Chrystal Hurst uses elite gymnasts coached by Béla Károlyi to illustrate what makes a kingdom woman: hope that drives sacrifice, a sense of divine value, and pursuit of excellence. She connects their disciplined daily training to how believers should press toward spiritual goals with God's help.
Good morning everybody, it's Chrystal Hurst. It's really early in the morning. I'm in my car, see, on my way to the gym, um, and I actually had completely forgotten to do today's video. I did the Q&A with my dad yesterday and thought I was so ahead of the game and so early, and then got up this morning and thought I didn't do my introduction, introduction of the next chapters we're going to read this week. We are reading chapters 1 through 3: A Woman of Hope, A Woman of Value, and A Woman of Excellence. Actually, value, hope, and excellence is the order. And I was asking the Lord, what can I talk about in terms of an illustration that'll make those three things kind of nice and neat in a way that we can remember and understand them? And he gave me the idea of a gymnast and the way that this gymnast lives her life. I read an article about Béda Karolyi. He's the famous gymnast coach for all the girls from the US that go to the Olympics. He's the one for Nadia Comaneci back in the day. Um, from Romania. Anyway, that guy, the structure of how he trains these gymnasts, the structure in which they have to live their lives in order to achieve what they achieve. They live a life of excellence, highly focused on what they're doing. These girls work 8 to 10 hours a day. They get off 3 times a year. I think one of those is July the 4th. They get 3 days off for Christmas, and then there's one other day in there somewhere, and that's it. When asked what they do with their free time, Most of them say they sleep because they're so tired. But these girls, because they are able, when we see them in the Olympics, to contort their bodies in all sorts of interesting ways and to move with such power and to jump so high and far, and we look at them and we wonder in awe at what they're able to accomplish, but it's because they've lived a life of excellence, of focus. And that's one of the things I wanna encourage you with this morning. When you are trying to operate your life in a way that sets you up to be this woman, this woman of excellence, it has to be a life of focus. Now, it doesn't mean that you have to work 8 to 10 hours a day necessarily. It doesn't mean that you are going to have to be in a same season for the whole time of your life, but it does mean that whatever God has put in front of you, whatever you're supposed to be doing, that you do it wholeheartedly. That you do it with focus and that you can't do everything all at the same time and do the things that matter well. So you have to look at your own life and figure out what is God asking me to do well right now and what is getting in the way of me doing that well. Second of all, gymnast has hope. The whole reason why she does the, the, the practices and gives up her life and friends and high school is because she has hope that one day she's gonna be in the Olympics and that when she's there, she will win a prize. Don't we all have hope? Don't we all have hope? We have hope that one day when we stand before God the Father and he says, "What did you do with the time that I gave you? What did you do with the talents I gave you and the gifts?" Our hope is that when we answer, that he will say, "Well done." That's the hope. And so everything that we do as a kingdom woman is because One day we hope to hear him say, well done. And what about being a woman of value? Well, every gymnast has to know before she ever gets to Beta Caroli level, she has to know that there's something about her, there's something in her, there's a desire that's placed in her mind or in her heart that she has a little bit of something that he can work with. They don't come to Beta Caroli perfect. They don't start training for years and hours and hours a day because they're ready. They come because they know that there's something in them, there's a desire, or there's something they were created with. Maybe it's their size or their, their physical form, and maybe it's just a, a want that they have of being on that platform one day. They recognize in mustard seed form what their value is, and then they move forward because of that. And we all know we have value. We have value because of the value that God has placed on us simply by the fact that He created us. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. You are His workmanship. And so even though you may not be ready for the Olympics, even though you may not feel worthy of calling yourself a kingdom woman just yet, you have value because God says that you have value. And there's a couple of other things that I wanted to remember to tell you, and I wrote them down so I wouldn't forget. And excuse me for taking a second to find this. I wanted to read Psalm 121 to you, verses 1 and 2. I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip. He will not— he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. And let me tell you, Whether it's the value issue, whether it's the hope issue, or maybe it's excellence. How in the world, you're thinking maybe, can I live my life with excellence? Either way, he will help you. Did you hear me? He will help you. The Bible is full of examples of people who needed God's help. In Hebrews chapter 11, we see person after person in scriptures where things didn't look so hot and God helped them. He made a way and God can do the same thing for you. You're a kingdom woman because you're set apart. You're saying, I recognize that there's a value resident in me and I want to operate my life in that way. You fear the Lord. I want to do what the, what the Lord is telling me to do with my life. That's what sets you apart as a kingdom woman. And then you're on a journey. Philippians 3:12-14, Paul says, I press towards the mark. Not that I've made it, but I'm pressing on. And that's what I want to encourage you today. Recognize that you have value, have hope that you can make it even if you're not there, and then do everything that God brings to mind that you can do right now to live a life of excellence so that you can achieve the destination that he has for you. I hope that you're encouraged. I'll put some additional scriptures on the blog today for you to study on your own. But have a great week and I'll see you next Wednesday. Bye!
