Navigating New Normals #alittleQC

Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning. It's good to see you. You know how I say I'm going to come on at 7-ish? Well, this is 7-ish for sure. Oh, I have a whole story to tell y'all, but this is 7-ish. This is what 7-ish looks like on an extreme. I normally try to hit it, you know, 7:05, 7:08, but this morning we just doing what we can do, you understand? Sometimes you just got to do what you can do. Let's see here, trying to fix all my accoutrements. There we go, that's better. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Oh, I got to remember my Instagram peeps. Let me go get them. It's like going to get the child, you know, it's like, oh, hold on, I got to go get them. Hold on a minute. Good morning, good morning. All right. There we go, Instagram peeps. Yay! Alright, so y'all, I have a story to tell you. I have a whole story to tell you. Let me get my Instagram people together here. I have a whole story because apparently storytelling is what I do. Good morning, Instagram. All right, let me do this here, this here, this here, right here. All right, there we go, there we go. Okay, good morning, good morning. Some of y'all are waking up, telling me you're on your morning walk. Okay, okay. Some of y'all are at work. Some of y'all are already dealing with those babies. It is what it is. It is what it is. So good morning to you, whatever you're doing and whatever you are facing today. With it being a brand new week, somebody say hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hi Vanessa Snyder, thank you for ordering the book. Yes, some of y'all are on the Kingdom Woman Journey. There's just a ton of things going on right now. So hopefully you enjoyed that video, those of y'all who are on it. Good morning, Hope, coming in from South Africa. It's good to see you. Thank you, Legal Birdie, for the compliment on the earrings. I appreciate it. Y'all know I can barely get dressed. So Leslie, you said you're baking. Cassandra, you said you're resting at home. Andrea, or Andrea, just finished your walk listening to Dr. Evans. Yay, hallelujah! You're about to go for your walk again. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Okay, so there are some things that I want to talk to you about. Yes, Corinne, not doing daily right now, in a season of not daily, but I am gonna attempt to do weekly at 7-ish AM. So for those of you all who are jumping on because somebody told you or you just happened to catch me, there's a couple things I want you to know so that you don't miss them. I'm gonna do my best, y'all, but it's 7-ish right now. That's my life right now. It's got to be a 7-ish kind of life. The first thing is, if you are watching on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, make sure on YouTube that you subscribed, okay? And on Facebook and Instagram, make sure you've turned on notifications so that way when I go live, your phone tells you, then you don't miss it, okay? Um, the other thing is you can just set your alarm and at 7 AM on Mondays you can just be like, she'll be on here in the next few minutes sometime. Y'all, I've got my drink this morning, drinking some hibiscus tea. Y'all, this is a coffee mug. It says, I think I'm allergic to mornings. Yep. You want to know why I have this coffee mug? Because when I was 10 years old, I had my tonsils taken out. And my mother went downstairs in the hospital gift shop and brought me this cup, and it had like some balloons and situations coming out of it. So there are some coffee mugs that, that I have, and I've instructed my family, certain coffee mugs are only for Mom, and this is one of them. Don't touch it. Don't touch it because I don't want you to break it. You know, my Sister Circle mug is one of those— the mug with the hearts on it. Y'all have seen me drink from that one before if you've been watching any length of time. There's, you know, there's a few of them that are just for mom, and this is one of them. So I'm drinking from that one today. It's normally in the back of the coffee mug situation in my house. But y'all, in case you missed the memo, I have moved, or I'm moving. That's one of the reasons why I'm running behind today for real, because I left my new house and came back to my old house to record. And why did I do that? Because I wasn't sure where to set up. And my camera is here, my light is here, my Blue Yeti is here, and it's not like I can't do it from a computer, but y'all are used to the good lighting and the good visuals. And since I'm not far away, I literally got in my car, packed up all my accoutrements— ah, shoot! Man, shoot, we're gonna pray that the Wi-Fi stays great because my blue cord, y'all, I went through all the trouble of coming home so I could hook up my blue cord and then I didn't plug it in. But I'm here and I'm on Wi-Fi and I'm the only person here and on Wi-Fi, so hopefully Hopefully this won't be an issue. Okay, uh, it's always something, y'all. And I have the women on Instagram telling me, you lost your video, y'all, you can't see me. I can see you. Anyway, this is my life. But you know, normally I'm competing, I'm competing with kids who are on devices and I'm competing with a couple of girls who sometimes come here to work and they're on their devices. And my husband is watching, you know, DirecTV, but it requires Wi-Fi. You know, my receiver for my audio system is on Wi-Fi. You know, Alexa is pulling the Wi-Fi and this is insurance. So I came all the way home for insurance. And then forgot to plug it in. This is my life. Okay, so there are a couple things that I wanted to talk to you about. Thank you, Andrea Archibald, for the thumbs up here. Okay, so the first thing is, you guys, I want to give away some books today. I said I was gonna do a giveaway last week, but again, another fail. Because my life. But it's okay, y'all. I'm gonna get it together at some point. Praise the Lord, everybody. So I want you to stay here because I'm going to give away a book throughout our time today. Sheila Walsh, she was on my podcast. It was episode— hmm, how about that? How about I don't even know what my episode situation is? Hold on, I'm about to tell you. Anyway, if you have missed my episode with Sheila Walsh, you need to listen to it. We talk about mental health. We talk about, um, a lot of things that she's very honest. We talk about difficulty, uh, in child rearing. Her father tried to commit suicide, then he tried to kill her. And it's just a whole situation. Sheila Walsh is an amazing speaker, singer, author. Um, it's episode 263. Chrystal Evans Hurst dot com forward slash 263. If you haven't listened to that, you want to check it out. But she has a book, okay, let me see if I can work my magic here today. She has a book and it is called Praying Women, okay, Praying Women. And I have 5 of those to give away today because, you know, why not? So let me go ahead and give away one of those. Right now, and then I'm gonna come back. Y'all can keep reminding me if I start to forget. You can keep reminding me. Her episode is 263, and I want to give away Praying Women, one copy of Praying Women. So right here, right quick, what I'd like for you to do, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, is tell me what you've been praying about. So just in the comments, one word, one phrase, what have you been praying about? I'm gonna give away this first one on— well, I'm not gonna tell you, just, just tell me what you've been praying about. That's question number 1. Good morning, Velma Gray, it's your first time with me. I'm glad to see you. JD Rosa, you're a nurse, you're off to work soon. Awesome. What have you been praying about? Okay, I see you. Emotional stability, healing, family members, finances, a soul tie, your future, fear, your brother going to college, your marriage, consistency, Obedience to get out of my own way. Reopening my daycare. My faith, my strength. Candidate attorney, my job. My son's schizophrenia. Purpose, my mom. Praying for my husband. Family unity. Praying for my child. Yes, yes, yes. Discipline, strongholds, wisdom. Moving situation that I won't be selfish. Somebody say, we don't want to be selfish. Okay, Miss Harden, you said, for my mind. So you are my winner for this first one. Miss Harden on Instagram, Mrs. Harden. Here's what you need to do. You need to email. Here's the thing, Miss Harden, email info@chrystalevanshurst.com. Info@chrystalevanshurst.com. When you email them, say, I want on Instagram. Give them your Instagram handle. Give me your Instagram handle and also your full name and your mailing address. Okay. Say, I want on Instagram. Give them your Instagram name, your full name, and your mailing address. Awesome. That's book number 1. There are 4 more to give away. Okay. So no strain, no stress. I'm coming back to you. While we're talking about prayer, I want to make sure that you know to check out my prayer book. It's coming out September the 1st, September the 1st, um, but I want you to pre-order it. And the reason why I want you to pre-order it is because when you pre-order it, you get all the fun stuff. Now many of you all are telling me, um, but I already pre-ordered it and how do I get the stuff? Well, you can still get the stuff Okay, you just need to go and go to chrystalevanshurst.com/pray and say, hey, I pre-ordered it, um, and give me all your info, and then you will get it. The audio prayers are coming, and as soon as they are fully finished, we'll send an email to everybody who's pre-ordered. So check it out. It is a 28-day prayer journey that encourages you to pray, gives you room to write your prayers if you'd like to, and gives you prompts to pray if you're like I'm running out of stuff to talk to God about. When you preorder, um, not only do you get those audio prayers that I'm recording for you, you get topical prayer cards, you get a Spotify playlist, instrumental and not, non-instrumental, to encourage you to pray. Um, so you, you get a few things that we want you to have, um, some downloadable things. So check it out and be sure and preorder that book. Preorder the book because listen, If you struggle with praying when there's not a problem— does somebody know that you can pray when there's not a problem? If you are not consistent about praying to God, talking to him just because, when you don't need anything from him, then I want to encourage you to pray. I want to encourage you to pray because the privilege to prayer— pray— is that it's a privilege to know that the God of the universe has made it possible. For you to talk to him. Now, many people have asked me, because there's also a Bible study, what do I do? Do I buy it all? Do I do— here's the deal: if you're a Bible study person, get the Bible study and the book. Do the Bible study first, do the book second. Practice what you've been hearing me preach about. If you're a book person, get the book and the Bible study, but do the book first. Then after you've gotten in the hang of it, right, then do the Bible study and understand God's mind towards you. You can pick one or the other, but I would recommend that you do both. But you do one first and do the other one second. And the other thing I encourage you to do is ask a friend to join you. Listen, it's like a 28-day situation. Every day I'm giving you prompts to pray with and, um, and a space to record your prayers. I would say grab a friend, one or two. You know, it only takes one or two, two or three to be gathered. And then, you know, maybe do it with a few neighbors, do it with your family, do it with, you know, the women who you live on the same street with and say, "Hey, I want to do this 28-day prayer journey." This is actually, now that I'm talking about it, a very, very cool way to engage people you don't know because there may be people who will not do a Bible study with you or you're not sure. But if you said, "Hey, listen, I want to work on talking to God, so I got this book." It's a 28-day thing. Do you want to join me? Because I'm trying to work on my talking to God. There are a lot of people who would not be intimidated by, you know, joining you on that journey that may not come to church, may not do a Bible study, and this is kind of a way for you to start having spiritual conversations with them. Okay, yes, the Bible says pray without ceasing, but often, y'all, we just don't do it, right? So anyway, that's it. Chrystalevanshurst.com/pray, and then you can buy it from Amazon, Barnes Noble. It's even gonna be in Target, so that's cool. So here's what I want to tell you, y'all. Okay, so I just told you I've moved and I'm in the middle of two houses. I wish you could see this house. It's a disaster. It is literally like a disaster zone because when the movers came I wasn't ready. They walked in the door and they looked and they were looking like, are you going? Are you going to move? It's like, yeah. So I told my boys, because books in my house are a problem. I told my boys, just take the books off the shelves, stack them in shelf order, and then just let them take the shelves. We'll have to come back. Y'all been homeschooling for 18 years. I've homeschooled preschool through college and I've been keeping my things because why not keep them when you're going to have to do this again? So now my baby is 11. I've been threatening Charis, my daughter, my oldest daughter. I've been threatening her that I'm going to have another one because I got all these homeschool books. I need to homeschool somebody. She's like, homeschool my kids. I'm like, no, no, you can do that. I'm just gonna have another baby so I can homeschool my own. Leilani said, please, oh my gosh, do a homeschool live. I'll talk about it. I did though. If you Google Chrystal Hurst homeschool, there's a whole YouTube video where I talk about homeschooling. Okay, so 18 years, and, and the thing is, is I don't want to give them up, mainly because I'm still homeschooling. I am still homeschooling. But my kindergarten, my first grade, my second grade stuff, it's like there's nobody coming. I don't have— hmm. And I ran into a friend of mine at IKEA yesterday who we were talking about homeschool. Her kids have been in public school now for 7 years. So I'm like, what'd you do with all your homeschool stuff? And she was like, oh, I still have it. It's in my attic. I was like, okay, great minds think alike. So, but I've been moving books slowly but surely to the new house. And one day Ellie, my granddaughter, was over visiting me and I was calling her. I was like, Ellie, where are you? And she said, Chrissy, I'm in the library. I was like, I don't have a library. But one of my closets has bookshelves in it. It's a big closet and has bookshelves in it. And she had plopped herself down on the floor and was looking at books. And I was like, huh, I think I'm gonna put a bean bag in there and all of my books, you know, over time my thought is that when they come over, I'll read some of my favorite books to them. But I also over time feel like I'll start deciding which children get my books for my grandchildren. You know what I mean? That it's kind of this legacy thing. Like these are the books that your parents learned from and here you Here you go. Already, every time Ellie comes to my house, she says, she says, she says, what do you have for me? Because every— I'm cleaning out a house, you know, and so I keep finding things for her. It's like, you know, this little teddy bear, this little— so every time she comes over to my house, she gets a gift. But a lot of times, you know, that gift is a book. So Anyway, my point is, is I've lived here, but in order to move, it's been a little bit of a situation because y'all, books are a problem. But I'm in the middle of moving. So y'all, I'm not finished moving though. And here's the story that you need to hear about. I'm not, I'm not finished moving. Um, and I'm going to put this up because I'm all out of order today because y'all told me some of y'all are here for the first time. So if you're like, what is who, what, when, where, and why, go to chrystalevanshurst.com. Make sure you're on my email list. There's a box at the top of the page for you to put your name in so that way if you miss something, you don't miss anything. Okay, you won't miss anything. So I'll leave that up for just a little bit. Yeah, y'all, 15 bookshelves. It's a problem. So y'all, I'm not even finished. I'm not finished. There's stuff on the floor. It's like the residual from the move, you know. You feel like you got to move your big stuff, and then as soon as you move your big stuff, you realize Oh, that wasn't, that wasn't the problem. The problem is all this little stuff that's everywhere, the decisions that have to be made. Does this come with me? Does this stay? So gradually, slowly but surely, yes, I'm a curriculum junkie. And, um, what I'm doing is the books that I'm like, they still belong to me, they still belong to me, they are going to go in boxes. I finally just broke down and bought some boxes off of Amazon because I have not— I saved all of my boxes from my last move, but those weren't moving boxes. And somebody needs to know that the boxes that you get from Amazon, they don't necessarily hold up with packing. I've had some things drop, I've had some things break because I've been trying to save a dollar and just move with the boxes that we had. And we've done most of it, and I didn't have a ton. We would take a car full to the new house, my boys would unload— praise God for sons— and then we would bring the empty boxes back to the current house, make another load, and go back. We've been moving the little stuff like that for, for weeks now. Weeks. Couple weeks, at least 2 and a half weeks. But y'all, those books, they fall through the boxes. Walmart has great moving boxes. You mean like that you buy? Write a book about moving. I might after this illustration I'm about to give y'all. So anyway, but my books are, you know, they're heavy. They're heavy. So I just ordered some off Amazon, had them delivered straight to the door, mainly for my books. Got some small boxes and some medium boxes. And then for all these little doodads, you know, I still have a shelf that's full of things like lotion, you know, and screen cleaner, you know, and, uh, candles and alpha lipoic acid. Why do I even have that? I don't even know. Oh yes. And because we're in COVID, Wet Ones, and because I like to— can't remember anything— stickies, you understand? So I just— there's a million things. I mean, why is this not on my keychain? Why is the Kroger thing not on my keychain? Jesus help. And because I like to write people notes, I mean, y'all, and this is just right here. And because I pray a blessing over my children, somebody say, bless your children with the oil. And because I'm a geek, I mean, this is what's right here. It's just a hodgepodge of all the things. Hi, Kelly Ministry and Motherhood. So anyway, this is my life. So we're still moving. All the little things.

Gum.

It's chaos in here. So anyway, I mean, I have a whole box of tea right here on my desk. It's a disaster. So I try to— people are like, she always films in front of that door. That's right, because y'all don't need to see nary anything else. Up in here, up in here. It's chaos. It's a train wreck. Hey, Kwani, boo. Okay, would I consider being a homeschool coach? Whitney Pratt says, huh, that's an idea. Maybe I should be a homeschool coach. Hmm, maybe. Maybe I should do that. Get the 27-gallon from Costco. It carries all the heavy things. I just moved using it. 10 on sale for $4 each. Y'all are giving major tips in here. Y'all have been telling me to go to Home Depot, to get the Walmart boxes, to get the 27-gallon from Costco. I may have to check that out. She said, let's talk pricing with the Homeschool Coach. Homeschool consultant, y'all. Yes, I got— I got to talk about homeschooling. What are you hiding? What's behind the door? This right here is a closet which is mostly empty. I do have my clothes. I finally— y'all, for real, I just— I've got to stop rambling. I got to tell you my moving story because I got a message for you: how to navigate new normals. Why do I feel like I've already titled a broadcast that before? I need a list. Of all the things so I don't name these the same. All of a sudden I had a déjà vu feeling like I've already done one called Navigating New Rules. Okay, people are always like, what do you put on your face? Whatever's handy. So I just put this on my face because it was dry. It's hand lotion. It's whatever. Okay, so, so here's the deal. I was just about to tell you something and I just lost my thought. Oh God, I can't. Moving— oh, I was gonna tell you, up until this weekend, I was— I had moved into the new house except I hadn't cleaned out my bathroom all the way over here. So I was coming home over here to shower because I didn't have all my stuff over there. Somebody say riding the line. Somebody say lukewarm. Somebody say backslidden but trying to be righteous, just living between two worlds. Somebody say not committed. So y'all, I still though have not fully moved. Here's what you need to know. I got— I have a great relationship with the previous homeowners, okay? Wonderful Christian family who prayed us into this house because they had offers before ours. They had offers the same weekend as ours, but they said 20 years of being in this house, they raised 7 kids. She said they wanted to find a buyer who had their same values, who was going to come in, who was going to enjoy this house as a family like they enjoyed the house. They said it was, it was, it had to be the right offer and the right family. Somebody say thank you, Jesus, because there were other right offers that they had, I believe, that were not, they were not as low as our offer. But the point is They prayed us into that house. And I have her number and I've called her to ask all the questions. Like, what paint color is this? Where'd you get the carpet done? I need to have it restretched. You know, I found some stuff that she left in a drawer. You know, still getting mail to the house. We've called and we've talked a couple of times. I told her once COVID is not so scary, I'm going to have her over for coffee. In fact, once we finish putting the house together, I said, I want to invite you and as many of your children who want to come with you to sit at our table and to have a dinner conversation with us, because I want my children to know your stories. I want to know about the story about them going into the creek and not being able to get out. I want to, I want to know about these little things. I want my kids to know who lived here before. I want them to know the the stuff that's in the walls, you know what I'm saying? So we're going to do that one day. In the meantime, I just text her whenever I have a question. So, um, here's the thing though, y'all. The other day she texted me. She texted me because she got a text from the city that a neighbor, apparently, that I cannot see because there's a strong tree line called the city that there's a tree that's growing into their fence and they want me to do something about it. I said, what? How what? What you say? There's so many problems with this. First of all, I'm getting calls from the city about a tree that's on my property that I cannot see, and I'm not even finished moving in yet. I, I don't even have— y'all, my husband and I, we need a new bed, so we didn't even move our old bed. It's old, old. Oh, we didn't even move it. Been sleeping in, uh, a guest bed situation because we're trying to get a good bed. Haven't even bought the doggone bed yet. I don't have a bed in this house. I have not fully moved in. I have not cooked a meal there. I don't have my books there. I don't have my camera set up there. Yes, I am slapping the hand because I was like, y'all are calling— the city is calling me and I don't even have— I don't even— I, I'm not even moved in all the way. And I don't even know nothing. I don't know nothing about no trees. I don't have a chainsaw. I don't have a manual saw. I don't have nothing. You hear me? Nothing. And they're calling me about a doggone tree. I was like, what? So then I can get to the tree by going through this little wooded area, which meant it wasn't easy to get to. So the lady from the city came and said, well, we can go through that, but you know, you, you know, wear long sleeves, wear long pants, so that way— I don't mind doing that way. She said, or we can just go to the neighbor's house and look at it from her side. I said, fine, that's fine. But I back up to— the bottom line is, y'all, I had to get in my car Okay, it's not even that far. It's not far. It's just hard to get to. I had to get in my car to drive all the way around. I had to get on the freeway to go around to take the next exit to go to the other neighbor. She lives on the back side of her neighborhood, so then I had to go into the neighborhood. I had to drive all the way back to this neighbor's house, and then I had to go in her backyard to see this tree that's busting through her fence. I said, what?

What?

So now I have all the questions because I'm like, how am I supposed to get to the tree to take it down? And if I have to go through her yard and take down her fence, does she have to take down her fence, or do I have to take down her fence? Like, it's a whole, you know, situation. I don't even understand. I'm so confused. I do not have 50 acres. You, you don't even, don't even trip. Don't even start that rumor. I mean, there's some land, but it ain't, it ain't 50. So Melissa said the neighbors heard that Tony Evans' daughter bought the house and they want to see you and your family. Mm-mm. I, I, I'm just so confused right now. And I had for a second— here's a lesson, y'all— for a second I was like, I can't believe this, this is whack, this sucks. And for a second my good juice, my happy juice, my grateful mojo started to decline. You said 49 and a half. No, it's not 49 and a half. My mojo started to decline because I started to say, this sucks, this is an inconvenience, this is getting in the way, this is something else for me to do, this is gonna be trouble, not fair. Beautiful Life said, isn't that an act of nature? I don't think you're supposed to be responsible. I'm gonna, I'm gonna challenge this. He said 40 acres and a mule. Yo, I'm researching it. I'm calling the city today. I'm calling a few people today. And exactly, Taryn, I'm like, this tree didn't just get there. This has been there. Did she never call the city before? So that's why me and my previous homeowner, we're gonna have a conversation because I'm like, this tree didn't just get there. And she said she's been cutting it down, like cutting the branches that go into her yard. She's been cutting them for years. It's just now it's messing up her fence. I can tell you what happened. Hi, Annette Evans, I love you. I can tell you what happened. It's that doggone COVID-19. She's sitting at home looking at her fence And she's like, you know what, I want to fix this. You know, Home Depot has never been so busy. Have y'all noticed that? Everybody is at Home Depot because when everything was shut all the way down, Home Depot was still open. It was essential, right? Everybody's now at home. All the home projects they've been putting off for years, now everybody wants to do it. They want to handle their business. Okay, it's COVID-19. So the point is this, y'all. My mojo, my grateful mojo, was starting to come down. And here's what the Lord said to me. Y'all ready? I'm about to hit you with it. Here you go. You want to hear it? Here we go. That's your tree. That's what the Lord said to me. That's your tree. That is your tree on the land that has a house that I gave you. With the new house comes the new tree on the new land because it's new territory. Do you hear what I'm saying to you? Somebody's getting it. Somebody's getting it. That new tree didn't just come by itself. It came because I gave you a new house that had a tree on it that you asked me for. You didn't ask me for the tree, but you did ask me for the house. Chrystal Hurst, as a matter of fact, you've been praying for a new house. You've been praying for a house where you look out your window and see some trees. I answered that prayer request. But with that new house came a new tree, because with the new territory comes responsibility. You hearing what I'm saying to you? And some of the things that you desire come with things that you didn't ask for, but the new territory carries with it new responsibility and new things that you have to deal with. And sometimes Some of those things require you to do some work. Let me tell you why often we don't take new territory and why we don't navigate new normals well. Let me tell you why sometimes we miss the blessing because we're focused on the tree that came with that blessing. Let me tell you what is happening here. You focus on the tree and you forget that that tree came because you asked for a blessing that had responsibility tied to it. Somebody say, uh-oh, she's preaching now. Listen, y'all, with new territory comes new responsibility. You want to navigate that new normal? Let me tell you something, sometimes that new normal is going to have territory that you did not ask for. There are some things that you're going to have to root out because they now belong to you. Let me hit you where it hurts. Let me hit you where it hurts. The Bible says, and y'all, you know I don't always quote a bunch of scripture on here, but sometimes you need to hear it. You need to hear it. Deuteronomy 6. Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which he swore to give your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you great and splendid cities that you did not build, houses full of good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive— there it is— trees that you did not plant, you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. What did those children of Israel do when he brought them out of the land of Egypt on their way to the promised land? They complained the whole way. And what did complaining do? It kept them stuck going in circles for a long time because they forgot that the journey where they were going to feel like they were alone, feel like they had new problems, feel like there was new territory and they were scared, wonder if they were going to be able to handle the new normal— it was that territory they asked God for. They asked God for it and he got them out. And then they said, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, we don't want to have to deal with the new stuff. We don't have to— we don't want to have to deal with the new stuff. And he's like, people, you asked me for this. And with the new territory came new responsibility. You got to learn how to navigate it, yes, but you asked me for this. Joshua 24:13. I gave you a land which you did not labor for. I gave you this land, um, and cities which you didn't build. You've lived in them, and you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant. But y'all, here's the deal. We forget. We forget that what we have, we ask him for. We forget that what we have is a blessing. We forget that the things that sometimes are blessing cause us to wonder, can we handle it? Are you kidding me, God? I got to do this now? Yes, you do. You do. Praise the Lord, everybody. So here's what I want to tell you this morning. You have new normals in your life, maybe because of COVID-19, maybe because life brings new normals. Okay. It's just the way life goes often. And often, y'all, because we don't like the stretching, we don't like the new normal because we have to learn how to do new things. We cry out, we are frustrated, we are overwhelmed, and if we're not— if we're not careful, we'll look up and realize that we're complaining. We're doing the people of Israel thing, and we're not realizing that every good and perfect thing comes from the Father of Lights, from whom there is no shifting shadow. He gives his children good things, but with those good things, there often is territory we have to take. Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:10, he said, Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory. Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free of pain. God granted his request. Enlarge my territory. Y'all, that's a prayer. We want to hear that part of it. We want to hear that part of it. God, enlarge my territory. But then he said, now be with me, keep me from harm, let me be free of pain. Let me tell you what that was communicating to me. Jabez knew that with new territory there would be new problems. He knew that, and he said, don't give me more than I can handle. Like, don't let anything hurt me. Don't let anything, you know, uproot me. Like, I know that there's going to be something coming with this because that's how life works. That's how life works when you grow. It's like my kids, you know, I've been writing checks, and my brother said— my son said the other day, uh, because we had, you know, had the pest control person come and all these little things that you have to do when you move to a new house. And my son said, "Whoo, moving into a new house costs a lot." And I said, "It does. There are always moving expenses." And here's the beauty of you being a child: you want to be an adult, you want to have what I have, but you don't really want the responsibility. This is why all of our millennials and some of our zennials will talk about adulting. There are books called Adulting 101, if you didn't know, because adulting is a whole thing. You want to be an adult until you have to take on the adult responsibility. You want that marriage until you have to take on the wifely responsibilities. You want that job until you have to take on the full responsibility of doing all the things. You want that house until you have to cut down a tree. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? You pray for things without acknowledging and walking in with full frontal expectation that a part of that thing is going to be hard. Growing up is hard. Listen, you ask God for that man. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? You ask him for that man. Listen, let me tell you what else you ask God for. You ask God for that child. Hi, Dr. Anita, I see you. You ask him for that child. Did you know you ask him for that job? Right? Do you understand this? You ask him to lead you to that church, and now when you run to that church and the people are driving you crazy, you're like, well, I need another church. No, you ask God for that church. Show up and care for that church even though it has a tree growing on the back side of it. Do what you have to do to deal with the new neighbor and cut it down, uproot it. Here's the other thing that I want to tell you about. Hey Kingston, Jamaica, I see Leslie, 59 and still growing, because we don't stop growing unless we choose to do that. Until we die, you know, you just— you're gonna be presented with new opportunities to grow. Here's the other thing I want to tell you about. If I was really spiritual, I'd have scriptures to support it, but here's what I want to tell you about. Sometimes growing on the backside of your life, there are trees that you did not plant, and in order for you to fully enjoy what God is giving you, you got to dig it up. Or cut it down. What do I mean by that? Listen, there are some things that are rooted in you because they were given to you. They were there before you got there. You understand? There are some things that are spiritually that have been passed on to you, good and bad, that you did not plant. There are DNA situations in your physicality that you did not put there, but you have to uproot. There are things that you were blessed with or cursed with because you grew up around it and you didn't know any other way to do it. You didn't know how to manage your money. You didn't know how to have good habits. You didn't know how to be a mom to your kids. You didn't know how to do these things. You didn't, you didn't know. And you want to know what you do? You have to learn how to deal with the tree. Not knowing the fact that I've never had a tree that I've had to cut down. Do you understand? That has nothing to do with the fact that I got a tree I got to deal with. There are some things in your life, it doesn't matter if they came from you or not. They are yours to deal with. So stop telling me I cannot call the city. Oh, Jesus just came on me. I cannot call the city, y'all, and tell them, well, that tree was there when the people before me were here. That's their fault. The city don't care nothing about that. Neither does my new neighbor. Yes, uprooting, Karen. Listen, It's my tree because it's my life. It's my house. Do you want to know what I'm telling you? Stop complaining about the person who put it there. I'm not saying there's not reality, and I got some questions for the last owner. Did you not know this tree was here? What have you done in the past to deal with this tree? Yes, I'm going to call the people in my family. Have you ever dealt with this before? Let me— tell me what you did. Tell me how you dealt with it. I used to talk to my mother all the time about managing business and managing people and managing a home because these were trees she dealt dealt with. And some of the stuff that I was dealing with, she, you know, I got it, I got it. She would say to me, you know, well, you're dealing with that, that's something I had to deal with. But that does not mean that it's her problem. It's mine. It belongs to me. This is my life. Stop blaming it on your daddy. Stop blaming it on your mother. Stop blaming it on the last husband. I'm not saying that they didn't contribute to the tree being there. I'm saying that right now it's your tree. Cut it down, uproot it, deal with it, draw the line. It's your tree. You go get counseling about that thing. You figure out how to save money and deal with that. You figure out how to read the parenting books. You join the class that is for wives. You go to counseling with your spouse or find some mentors. You take a Dave Ramsey situation and learn how to get out of debt. You deal with your tree. It's your tree. Now, I'm not saying that you can't call the previous owner. I'm not saying that you can't say, dang it, I wish I would have known about this beforehand. But here's the bottom line: when he brings you into places that have trees that you did not plant, when he brings you into places that you ask him for and then they have new responsibilities, when he gives you the desire of your heart and you realize that on the backside of the desert there is a tree that you didn't plant that now you have to learn how to deal with. It's your time to navigate your new normal and grow. It's your doggone tree. Stop being a victim to what somebody else planted and realize that you have what you need to deal with the tree. It sucks that you have a tree that you have to deal with. That is jacked up, but it's your tree. Because it's your life. And if you don't deal with it, nobody else is going to. And if you don't deal with it, it'll only keep growing. Ah, it'll only keep growing and cause you bigger problems. Some of y'all know that to be true. You didn't deal with it, so it kept growing. It kept growing. You didn't deal with that thing with your husband 10 years ago, and now it's a bigger problem. Deal with it. You didn't deal with that thing when that kid was 3 and everybody thought it was cute. Now that same child is 15 and she's a monster. Deal with it. You didn't deal with your finances 15 years ago, then now you are in debt over your head. Deal with it because it's your tree. And if you don't deal with it, it's only going to keep growing. So now, because I got to be practical— ah, why am I so hyped this morning? Jesus, help me. Listen, 3 things I want to tell you because I always got something to tell you. I want to give you some practical. Number 1, ha, breathe. When I saw that tree, y'all, my anxiety was rising because I was like, I don't even know a tree person. I don't even know a tree person. I don't even know it. I don't have the tools. I drove through, went to McAllister's because it was a sweet tea day. Got myself a large sweet tea with some lemon in it. Picked up some lunch. Baked potato soup, pastrami, extra Swiss, and red onion. Took a breath. And I had to remind myself that I could handle it. Don't know how. But I can handle it. And then I'm not the first person to find a tree that they didn't expect. Somebody else has had a first time of finding a tree and they had to work. Thank you, Sanchez Tree Company in Dallas. Number one, when you feel yourself rising up, the anxiety rising up, and when you feel your gratefulness mojo Traveling down. Take a breath. Breathe. God has given you everything you need, and everything you need he will supply. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything make your requests known to God because he cares for you. 1 Thessalonians: Pray without ceasing. You want to know how to exhale? Yes, Watiki Brown, you said this is your Eden experience. Bible says in Genesis that God told Adam and Eve, let them rule. He set them in there and said, now garden, breathe. That's number one. Number two, discover whatever you don't know. You can find out. Do you understand? We live in the age of Google. Google it. Ask questions. Call the city. Call your friends. Okay? See, y'all are helping me now. Ortiz Lala said, "Ask their procurement office who they contract with." Discover. You are a living, breathing human doggone being. You want to know what that means? Whatever you don't know, you can find out. Stop feeling incapable because you don't know the answer. You knowing the answer isn't the solution. It— you having Google and a phone and a car where you can drive to the city and ask the question. Discover. This is the time to grow. Have you ever looked at somebody and wonder how they know what they know? 'Cause they had to learn it. They went to college. They asked questions. Back in the day, y'all don't know this, you got out the phone book and you searched tree. So before Google, you searched out the dang thing, okay? Breathe. Take a load off. 2, discover. Get you a pad and a piece of paper and start making phone calls. House. Have people come out, give you a couple quotes. Let me tell you something about getting quotes. Getting quotes is an education. If you have 3 people come out, like I had to do— I had to hardwire my house, y'all, because internet. That's why I came here, because I was like, I know the internet's going to work here on my live. I haven't done a live there yet like this. So I hardwired my house. I got 3 or 4 quotes. With every quote, I got an education, because while they were there to get my business, they told me what they were going to do, and I would ask questions. And then I learned some things. So then by the time I got to the fourth person, he said, "Are you in technology? Do you?" I said, "No, I just been getting quotes. I just been asking questions. I've just been going to the people who know and being a student of this process." Be a student of the process. Okay? Breathe. Take a load off. Say, "Lord, I know that you're bringing me into situations that have trees I did not plant, but I don't know nothing about no trees." These Egyptians— I mean, the Israelites, when they were living in Egypt, y'all, they were slaves. They didn't own the land. They took what was given to them. Guess what? When you move out into new territory, there are going to be some things you don't know. You don't know how to run that business. You don't know how to sign that lease. You don't know how to be that wife. You don't know how to do that job. That's okay. Breathe and then set out to do the work of discovery. Okay, ask questions, Google, and stop expecting everybody just to give it to you. Learn it yourself. Most people, when I look at them and I'm like, how did you do that? How did you build a business? How did you— they're like, I just had to learn it. I had to learn it, learn the hard way, some hard lessons, but I learned. You can learn. Stop thinking that everybody has something you don't have. Be a student of the process. The last thing I wanna tell you about is that you gotta decide. Make a decision. Anyone who knows me well knows I can be extremely indecisive because I have perfectionistic tendencies. I don't like making mistakes. I don't like getting things wrong, and I don't like having regret. This means I take forever to make a decision because I want the decision I make to be the right one. But if I don't make a decision at some point, the tree won't get cut down. You get— you can't get stuck in the loop of discovery. You're gonna have to decide. And sometimes when you decide, okay, sometimes when you decide, you will realize through the process of deciding that next time you need to make a better decision. Some of y'all— oh, this is my book, y'all, She's Still There. That's what this is. Some of y'all learned what you learned because you made a decision and you realized it wasn't the decision. Some of y'all know what to do with the second husband because you got it wrong with the first husband. Some of y'all know what to do with baby number 6 because you jacked up baby number one. Some of y'all know how to be a good employee because you spent a whole lot of time being a bad employee. And now that you need to keep that job, you're not going to show up late to the new job anymore. Do you understand? Okay, here's the beauty of you learning, breathing, discovering, and deciding is because then somebody else that you know doesn't have to learn it fully the hard way. You want to know what I keep doing? I keep calling my previous homeowner. Who did you use for this service? Who did you use for this? What company did you use for painting? Because why would I learn the hard way what she's already learned the lessons for? This is why discipleship and mentoring and Titus 2 is so important. This is why the Sister Circle is a thing for me, y'all, because I believe that you should learn things. Yeah, sometimes because you breathe and discover and decide, but then once you've learned some things, you need to teach somebody else. And once somebody else has learned a few things, they need to teach you, because that's what this Sister Circle of girls is all about. Why would I let you learn the hard way what I already put the blood, sweat, and tears in? Let me just tell you something. You understand? My daughter calls me all the time and she'll say, "Mom, I need, you know, can you help me to word this email?" 'Cause she's a business owner. Well, guess what I am? I'm a business owner. So you want to know what I do? I say, "Well, here's how you want to phrase this, and because of legalities, here's what you cannot say, and for protection." And she says, "Thank you," and she writes the email. Does she have to learn because somebody calls her and threatens to sue her? No, she doesn't have to learn that way because I'm her mother. So when you learn, you teach. When you teach, somebody else learns. Breathe. Yes, I am awake. Discover. And decide. Suzette King, I love this. You said, I left a binder full of info for the new owner when we sold our home. I did what I would have wanted. Listen, that's what she did for me. She left me a stack of papers, and then all the things she forgot, she kept texting me. She would say, oh, I forgot to tell you, this is where you turn the water off. Oh, I forgot to tell you, this is where— oh, you want to know the number for this? She's been so sweet, so, so sweet. And I'm so stinking grateful because she knows the house. She lived there for 20 years. Some of y'all, you know the house you've lived in your life for the last 40 years as an adult. Teach somebody. Call a younger woman, say, hey, I've been thinking, I want to pour out my life to you. Because y'all, at the end of the day, this is what we leave behind. We leave the lessons that we learned. I'm so grateful that my mother taught me, and for most of the things that I can think of right now that are a question I can hear her answers in my head because she spent her whole life pouring into me. And if you don't pour into somebody else, what have you left of you? What have you left of you? Okay, breathe, discover, decide. Now If you got on late, Lord Jesus, I was supposed to be doing giveaways. Y'all did not even remind me, so now I have to do them all at once. Okay, I gave one away on Instagram. I'm gonna give the rest of them out, uh, too. Here we go, 4 people. Here's what I need to know: what's your tree? What's your tree? What is the thing that you need to cut down, uproot, deal with it? What is the thing that is causing you right now to need to breathe deep? What is the thing right now that you need to to discover, uh, and ask questions about? Because you don't know. You don't know what to do about this job. You don't know what to do with your money. You don't know what to do with this kid. You don't know— what is the thing that you're like, oh my gosh, I got to do some major discovery? What is the thing that you are having to make decisions on right now? Right now. Okay, your marriage, your job, fear. Be specific. What are you afraid of? Come on, call it out, call it out. Your job, your family issues, Finances. Uh-huh. I see you homeschooling. I see you calling it out. Obesity. There you go. Be specific, because some things, y'all, it's not all the trees that are the problem. It's that tree. You got to name that tree. My new job at Amazon. Discipline. My ex-spouse. Building a new home. Okay, I just started a new job. My tree is my training firm. Okay, fear of writing my book. Being very specific. I love it. My old house. My adult children relationship, getting that resume written, retirement— that's a good one— my teenage girl relationship with me. Okay, SN ESSI NK6, you win. Email info@chrystalevanshurst.com. Give them your Instagram name, your real name, and your mailing address. Teresa Brown, your resume, you win. Give them your, your name on Facebook and your Your real name, your name, your real name if it's different, and your mailing address. Okay, I'm still looking for winners. I'm still looking for winners. Uh, my coaching business is my tree. I'm afraid of failing. You will not fail, Victoria Foster. You're winner number 3, Victoria. Email info@chrystalevanshurst.com and make sure you give your full name and your mailing address.

Uh-huh.

Let's see, I got 2 more to give away. Be specific, be specific. Okay, there we go. Delissa, bitterness from a past relationship. Don't we all have that? Lord Jesus, Lord have mercy. Delissa, email info@chrystalevanshurst.com. Give them your full name and your address. Ah, Allison, you win, honey. Allison Newer TC, the IRS. Okay, Instagram, you got a minute and 30 seconds. You win. Email info@chrystalhurst.com and give them your name and your email address. Say I won from Facebook. Listen, y'all, listen, you got to call out the thing that you're afraid of. Call it out and then breathe, because you can deal with it. You have everything you need. Discover, ask the questions. Seek out wisdom, Google, use the Yellow Pages, and then decide. Pick something. It don't matter what weight loss program you choose. 30, The Whole30, intermittent fasting, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers. Okay, pick something. Go vegan. It doesn't matter. Pick something and start. Make the phone call, start the resume, you know, have the conversation. Okay. Have the conversation. Alright, Instagram, because I'm not streaming to you from all of our magical fun things. There's a couple of things that I'm about to do that you cannot see. Sorry, I gotta remember again how to, how to stream from one location to Instagram too. So I'm gonna go ahead and get off of Facebook, but I'm gonna show a couple of other things on YouTube. No, I'm gonna get off of Instagram and then I'm gonna show a couple of other things on YouTube and Facebook, so you can jump over there and join me if you want. All right, delete the video, we're not doing that. All right, all right, y'all, here we go, because now my computer's about to die because this is my life. So y'all, the Sister Circle, I have a friend that talked about what it looks like for you to be you, uh, Candace Payne. She did a course for the Sister Circle event. She did a sister session, and I want to bless you with a 3-minute video that she shared with, with us. And then if you're wanting to take advantage of her session, because there's a bunch of sessions at the, on the Sister Circle, okay, hers is one, and I've moved everything around so you could easily find it at the top. Okay, I want you to be able to easily find this at the top. But because of what we're talking about today, I wanted to share this with you. And my hope is that it is a blessing to you because you need to hear this this morning. Some of the stuff that you're dealing with, you're just gonna have to walk into new territory. And everybody, y'all, everybody struggles with new territory. Here's proof. Here's proof.

I don't know about y'all, but I have wrestled with this idea of belonging. And it just got more amplified and way more exaggerated the more that I was walking into these spaces of becoming a Bible teacher, somebody that had a book with Zondervan, a Christian publishing company, somebody that would be invited to come to a church and speak. And yet at the same time, I'm also getting calls from Comic-Con because they wanted the Chewbacca aspect of who I was and the fun laughing it up lady that just had a blast being a nerd. And knowing Star Wars trivia. I felt torn, honestly, between two different places of belonging. One was worldly and one was secular. And one was— well, that's the same thing. Hold up. Aren't you glad we're live? One was secular, worldly, and the other one was Christian and supposed to be saintly. And I found myself walking into two places every single time. And I always felt the same. Angst, no matter where I was, is, do I fit in? And that evening in that worship service in Dallas, sitting next to Chrystal Hurst, the weight of that question, it finally broke. Finally broke me. I remember bawling my eyes out, and I remember just saying to God, I don't feel like I belong. And I remember Chrystal Hurst being the good friend that she is. She just asked, hey, is everything okay? I wonder often if she asked that because it'd gotten to the point where it was the ugly cry. You know, when you can no longer look cute when you cry, but it looks ugly. I don't think she was worried about my dignity.

I think she was just more making sure, are you okay?

Are you okay? And I just told her, I said, I don't feel like I fit in. I don't feel like I fit in with my church friends and with this culture here in the church, in this room backstage with all these people that are loving Jesus and doing great things for the kingdom of God. I don't feel like I fit in there. I still feel very, very drawn to loving the world and being a part of the world and sitting amongst rooms where people are creating and dreaming up the media and the entertainment that we consume on a daily basis. I love sitting in those rooms as well with creatives and sitting here going, I'm okay with both, but I don't feel like I belong to either one. And I remember the beginning of the soothing balm that God began to just apply to me through her words. And it was simply this, Candice, baby, you be you. You do belong. You be you. So this started and perpetuated a question that I just decided I was going to follow in my alone time with God. And I was going to go down this trail and I was going to ask the Father, who am I? Who do you say that I am? Because the real reality is, is I don't really want to fit in and I don't want to belong as much as I want to be known. Do y'all ever feel like that? That you're trying to play this game of belonging when all the while you already belong to him?

You see, isn't that good? So because of what I'm talking about today, if you feel like you just don't belong, you don't fit, it's not working, you don't know what to do, you have everything that you need. And I wanted to share that with you. Everything, every session that we had from the Sister Circle, um, while together we can't purchase it anymore like that individually. You can just go and get the ones that you need. And I wanted to make sure that you heard about Candace's today. So that's sistercircle.com/courses. You can look at all of them, but then I put hers at the top so you would make sure that you could see it. Before I jump off, I want you to remember to check out the prayer book. It's coming. Chrystal Hurst.com. Pray, preorder, so that you can get all the goodies. And I hope that you this morning are encouraged to, yes, pray the prayers. Pray for the things that you want. Pray for that husband, that job, those kids, that set finances. Pray that God would give you the strength to lose the weight, to— for healing. Pray for the questions that you you have, for trying to figure out what church to go to, for understanding where you need to move and the decisions that you need to make. Pray. But then when God answers your prayer, or while you're waiting for him to answer your prayer, look around and look for the trees that are on the property that you now have in your life and own it. Own it. Because it, meaning your life, belongs to you. You understand? This is your life, and avoiding the trees won't help you navigate your normal. In order to fully enjoy and, and appreciate and benefit from the life God has given to you, you gotta own everything that's come with it. Own it. Figure it out. Marie Forleo says everything is figureoutable, and it's true. Deal with the trees, because if you don't, they will only keep growing, and eventually you will have to deal with them, or worse, somebody else you love will have have to deal with them for you. That's not necessarily always a good thing either. Don't leave your problems to another. Don't leave your problems to another. That's a word for somebody. I don't know who it is, but don't leave your problems to somebody else. Take care of it now. My mom, her brother died a few years ago and he was single. It was unexpected. She went to his house to get things in order. She came back and she said, I gotta get my house in order because I don't want to leave my house to y'all like he left his house to us. And again, it was unexpected and he was single, but there was an order that, that would have made the passing of his life easy for them to deal with. They had to go through mounds of paper to find important things, and it wasn't spelled out. That was years ago. I never forget my mother came home and said, I gotta get my house in order because life is funny and you just never know. And I wanna make sure that I haven't left y'all with something to clean up. My mother left us with things in order. Didn't have to look hard to find things. The attic wasn't a disaster. It had already been cleaned out. All the boxes in the garage were labeled. We know where where things are. My dad is not left in a lurch. She cleaned away her trees. She said, because I'm not going to be here forever. And this is again before she got sick. And when it's time for somebody that I love to occupy my land, I don't want there to be a tree they have to uproot. I'm going to deal with this because this is my tree. And before I pass this along, here's what you need to know. When it comes to your kids, when it comes to the people you love, when it comes to the person at church who's gonna serve after you. Don't leave them a mess to clean up. When you clean up your trees, not only do you bless— are you blessed from not having growing problems on your— the property of your life, but you bless whoever comes after, because they either know how to take it down or you've taken it down for them where they don't even have to deal with it. That is the mark of a blessed life— somebody who is always living thinking about who comes next, thinking about who needs to learn from them, thinking about who needs to, who needs to benefit from their legacy. And when you live like that, that's how you never die, because not only do you get to go and be in heaven with Jesus, but the people you leave behind, they live with the lessons you left them. Somebody needs to know that they can call you because you've learned a couple of things. They need to have your number on speed dial. They need to be able to text you. They need to be able to say, "How do I handle this?" And you can say, "Oh, let me tell you, I got a tree guy. Let me tell you how we cut it down. Let me tell you how I dealt with that. Let me tell you who to call at the city." This is how we work, when we work well. Jawanda Grant said, when I left my last job, I left the office spaces and files cleaner than when I was there. I believe you should leave a place better than you found it. You're right, Jawanda, that's how you operate in excellence. So that's all I got for today. That's all I got. Pre-order the prayer book, chrystalhurst.pray. Check out the sister's sessions, thesistercircle.com/courses. And if you didn't win Sheila Walsh's book Praying Women, check that out too. Gotta finish this season, y'all, better than when we started it. Love you with my life. Talk to you later. Bye.