Some things God places in our hearts need to be protected before they are presented. Not because we are afraid or because we’re hiding, but because not everyone has the maturity, faith, love or (more importantly) vision to handle what God has shown us. Sometimes sharing too soon exposes the dream to jealousy, judgement, discouragement, or distraction. And sometimes WE'RE not ready yet either to face the crowd, the questions, the opinions and the criticism.
Joseph had the dream, but he did not yet have the wisdom, character or maturity to carry the dream. Before the palace, there was the pit. Before leadership, there was servanthood. Before authority, there was obedience. Before elevation, there was preparation. Just like in the gym, strength is built under pressure.
Many years ago, early on in my career, I kept saying to my team that God was about to do something BIG… Well, it took over ten years to get to my breakthrough!
God often develops in private what He plans to use in public. Joseph’s hardship was not the end of the dream. It was preparation for it.
So maybe the lesson is this: Be careful who you share your dream with. Be willing to walk through the process quietly and trust that if God gave the dream, He also knows how to develop you for it. Not every promise needs to be posted. Some dreams need to be carried in silence until God says it is time.

I love the story of Joseph. It has become a compass for me. Throughout his story, the Bible says again and again that the Lord was with him and that he lived in such a way that people can see God in me - I long for that!
Joseph’s life was filled with favour, but it was not because his circumstances were easy. He was betrayed, sold, falsely accused, forgotten, imprisoned, and yet, wherever Joseph was placed, he served with excellence. His work must have been trustworthy, stellar and consistent. So much so that he was put in charge of everything!
In Potiphar’s house, Genesis 39 says that the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in everything he did. It also says that the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. I love that and pray for this daily. I truly want God to bless my clients who entrust work to me and that those connected to my life would experience blessing because God’s hand is on what I do.
Have you ever asked someone to “do you a favour”? You’re essentially asking that person to do something for you that you haven’t earned or paid for. You’re depending on the person’s goodness. God wants to give us favour too! It’s part of His grace. It’s not something we earn. It’s His goodness moving in our lives in ways we couldn’t make happen on our own.
Joseph’s story also reminds me that favour and faithfulness often walk together. He did not wait for perfect circumstances to become excellent. He was faithful in the house and in prison.
So today, I'm reminding myself: Keep the right attitude, do the work with excellence, serve well where God has placed you and expect His favour. Because if God is with you, the pit can become preparation for the palace.

We have all heard that forgiveness is more beneficial for us than for the person who hurt us. And that may be true but let’s be honest, forgiving is hard sometimes.
I’m not talking about the little things... I’m talking about Joseph-level betrayal like being hurt by people who should have loved you, being wounded by people you trusted, being thrown into a pit by the very ones who should have protected you.
I must admit that it took me a long time to forgive my ex so I can only imagine what it must have taken for Joseph to say “What you meant for evil, God turned it into good”.
Looking back, I can see good in the middle of some of the worst seasons of my life. The birth of my son out of a broken marriage. How God drew me to Himself, even through a church season that hurt me deeply. Finding my now husband, the love of my life, after a breakup that made me fall apart before God rebuilt me stronger.
Those experiences taught me that God truly can work things together for our good, even in situations that felt like they could destroy me. That kind of faith changes the way you see EVERYTHING! I know MY God is still in the miracle business! I EXPECT to see miracles and unexplainable things in my life. Things only God can do.
And like Joseph, I want my life to become a testimony that He lives, He is good, and He loves us.
My mess can become my message and yours can become your message too! I believe we do not go through hard things only for ourselves but for God to use what we survived to help someone else.
God does not waste pain. He will use it if we give it to Him. Isaiah 61:3 says He gives beauty for ashes and Joseph’s story reminds us that what was meant to break us can become the very thing God uses to bless others. The pit was not the end. The prison was not the end. The betrayal was not the end. God was still writing the story all along for His glory.