Change Your Story, Change Your Life
In this January Inner Circle podcast, Chrystal Hurst addresses viewers who have fallen short of their New Year goals, urging them to re‑evaluate the stories they tell themselves and to "stoke the coals" of their motivation. She explains how self‑defeating narratives—"I’m not a finisher" or "I can’t set goals"—become internal recordings that sabotage progress. Drawing on personal anecdotes (pregnant college student, unfinished piano lessons, writing a book without an outline) and biblical passages (Psalm 46:1, Galatians 6:9, Psalm 37:4, Joshua 21:45), she frames authenticity, integrity, and reliance on the Holy Spirit as essential to reshaping one’s identity. Hurst uses the fireplace metaphor to contrast fleeting motivation (fat‑wood, gel) with sustained effort (hard‑wood, proper stacking), illustrating the need for systems, community support, and disciplined habits (planners, timers, accountability groups). She outlines practical steps: create a clear plan, schedule habits, join supportive groups (Inner Circle, Sister Circle cruise), and pray for divine guidance. Throughout, she emphasizes grace over perfection, encouraging listeners to restart when they “let the fire go out.” The talk concludes with a call to action to join her Inner Circle, purchase her 2025 planner, and consider the upcoming Sister Circle cruise.
Chapters
So have you still not made good on your beginning of the year goals, resolutions, intentions, whatever you called it? Well, if you haven't, you're probably in good company, and now is a great time for us to visit or revisit what you intended to do and what you're going to do about moving your life forward. No stress, no pressure. Let's just keep it real. I'm actually sharing a podcast recording that I did in my membership, The Inner Circle, back in January, because here's what happens, y'all. Sometimes we just need a little injection of encouragement because we fall off. Life happens. Life, life's— things are out here happening and we're just all doing our best. But since you only get one life, I think it's worth me teaching you what it means to stoke the coals. Enjoy this, y'all. It's January, and every January you are starting with a blank slate. But then comes February, and in February and in March, life is lifing. And the question will be if the focus that you held in January is sitting with you and lasting as you progress through the first quarter of the year. Statistics tell us that for many of us, we will be derailed before we even start, or we will be derailed soon after we begin. And we know this is going to happen because many of us have experienced this time and time and time again. So how can you set yourself up for success? How can you ensure that the things that are important to you, the goals that you've set, the places that you want to get to, the, the things that you want to achieve, that you don't have yet another year where you've let yourself down? Because just sidebar, I believe that the biggest casualty of this game we play with our goals is your lack of, of, of authenticity and integrity with yourself. When you let yourself down, that is you telling yourself, I can't depend on me, I don't finish the things I start. You start— you will start, if you haven't already, making character assignments to yourself because of your experience. And if you have not been faithful to finish the things that you've said are important to you, then you will start telling yourself a story that says, I can't, I don't, I won't. And being out of partnership or denying yourself what you want or being your own enemy by not delivering on something you promised yourself you would do is the biggest travesty there is. Because that becomes a record that plays in your head. I have heard people say things like, well, I hope I can do this because I'm just not a person who finishes things. That's a recording. I have heard people say, I'm not a good goal setter. That's a recording. I have heard people say, you know, I, you know, I've given up because I'm tired of always disappointing myself. That's a recording. I don't know if I will ever be able to. That is a recording. And what the enemy wants nothing more than is for you to have a recording in your head that tells you a story about who you are. Because if he can get you to operate on a storyline, then writing the chapters is easy. I made a decision to write the book that I'm working on without an outline. I don't know that I would recommend that. It is a painful way to write because you kind of are just writing whatever feels like what needs to be written, and that can go all over the place. And then you're looking back and saying, where's a line that I can draw in between all of these things? It does mean more organic writing. It does mean more, um, heart-bleeding writing. It does mean more, uh, high motivation, high excitement writing. I— it allows me to bring something to the table that is different, but it is harder because then I'm having to sift through everything that I wrote to find the thread. I have written by theme and, and outline before. And it felt hard doing it, but it kept me on track. Okay, when you just have a theme of your life, whether you plan it and operate according to it, or whether you look at what you're putting out there and draw a line, that theme, that story, that truth that you tell yourself or that you call truth will form a thread through your life that will define how you look at your past and will change your future. This beginning of January is not about you being an overachiever. It is about the story you are telling yourself and what will happen if you succeed in that story or if you fail in that story. I was thinking about this when I went back to school, uh, when I was pregnant with my daughter. My parents were really worried about me. And now that I look at my children and when I see them struggling and I'm thinking, what do they need to do next? I just want to solve their lives because surely if you make a decision The, the cost of the wrong decision is very heavy, and I don't want you to pay a high cost in your life. So I can only imagine when I was 19 and going back to school pregnant, what was that like for my parents to let me go, to be out of their sight? We talked about it. They shared their concerns. I thought about coming home. That didn't feel good to me, and I stayed at school. That decision and my commitment to that decision And I didn't make straight A's. And sometimes I was depressed and laying on the couch and studying for a biology test on a Friday night when everybody was at a party. But that decision and the fact that I finished, it gave me a theme for my life. That theme for my life, that thread is that I am persistent. I persevere, I do hard things, and I can finish things that I start. That is a theme. Now, that theme may have been written by who I am, and that just got played out in college. But my college experience does give me support, supportive documentation. It gives me a receipt for who I am when I face a challenge. Had I not finished, even if that's who I am, it would have given me another potential truth that could have wrecked the way I think about my life. I start things I don't finish. So I've got a book that's due. I've started it. I haven't finished it. I have other goals in my life that I'm in the middle of. I restarted piano lessons, but when I was going through my paperwork recently for my piano lessons, I, I came across folder from the Dallas School of Music. Y'all, I restarted piano lessons in my late 20s and I didn't continue. And I had this fear in my heart that said, Chrystal, you just restarted piano lessons in your 50s. You did this already in your 20s. Is that a story? Is that a theme? Do you not finish things? Do you know what helps me to not subscribe to that train of thought? Is because I have other stories that tell me that I do. So it's just a matter of my focus and my decision-making. The stories you tell yourself, they matter, because any story that you give yourself is a story Satan either can work with and perpetuate, or it's a story that gives you defense. This is why scripture is so important, because you are then able to use scripture to combat the lies of the enemy, because he will try to help you create a story in your head, and you have to tell him what's true, right? The Lord is a very present help in the time of trouble. That's found in Psalm 46:1. That is a truth. He is my refuge and strength. He is a help in trouble. So sometimes you recite truths while you're struggling to believe truths so that you can walk in the truth while you're building your story. The beginning of the year is a horrible time because we start making up all these truths, and then when our lives don't line up, we get a story out of that. I am more concerned about you and the story that you're telling yourself than whether or not you hit your goal. I, I am more concerned about the story behind it, which is why I want you to start slow. Why I want you to have a plan, why I want you to have support, why I want you to have a mechanism, why I want you to have community. Because I understand that all of these things form the situation that you need to create a new storyline. I know where I write best. I know that I can get into it anywhere. I can. But I write best when the distractions are removed. At a coffee shop, lots of people talking, that's white noise. I know that if I go to a place that has good weather, I go stay with my brother in California where I can see the sunrise. You know, if I can get to the beach, if I can be in a spot that has nature, something gets born out of me. I know how to set myself up for success, but at the end of the day, I have to make a decision. Go to the doggone library, Chrystal, because you have a deadline. And so engrossed in your goals is this concoction of decisions deadlines, and the best setup that brings the desires that you have into what you want. So let's talk a little bit about your setup for this year, and whether you're watching this or listening to this in January, or you're watching and listening to this in November, I want you to examine your setup because your storyline will be supported or it will be devolved by the storyline and the setup for the storyline. Um, you have something that gets you going, and at the beginning of the year, for many of us, that's willpower. And your— and your motivation and your willpower and your decision, you are charging forward. Okay, motivation and willpower— willpower more so than motivation— is a muscle, and it gets tired. The day will come when your willpower is not willing. The day will come when the decision that you made, you don't have the energy to move that forward. Life is going to blow up in your face. Something's going to happen. Something out of your control is gonna, is gonna enter in, and your willpower will wane. So you got to have a plan, because willpower— you're not designed to lift 300 pounds, to push 300 pounds on the leg press every second of every day. That's like a woof, and then you get up and go do something else. And many of us burn ourselves out because we start and think we can sustain by willpower. Willpower is a great injection. It is not a sustaining, because you're going to run out of it. Motivation is the same way. Motivation is like a spark in a fire, and you've got to have commitment because motivation is going to run out. We, um, finally, praise the Lord, we're able to run our fireplace. Many of y'all have been around and you understand the fire chronicles. It's just stupid. Listen, I don't know if I'm enjoying the fireplace because it was cold outside, if I'm enjoying the fireplace because I paid for it. Either way, I enjoyed the mess out of that fireplace last week, and I was showing the boys how to get a fire started. Now we have these little fire starter little blocks, they're called Fatwood, and we also have this little like gel spray that if we want to cheat We can squirt a little gel in there, put some fat wood in it. The fat wood catches a fire, it burns really, really bright. And then while it's heating up the fireplace, we put other wood in there. And I've been teaching them how to stack the wood so that the fire will be sustained. If I never add more wood to it, that fat wood, that gel, will burn bright, it will burn hot, and it will burn out because it's not the sustaining kind of wood. And the sustaining kind of wood I didn't buy in a box off of Amazon. I went and my sons and my husband, and sometimes some help from our tree cutter friends, when they trimmed the trees, they cut up firewood. My husband and my sons were outside because I said these are too big. He was mad at me. He said, no, it's— we chopped the wood. And I was like, it's too big to fit in my new fireplace. So they were outside chopping the wood, cutting it down and splitting it in half. I felt like we were on Little House on the Prairie. It made my heart so happy to see those boys outside chopping wood. The wood that I needed to sustain the spark required something different. Motivation is good, but it's cheap and it's quick. Sustaining fires require harder work. Commitment is harder work. It is what you do that takes a different level of energy, and it is what you do that you do when you don't feel like it. Am I— my husband and sons did not want to do it. I said, if you want this fire to burn, I need hardwood that's hard to cut. So then we were going in because he was all— my husband was all proud of himself, you know. I didn't have to change out the wood for 3 hours. I was like, that's good, you know. I did my little cheerleader wifey thing. And then I was like, you know what, you should Google our fireplace. It's an Ashford 25 from Blaze King. You should Google our fireplace because there are people on YouTube that are bragging about 15, 17, 19-hour burns where they didn't even have to change the wood for almost a whole day. He said, what? I said, yes. He said, how? I said, it's all in how they stack the wood. They, they chose the right wood, first of all, the wood that will burn longer, because there's all different flavors of wood out here. Pine doesn't burn as fast, or burns way faster than white oak. So you got to know your woods, and then you have to know how to stack it. So he kind of looked at me blank. He said, so almost a day? I said, yeah. He said, what's the longest burn you've ever gotten? I was like, ah, I'm so glad you asked, because the oldest child in me and the oldest child in him were in a competition mode on the side. But, um, I said, yeah, I've gotten a 7-hour burn. He said, 7 hours? I said, I have. And I know he wanted to say, show me how you stacked it, but he didn't. I'll let him ask me another day. I took the time to go watch YouTube videos to learn how to stack my wood. I learned what wood to buy. I made the commitment not just to start the fire, but to sustain the fire. And that is the difference between many of us when we start the year. You are not finished with your commitment to your year just because you named some goals. You are not finished when your decision for what's important to you this year just because you bought a planner. You are not going to realize the beauty of what you finish just because you joined the Inner Circle. You're— that was motivation, that was lighting the pine, that was putting the fat wood and the gel and the, the long matchsticks that— why do they take 2 weeks to be delivered from Amazon? I don't know, but they do. Maybe because everybody wants them. Your job is to figure out what's supposed to burn and what's supposed to burn long. You need willpower, but it's not enough. You need motivation, but that's not enough. Simon Sinek says, know your why. Why are you getting going, and what will help you to make that why be in front of you so that it keeps you committed when your motivation wanes? You also want to have supported systems. Now that looks like, yes, planners and writing things down. 100% believe that. That looks like community. So in the Inner Circle, having women, even if you don't know them, who are going to click the like button and say, good job, and I have the same goal, and I'm proud of you for starting over. Uh, it is meeting up in Atlanta like some of our Inner Circle girls are doing, or meeting up in DFW. So beyond the virtual experience, you are making connections. It looks like don't just go to the Bible study. And study the study group. It means go out and have fun with these women so that the women that you're meeting and learning from in church, that you get to know them, that they know where you live, that they have your phone number, and when you don't show up, they come see about you. It is about stacking the wood that burns longer, and supportive systems are one of those pieces. Um, you also want to look at the simple things, like if you want to pray, set an alarm on your phone. And then set a timer for 10 minutes and stay on your knees, or 5, or 2, until the timer goes off, until it becomes a habit. That's a supportive system, because your rhythms and routines, while they need commitment, they need people, community, they need small silly things that remind you and hold your hand to the fire or your knees to the carpet when needed. It is choosing to join a Bible study, because you know you'll fall out if you don't do it with other people. Yes, we want to get healthy, and I'm okay with you joining a gym, but schedule the gym on your calendar so it's an appointment like everything else that's important to you. Get clear about your nos so that you're clear about your yeses, because you will lose motivation and you will lose willpower, but your supportive systems can sustain you when you don't have the energy. It's so important for you to know it's not just about you doing good, it's about not getting weary. In doing good, like Galatians 6:9 says. It's not about you having the desires of your heart. It's about you delighting yourself in God first, who gives you the desires of your heart, Psalm 37:4. It is about you taking your goals, your dreams, your plans, your motivation, your willpower, and laying it before the Lord. So you're committing your way to the Lord so that he can order your steps. It is that you acknowledge that you are going to run out of willpower and motivation, but when you recognize it truly is Christ in you who strengthens you. So he is your ultimate support system. Holy Spirit, ask him, Holy Spirit, when I fall off, don't let me shake it, make me so uncomfortable that I didn't go to the gym today, that I have to go tomorrow, that I didn't go for my walk today, that I have to go tomorrow, that I know that my follow-through on the things that you put in my heart to do is a part of me honoring the why, my life, my purpose, my priority. And when I fall off, I'm honoring you. I spent a lot of money, y'all, on my fireplace because we have lived through many outages of energy, and I don't want to ever have it be 15 degrees in my house again. So I spent money on my fireplace because I lived through the hellaciousness of 2021. Jesus came, and his blood that was shed on Calvary was expensive. And he spent that because he saw without the warmth and the presence of God and the Holy Spirit in the life of the human soul that it's catastrophic. So he came in and gave you everything you needed, but he said, listen, I'm not going to light the fire for you. I'm going to give you everything you need, but you have to light the fire, get excited about it, and then sustain the plan. Do the work. Do the hard thing. Chop wood. Hey there, I hope you're enjoying this, and I hope you're getting the encouragement that you need right now. Listen, I would love to encourage you not just on this screen or in your ear, and not just in this year, 2025. I'm already thinking about how I want to encourage you in 2026, and how do I want to do it there? I'd love for you to join me on the first Sister Circle cruise. We're going to take off and hit the DR, the PR, and a little bit of the Caribbean islands the last week of April next year. So if you're interested in joining me for a great vacation and to be on a boat with at least a few other women who love God and who have the same mindset, who are like-minded, go check it out: thesistercircle.com/cruise. So your plan Bs Your Plan Bs involve systems, it involves support, it involves the Spirit of God. What are your systems? Who is your support? And have you laid your goals and your plans before the Spirit of God and literally ask him to give you, to give you your plan so you don't fail. Because my Bible says my God does not fail. Joshua 21:45, it stresses this principle that God doesn't fail. He does not fail. His people fail. It's okay. He knew that. That's why he gave us a new fireplace. Let me replace their hearts of stone with hearts of flesh, because what they have doesn't work. And he said, they're going to fail, so let me give them a circumstance where that will be less likely. So when we go out here in these streets setting goals and not submitting those goals to the God who has placed in us the unique desire to make our mark, we don't give him that and say, these are my plans for how I can make a mark this year, how I can set myself up best for making a mark in my life. What do you think about it? What are your ideas, Holy Spirit, for how I can make this— how I can make this work? Psalm 84, verse 11 says, uh, the Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. How blessed is the man who trusts in you. Bringing them to him, it gives you a few extras. Number 1, God's ideas are better than yours. He will give you ideas for what to do, where to go, what class to take, who to work out with, what meals to try. He will draw your attention to the things that, that will help you along your journey. So yes, create systems, and yes, identify support, but don't forget about the Spirit of God. Because not only does he provide support and give you ideas for systems, but he knows how you're wired. So getting his input is super important. Lay your plans before the Lord. This is what— these are my top 3. Lord, are you okay with these? If, if not, you have permission to change it. Will you show me what I can do? There is a different level of commitment When you lay your plans before the Lord, it's not just that I wrote in my planner. It's like I asked him what I should do. I prayed over these. I said to the spirit of God in me, arrest my soul if I get off track. That's a different level. That's a different level. Now we all have systems, you know, my— in my planner there's a system, and, uh, I know that many of y'all have it, and I know that many of y'all are disappointed you didn't get it. It's still in the store. You can still get the download of the 2025 planner that's dated, or you can get the physical quarterlies, uh, the physical quarterly version of our planner that's non-dated. So you still have an option to use my system. But y'all know my system is— and I want to simplify it every year, I want to make it better— but my system is pretty intensive in that I am walking you through how to break this down to the smallest piece so that you can win. I don't want you to say be healthy. I want you to define what healthy is and define how you get to healthy. That's my system. I've done so much reading on goal setting and, and developing habits and being productive. I love this stuff. I am sharing with you what works for me. Own your system. And it's okay to try out different systems. To find what works for you, but own your system. If sticky notes work for you, go with the sticky notes. If a spiral notebook works for you, go with a spiral notebook. If having a Zoom call with friends every week to talk about top 3 works for you, you set up the Zoom call. If you've got to come in here every week and share your top 3 in the chat, okay, that's a system that works for you. Create systems so that like a, a moving walkway in an airport, Even if you walk, it's moving you forward. Even if you don't, if you have a goal and you don't have a system, the likelihood is that goal will fail. You join Weight Watchers because you're using their system. You, you on Instagram looking at everybody's 9-week plan for weight loss because you're joining a system. You want somebody else's meal plan of what to eat and the recipes to make it and the grocery list at the store because you want someone else's system. One day your goal is to give somebody your system because your job is to keep working at it until you find what works for you. The last thing I just want to remind you about is that if you want to start strong and stay strong, yes, you need a system. Yes, you need support around you, people, a net to catch you. Yes, you have to commit to the Spirit of God, um, but you also need to realize that You know, Galatians 6:9 says, you know, don't grow weary in doing good. Embedded in that assumes that you're going to grow weary. That's a part of it. Okay, it's going to happen. Give yourself grace when that happens. Um, God is with you every step. Some days you're going to feel strong, some days you're going to feel weak. On the days where you feel weak or you drop the ball, give yourself grace. Not grace to wallow, not grace to be a failure, not grace to sit still and not move forward, but grace to just say, you know what, I'm human. And sometimes the fire goes out. So in my fireplace, it is a stove, y'all. It's one with a door. It's like old school, but it's inside of the fireplace in my home. They call it an insert. It's like an old school fireplace that they took and made an insert, and we put it in our fireplace, but it has a door. If we let the fire go out and we didn't mean to, we're like, yeah, we won't let the fire go out, but If I let that fire go out and go to sleep, and the next morning I get up in the morning and say I want to empty the ashes, I cannot. Because if I take the poker— because it's a stove with a door— and I just turn over the ashes in the fireplace, those coals burn bright orange because of where it is. Because of where it is. Even though the fire has gone out, the coals are still burning. Give yourself grace, because the fact that you feel lament over gaining the weight or skipping the gym or not going to the walk— on the walk— the fact that you don't like that you got a week behind in your chronological Bible study, Bible reading plan, the fact that you have not yet finished your resume, you still didn't apply or start school— those things, you're gonna feel like, oh man, I let the fire go out. But if you will simply give yourself grace and go back to your starting place and poke around, you'll see that the coals still burn orange. It's still a desire. That's a gift. And in my fireplace, do you want to know what I do to get the fire going again? Well, the coals are already hot. The fireplace is primed and ready. So all I do is put some more wood some easy things to burn, maybe some paper, some kindling, or maybe some fatwood, and just get the fire going again. And eventually the fire gets going again, and then I lay my hardwood on it, and then my fire gets hot. Start again. Start again. So if you've been wanting to pray more consistently and you haven't been, start again. If you've been wanting to prioritize your health and you haven't been, start again. This is grace over perfection. Days when you miss a mark because you're gonna skip the workout, eat something off plan, have a whole week without opening your Bible. And when that happens, resist the urge to give up altogether. God's mercies are new every morning, Lamentations 3 says. And he doesn't ask for perfection. That's why Jesus came. He does ask for a willing heart. And instead of focusing on what you have not done or what you didn't do or where you dropped the ball, Take the next small step forward. Take the next small step forward. So start with systems, not just a goal. Surround yourself with support. Find your people. Lay the plans that you have at the feet of God, because the power of the Spirit of God is a better fuel injector than anything else you'll ever encounter. And when you fall off, because the Bible assumes we will get weary, he says, don't get weary in doing good because know that in due season you will receive your reward. Stoke the coals. Stoke the coals. Have systems, have the support, prioritize the power of the Spirit of God in your life. And then when you fall off, Stoke the coals. Start again. Because it's not about falling off, it's about continuing the journey. I am going to encourage you to lean into support. Sharing the top 3s, congratulate someone else. Find your group, join the Get Moving group. You know, get in the prayer group, talk about your spiritual growth and what you're studying in the spiritual growth group. Get around the water cooler and just connect with other women, find the people in your city, all of that support. It's my desire to provide as much as I can and to set the structure up of the Inner Circle where you can find your people. I want to constantly point you in the direction of your developing your walk with God and developing the Spirit of God in your life so you can hear his voice and to know what to do, what he says. That's the whole goal of our spiritual maturity this quarter. But then I need you to know that you're going to fall off because you're not perfect. It's going to happen. Life is going to happen. Some unexpected thing is going to blow up in your face. You're just not going to feel like it. Don't ask me how many dark chocolate almonds I ate yesterday, because when I'm sick, I don't do so good in the kitchen. Then you stoke the coals. You start again. Because if God started a fire in your heart, whether that fire got started by willpower by motivation or conviction. If you've done the work at this point to identify what you want to do and build a fire and you're excited about 2025, if it starts to wane and you forgot to add a log or two and it seems like it's burnt out, if you just go and stir it up, the fire will come right back, or at least be enough for you to start again. The Bible tells us to stir up the gift. 2 Timothy 1:6, this is the King James Version: Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Listen, if I could lay hands on you physically, I would right now, but since we're virtual, I'm going to lay a virtual hand on you and speak life into not only your gifts but the desires of your heart. So Lord, right now, whatever the gift, the desire, the passion, the purpose, the conviction that you have put into her heart and in her mind, would you stir it up right now by the power of God who is at work in each of us who proclaim Jesus to be our Lord and Savior? You have put the desires deeply embedded into our DNA because when we were still in our mother's womb, you created us uniquely in your image. And I know because none of us is the same. That you want us to make our mark in our lives, and especially this year. So where the gift has gone dormant, God, stir it up. Where she has a plan, keep it stirred up. Where she's feeling defeated even before she started, stir it up. Where she's trying to figure out what her purpose and her plans are for the year and she's not even sure what the goal should be, stir it up. Make it clear, because you have already put in the work to give us the fireplace to house the fire that you want us to burn. Help us not just to be satisfied with kindling work, with the easy stuff, with the quick fire and the quick hot burn. But Lord, let us be willing to do the hard work of getting the hardwood to put in the places of our soul so that we have the longevity in the goals and the plans that you have for our life. Let our plans not be about us, but let us, let us see how when we make our mark in our lives based on our unique disposition and our unique enjoyment and our unique desires, that you also— we also can see how it overflows to others for their good and your glory. Lord, I pray that right now for 2025, that because of your work in each girl, because of her decision to commit to systems and her decision to commit to support, to not hide, to not be unwilling to ask for help, that you would allow us, Lord, to stoke the coals when things run dry. Give us the grace to remember and return first to our first love, and for everything else to be formed and to flow from that. And when we get encourage. Would you allow our supportive systems to encourage us? Would you allow our systems to support us? And would you allow the Spirit of God to bring peace and calm that only he can give? Help us to stir up the gifts so that we can keep the fire going, because while it only takes a spark to get it going, that's not what is required to keep it. We have to be involved. And as I was saying last night in our sister session, you have promised to begin the work and finish it. But in Philippians chapter 2, you said that we have to partner with you in the work that you are already doing. So would you help us to be willing partners, so that we make a mark for your glory, so that we make a mark that we're satisfied with, so that we know that we are operating according to your calling and your plans, even if we don't know what the end of the story may be. Give us the strength, the unrest of soul, the conviction, and the power to stir up the gift in us. And in Jesus' name we pray and we believe. Amen. What are the systems that support your success? What are the systems that support your success? I have given you a whole system, given you the top threes. I'm asking your top threes every Monday, but use your phone, use the timer, phone a friend, set a date, set a commitment, join a class. If you know you're not gonna self-educate, pay for the class, get the degree, whatever you need to do. But remember those three things: you need a system, like school, what will call you to the surface and make you accountable. You need support like school, a teacher. You need office hours, you need classmates, you need peers. You need the Spirit of God like school used to be, because we used to pray in school. But the Spirit of God is what influences the systems and your, um, and your support mechanisms, because the wrong people around you will throw you off. Okay, and then you need to just remember, when you fall off, it's not about perfection, it's about progress. And if you were burning, the coals are probably still hot. Okay, they're probably still hot. And stoking the coals means just going back and looking again. What did I already write down? What did I already promise myself? What book did I already start reading? What club did I already join? We don't need new information. Systems, um, support, the Spirit of God, and coming back to the cults. That's it. Well, there you have it. Whether you are watching this or listening to this in May or November or October or February in 2027, it doesn't matter. My hope is that you were encouraged and you got some practical tactical things you can do to get back on board with the direction that you want to have for your life. Now listen, if you haven't already, I want you to like this episode, subscribe to the channel, and best yet, share this episode with a friend that you think this content would be helpful for them too. And if you want more, then browse, hang out, check, check it out, binge, and also consider consider joining my inner circle where I give all the best and all the most to the girls who want to support the work that I do and to be blessed themselves in the process. You can find out more about that by going to chrystalevanshurst.com/innercircle. We'll see you next time. Y'all, my systems have always involved me writing it down, pen and paper, notebooks everywhere. Jennifer said, I used to make a list in the '90s, so many lists. I was so mad at my last baby for coming early and I didn't get to finish my list. For the day. Time blocking is gold and keeps you focused. If it's not written down, it won't happen. My lists are very detailed. Just joining the Inner Circle. We're glad to have you, Miss Tiffany. But really need this. Glad to hear that. Practical and preaching. Glad to hear that. So many things.
