Run Your Race #alittleQC

Good morning! I am getting my act together because this is like riding a bike. If you haven't done it in a while, you forget. I'm like, dang it, what button did I press to do this? Good morning, good morning, good morning. Okay, I would love to know if you can hear me and see me okay. All right, so I want to know that you can hear me and see me okay before I start saying all the things. Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning. Okay, all right, thanks. It is Monday, July the 27th. Yay! It's Monday, July the 27th, and, um, y'all, it's the last week. It's the last week of July. Okay, you can hear me and see me, but my voice is too soft, I see on Facebook. Um, let's see here. Okay, is that better? Okay, okay, I'm using some different equipment this morning. Okay, I think, I think I fixed it. Let me know. Awesome. Hey, April, thank you, thank you. Okay, I hear you. Good morning, y'all. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Okay, yay, great. Okay, good morning. So I'm jumping on. If you are on my email list, I told you I'd be here. It took me a little bit. Hey Ashley, I see you. It took me a little bit to get my act together this morning because of a few reasons. Number one, getting on live for me is like riding a bike because there are multiple things to do. This morning I didn't do the funky thing where I play the music for Instagram because I couldn't, I couldn't remember how to do it. So I got my phone here for Instagram. I've got Facebook and YouTube there. And, uh, I am, um, on because I wanted to, well, there's a variety of reasons that I'm on, but, uh, so I'll go through those in just a minute. Um, I do want to talk a little bit about running your, and the emphasis is on your race. That's what I want to do. I want to talk about running your, emphasis on your, Y-O-U-R, race. So I'll get to that in just a minute. I want to let you know that I am, cause some of y'all saw my post on Instagram and the word was simply home. It's just me sitting on some stairs. So you'll think maybe that this is home. It's not home. I'm totally somewhere else because why, why would I, why would I not change it up on y'all? Um, so no, this is not home. I am not home, which is why I'm also a little bit discombobulated with my tech. I normally have a whole setup that doesn't move, a camera and a light, and I had to bring a light and I normally have a microphone that's affixed to my desk. And, uh, that mic didn't come, which is why y'all couldn't hear me. So I literally right now have a portable mic sitting in my lap on a pillow, because this is what you do when you have to go live. And y'all, I have my blue cord with me. It is hooked into a router on a different floor because this is a 100-foot Ethernet cord. My kids were like, are you taking the Ethernet cord? You got that right, I am. Live without it for a day. So I'm, I'm all wired up and set up. My computer is on, uh, a, um, 3 stacks of boxes and books. You know, it's just the way it is today, but I'm here. Okay. I'm here. So, um, first thing is if you have not yet tuned in or watched the Desperate for Jesus conference, I recommend that you do that. It was great this weekend. I think I had a good time, um, being a part of that and also going back later and watching, um, parts of that. I've had a good time doing that. And I also have been ministered to over and over again by, um, our speakers, Jackie Hill Perry and Katherine Wolf. And then of course welcoming, um, our dad, Dr. Tony Evans, to the panel discussion. So if you haven't watched it or you didn't watch watch it all the way through. I happen to know that about 3,000 of y'all logged off right after the panel discussion. So you may or may not have known that Jackie Hill came back. Jackie Hill Perry came back. So, um, here's how you watch. First of all, I want to recommend that you go to dfj2020.com because there's a link there to watch. Makes it a little easier to find. Um, last I checked, the registration was still up. So if it's still up, Register because there will be some fun things that are coming out this week that will only go out to registered attendees, and that's how you do that. You can also go to Tony Evans on the Tony Evans YouTube page. Just go to YouTube and search Tony Evans, and you'll know it's, it's, it's not the knockoffs. It's the one with the major following. Okay. And then you can watch there. You can also watch at OCBF's YouTube channel. OCBF is my home church. So You can still watch it and I want to encourage you to watch it because I think that it's life-changing and I really believe that in this season of continued cray cray, that a little encouragement is awesome. It's awesome. So I see many of you did watch it. You did join in and I'm so glad. I'm so glad. I've missed you too. I've missed you too. I see you, Jackie. Okay. So, um, I wanted to, For Your Grace on Instagram. You said you were just listening, listening to Healer, and then I came live. All right, so there are about 600 of you on YouTube and Facebook, and there's another 100 or so on Instagram. So I'm gonna get going. I wanted to give you all time to get on. So first thing is watch Desperate for Jesus, okay? The second thing is I'm gonna be doing some giveaways today. So just get your fingers ready, get your fingers ready. Um, and then the next thing I wanted to let you know is that, um, that I, I, that y'all, I cannot wait to take this out. I cannot wait to take it out. So here's the deal. I went and got it done for, for 3 reasons. Number 1, I was sick sick of doing my hair, sick of it, like short of cutting it off. I was like, oh my gosh, I just don't want to think about it. I don't, I want hair to not be a thing that I'm thinking about right now. The second reason why I went and got it done is because, um, it's less stressful. You know, when you have a lot of things going on, um, and sometimes I do, not all the time, but sometimes a lot of the time, hair is one more thing. Hair is one more stinking thing. So I just wanted to take it off the, take it off the plate just to give myself one less thing to do. The third thing in Texas right now is Hades. It's like Hades in Texas right now. So I wanted to, um, cool off a little bit and take this out of the mix for having to think about while it's a million degrees in Texas. So But here's the problem, y'all. It was very— I looked at Desperate for Jesus and I thought, oh, okay, my hair turned out all right. It turned out all right. It looks Desperate for Jesus ready. You know what I mean? Like, it looks like I planned to look decent. Looks like I was, you know, on purpose. And that's, that's a good thing in life. However, the moment I got it done, like the moment I got it done, I think I went to a new place. And I had a miscommunication with the, with the, with the girls who were doing my hair because I had 2 or 3 of them in my hair at one time. I don't think they understood that I don't want, I don't want, I don't want to be hot. And if you have too much, if it's too long, you, it's still, it's still on your neck. You understand what I'm saying? It's on your neck. And the goal of my life in, in my whole life, my whole life situation, is getting things off my neck. I don't want to, I don't want to feel my hair on my neck. And this right here is a lot of hair to get off your neck, and I can't actually. So it is bundled up right now 2 or 3 times on in on itself, and it's still on my neck. It's still on my neck, and it's too much for me to put it up. So I just walk around the house all day like this. When I'm driving, I put it up like this and then lean my head back on the— I'm just like, get it off my neck. Jesus, help me. Keep me near the cross. So I literally, y'all, was going to go back the next day and get it taken out. And I couldn't do it. And one of the reasons why I couldn't do it is because I was in the middle of a move and my life was a little cray cray. Because we had to, you know, do some things in preparation for Desperate for Jesus. And there's a lot of other things that exploded in my life. I won't go into those today, but you know the saying that when it rains, it pours. It's just true. And honestly, I don't know why I expect anything different from year to year. Every year, every stinking year at Desperate for Jesus, at the timing of Desperate for Jesus, something in my life goes haywire. I'm in the middle of a move. Somebody ends up in the hospital. Uh, you know, a kid breaks their arm. Um, I'm nursing a, you know, major, major cold. There's some explosion in our finances every year, you know, and at this point I understand. In fact, uh, Jonathan McReynolds has a song. Many of you asked him, by the way, that song that we sang during Desperate for Jesus, uh, May Your Struggles Keep You Near the Cross, that song, um, that's a Jonathan McReynolds song. And, uh, one of the, one of the other, one of the other songs that he shares, um, is, uh, the devil, he, he operates in cycles. It's a song that's called Cycles. And y'all, I believe this. I believe this is true. There was a certain time of year when I was, uh, in a season where I was going back and forth with the same guy. He would always show up in cycles. And I also know that there are certain seasons of my life where there are certain struggles that I always have. It's a cyclical thing. You know what I mean? It's, uh, and so I honestly believe that at a time when I'm usually supposed to be my most focused my most prayed up, my most situationally secure. Ashley, you don't have to laugh at that. That, that's, that's how, that's how the enemy operates in my life. He goes, when she needs to be the most focused and the most excitable and the most confident and able to lead, I'm just going to show up and shake the, shake the foundation a little bit. See, when you grow up in God a little bit, you know that there are certain things, it's just the way they are. It's just the way they are. And then you stop freaking out, crying and running around like a banshee, like life is caving in because you go, this is how life is. I'm gonna live through this. This will not last forever. Trouble will not last always. Joy will come in the morning. You start learning how to speak life to yourself. You start learning how to realize that this too shall pass. You start understanding that trouble will come, but it will not last forever. You start being able to say, you know what? And literally I found myself this weekend saying, it is what it is. Sometimes you have to learn how to say that over your own life. You just shrug your shoulders and you just say, It is what it is, but I'm gonna make it through this. I'm going to make it through this. Okay. You have to learn how to say that to yourself. Now, what I want to talk to you about this morning is running your race. Okay. Running your race. And I want to tell you about what's been happening on the podcast past and on the podcast coming. So first of all, let me tell you about what's happening on tomorrow's podcast. So when I, when I've been going live on Mondays, we shifted the Well, what I was going to say is we shifted the podcast till Tuesday. What I should just say is we shifted the podcast because y'all, we in the middle of a pandemic. So I've just been doing the best I can. Okay. Y'all know I used to be Monday mornings. No, no problem getting it out. Y'all now I'm just like, where's the podcast? Where is it? Probably in the boxes where my underwear is at. I just can't keep up. Just like, where is my stuff? Who moved my cheese? Oh, y'all, moving is so destructive to your peace. It adds to your peace in so many ways and it steals from it in so many other ways. I just can't find jack squat. Lord Jesus, my heart is palpitating just thinking about it. Oh, anyway. Oh Lord Jesus. I mean, it just makes me, I'm all freaked out now thinking about it. Okay. Hey, okay. Come back, Chrystal Hurst. Okay. So tomorrow I am talking to a lady named Dawn Barton. Dawn Barton is one of the most, I met her at a conference, um, and I just was looking at her thinking, You cannot possibly be this fired up all the time. Positive, encouraging, life-giving. It can't just be— it can't— this can't be you all the time. It is. It is. It totally is. So we're talking tomorrow about choosing joy in painful circumstances, trusting in God's direction, navigating change, and responding to God's call on your life. She was one of the top 10 producers for Mary Kay, and God said, do something different. Top 10, y'all, in the nation. So she was doing her thing, driving her car, making that moolah, inspiring women, speaking, leading, directing. And God said, lay it down, lay it down, do something different. It's a new season. And she didn't know why. She didn't know why. She just knew she was supposed to obey. So she did. And she talks about this journey of what God asked her to do. And how he led her and how he was guiding her and how he was directing her. And you need to be a part of that because her life has not been easy. She's a breast cancer survivor. She's a caretaker for her parents. She's a mom, she's a grandmother, but she's also a girl boss. And so having this discussion about what it means to be true to who you are, when who you are seems to shift to the left, to the left, when who you are seems to occupy a different space. How do you choose joy when you've experienced significant losses, not just loss losses that have happened to you, but maybe losses you have chosen, because sometimes you have to lose to win. Y'all don't know about Fantasia, do you? But the conscious decision to choose joy is something that Katherine Wolfe talked about for the Desperate for Jesus conference. And if you hadn't listened to Katherine for Desperate for Jesus, you need to do that too. DFJ 2020. But tomorrow I'm interviewing on the podcast Don Barton. Here's what I need you to do. Subscribe, to my email list and you'll get an email about the podcast. Now you can also subscribe to the podcast on YouTube or Spotify or Google Play, but if you subscribe to my email list, then you'll be sure to know about any and everything that comes my way for you. How do you do that? You go to ChrystalEvansHurst.com, ChrystalEvansHurst.com. Just drop your name under the box. When you do that, actually, I think right now, The little free download that we have on my homepage is summer activities to do with your kids. So if you've been failing as a mom this summer, like me, yeah. Uh, pick up the list and do something with your kids. My kids have been so miserable because I just said in the last 2 weeks, I'm done. I'm done with the video games. I'm totally done. It's over. Plus we've been moving. So they have been like, you know, mom, are you serious? I'm like, abso-doggone-lutely. Put the doggone technology down. Put it down. Move a box. Pack a box. Serve your mother. Be friends. Play a board game. It's over. Okay. So join the email list and you'll know, but you can also just check it out everywhere. There's a podcast you can search for. I don't know if it's Chrystal's Chronicles or Chrystal Evans Hurst, but try them both. And you'll find it. Okay. All right. So here's the other thing that I want you to know about y'all. Um, you can preorder my new book. Okay. I'm just going to put it out there because it is what it is. ChrystalEvansHurst.com/pray. ChrystalEvansHurst.com/pray. What is this? It is the 28-day prayer journey, refreshed and revised with fun new stuff. And here's why you want to preorder it. Okay. People are always like, you know, my book is coming out, but here's, it's important that you actually preorder it. And I know it's delayed gratification. But here's the reason why. Because when you preorder books, you tell the publisher that is printing the book how many they need to print. And if you've ever wanted a book or anything for that matter, and it was out of stock, that's because they didn't make enough. Why did they not make enough? Because they didn't know you wanted it. So if you preorder, you're telling them in advance you want it, then you don't have to think about it. And then when the book comes out, it just gets mailed to you. Here's why you want to preorder it too. You want to preorder it because I put all the goodies with the preorders. Okay. So there are like 12 topical prayers in the back of the book. It's a 28-day guide to help you to pray consistently with God. Okay. I've scripted some prayers for you, giving you some prompts so that you don't have to think really hard about what to say to God. It's just kind of a track to run on. Okay. But by the end of 28 days, the goal is for you to be addicted to talking to God because it's a really great thing. Then at the end of the book, there's like these 12 topical prayers. So here's what you need to know about the 12 topical prayers. There are like 30 more. There are 30 more, and you only get them when you pre-order. Not only can you get those 30 more when you pre-order, but you can also get the audio. I'm actually working on completing that because life, but the audio prayers, um, I will, I will have those where you can listen to me pray those prayers for you. You can just listen along. There is downloadable art, there is downloadable conversation cards, and my favorite Spotify playlist. An instrumental version and a non-instrumental version to get you in the mood to talk to God if you're not currently in the mood. So chrystalhurst.com/pray. I see you, Monet. You said, "I ordered 2 weeks ago. I forgot and ordered it again." And this is why you preorder, because you'll forget to order. You'll forget to come back and order it. And then you know what? While you're at it, order 1 or 2 or 3 for a friend because it's a 28-day prayer journey. And so if you want to do this and increase your success with talking to God consistently, make sure you and your friends are doing it together because we are all better together. Okay. All right. So this is all my intro stuff. I'm going to jump into it. Watch DFJ, go to DFJ 2020, join my email list, go to chrystalevanshurst.com, put the email in there, preorder the book, chrystalevanshurst.com/book. Pray forward slash pray. Okay. This is what I want you to know about Running Your Race. Oh, the book comes out September the 1st. It was coming out August the 11th. And then because things happened, it's now coming out September the 1st. Okay. Oh, Eula. Yes, there is a book, but there's also a Bible study. So what we typically recommend is that you do one and then do the other. So you can, you know, bundle it up. And this is why you need to watch DFJ, because you get emails with— anyway, it's just, you just need to get the, get the book, just get the book. And the Bible study, um, I know I can't put it up Instagram. I'm not doing the thing where I'm tethered to the— see, you're on my phone and then I'm on live with everybody else right here. So I can't put it up, but I can tell you again, chrystalhurst.com/pray. Okay. So this is why I want you to know about running your race. Okay. Because it's your race. And if you try to run everybody else's race, you'll be out of breath. You'll be out of breath. Unnecessarily so, beyond so. Um, okay. So the picture I put up on the header, um, the graphic that was playing, if you came on, uh, late, let me see if I can grab that for you and share it with you. Okay. So that picture right there, So I'll show you Instagram. Oh, I guess I could just turn it around like this. That picture right there. Okay. This is me coming into my house to a surprise gathering from friends, with friends. Okay. I had a baseball cap on because my hair was unspeakable. I had a dress I think that I had worn for 2 days because, you know, moving. And in a perfect world, I would have done something to my hair, changed my clothes, and looked the part. And I remember walking in with my friends there to celebrate me, to say, thinking, why couldn't you have got— gotten yourself together? Shh. Why couldn't you have gotten yourself together? Because this is my whole life trying to get myself together, y'all. Trying to get dressed, trying to do my hair, trying to do makeup, trying not to be the one in the picture that wasn't ready. Because I like to live low maintenance. I like to live low maintenance. That's how I prefer to live. You know, one of the things that I admire about Whoopi Goldberg is you know, on the, on the talk show, The View, she just came how she wanted to, you know what I mean? Like, she looked intentional, but she was like, I'm not doing all that. I'm not putting on suits. I'm not putting on a lot of makeup. It is what it is. It is what it is. Now I'm going to be intentional, you know what I mean? I'm gonna be intentional. And my, you know, my moo-moos are gonna look like I meant to put them on, and they're going to look like they cost some money., but it's still basically a muumuu and I'm wearing tennis shoes. So, you know, I admire her for that, but that doesn't stop me. Here's the truth, y'all. This is me being honest. That doesn't stop me from feeling some kind of way when I show up and, you know, Priscilla is always to the nines. My mother was always to the nines. I have friends that are always to the nines. So if I go where they are, and they're cute. And I'm like, I know I just got out of bed with this on because listen, certain things can double, you know, you can wear it and be intentional and be in public and then you can also sleep in it. Somebody say hallelujah. Glory to God for the muumuus. But you know, I'm not going to lie that sometimes I don't feel a little out of place. Behind, out of breath, a little lost and wondering if I should even be in the race. Let me just be painfully authentic with you. Do you have any idea what it's like to go speak to people and them say, or you know that they're saying, okay, there's an expectation because this is one of Dr. Tony Evans's children. Do you know what it's like to show up in a place and know that before they ever knew your name, they'd had your sister there to speak 2 or 3 times? Do you have any idea what it's like to put a mic in your hand to sing in front of ultimately what is now hundreds of thousands of people and know that the people are used to hearing your brother? Do you have any idea what it's like to be me? So here's the thing though, that's all I got. That's all I got. And I have to remind myself almost every day. It's all I got. And if I shrink back from what I have in my hand, I'm not living. Do you understand? If I run constantly looking to the left and to the right, I'm not gonna be going at my full speed. Do you understand? If I am constantly trying to put on somebody else's armor, it will weigh me down. If I am constantly trying to fit in somebody's shoes, I will always be tripping over myself. The same is true for you. It's true for you. Now it doesn't mean that I don't want to be better. It doesn't mean that I don't want to be excellent. It doesn't mean that I don't want to be theologically correct. It doesn't mean that I don't want to walk with grace and dignity and poise. It doesn't mean that I don't want to challenge myself to, um, be intentional. You know what I mean? I mean, you can wear muumuu and, and, uh, have your hair in a bun and still be intentional. You know, you can throw on the earrings and not wear any makeup and still show up like you meant to be there. But I just want you to know that being you, some of us are gifted to do it. We don't think really twice about anybody else, but most of us, in my experience, most of us, we tend to feel the weight of who we're not. We tend to feel the weight of comparing our pace to the people in the race who are also running. But the reality is we're never running against anyone but ourselves. So here's the deal. You have to, yes, choose joy because If you don't, you're missing out on life and you have to find joy in whatever you find joy in. You have to know what you love and what you don't love. You've gotten— listen, if you're just coming here today and you're like, I don't even know what she's about, go back, go back, listen to the other QCs because there are plenty of them there for you. Uh, and you need to, you need to understand that We only live this life one time. Okay. So if you spend too much time looking at somebody else's race, you are not running your own. You're just not, you can't do it. It's not possible. So you gotta choose to have joy. You gotta choose to focus on your race. You have to choose to deal with the hard stuff, dig through the quagmire so that you can emerge. Diamonds are worth digging for. You have to be willing to do the work to own who you are and to move forward in the calling of God on your life. What has he called you to do? Shucks, I don't know. But what I do know is it's probably to be obedient in the one thing that you know you're not doing. I can tell you that much, okay? It's, it's to do the one thing. What's the one thing? For some of y'all, it's simple. It is the one thing to pray, talk to him. You don't know what he wants you to do because you're not asking him. Some of y'all, it's to read the Bible. Just show up and read the Bible. Some of y'all know it's to make your bed. It's to be kind to your husband. It's to put the fork down. It's to go outside for a walk. It is to do better at your work. It is to quit messing around on your work, get to work on time. And while you're on your job, sitting in front of your computer, if you're still working from home, that you are giving your time to your employer. It is to get out of debt. It is to do whatever the thing is that you already know you're supposed to do. You already know it. As I'm talking right now, you already know it. You know what it is. And then to find that place where you are on a happy cruise control. I would say cruise control, except cruise control for some of us can mean complacency. And I don't mean complacency. I mean where there's a little modicum of excitement mixed in with doing the thing. A little bit of, okay, I know I'm doing what God told me to do. I know I'm on the right road. I mean, I'm not, I haven't arrived, but I'm checking off boxes little by little, small things and doing what God has called me to do. Right now in the Inner Circle, I'm on a 90-day journey with women. And that's the message. It is, you know what to do, you know what to do, but here's a little accountability and a little encouragement for you to do the thing. Because if you don't decide to do the thing, the knowledge of what the thing is doesn't help you. The knowledge of the thing doesn't help help you. It's moving forward one step at a time, showing up for your life, choosing to live. And why do I say choosing to live? Well, in my conversation with Sheila Walsh, if you haven't listened to that one, that was episode 263 on the podcast. And any of my podcasts, again, Spotify, uh, um, uh, the Apple Podcasts, Google Play, all these different things. But you can also just go to my website and put in the number. So chrystalhurst.com/263 is how you'd get to that But y'all, Sheila, honest, totally honest, talking about the journey of her life with mental illness, uh, the, her history, her dad trying to committing suicide, trying to kill her, the wounds that she had that, that have chased her down even till today, how she wrestles with those things. But she's still in the midst of all that, choosing to live, choosing to fight through mental health issues, choosing to fight for community, choosing to fight to pray and to show up to God. And listen, I understand it is a fight. Fight. Goodness gracious, me getting live this morning was a fight. I wish y'all could see all the situations and the ethernet cord that's drug down the stairwell and me packing my suitcase to put a mic in there so y'all could hear me. I mean, just the whole situation. Here's what I want you to know: life is what it is. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? It is what it is. And it may be harder for you right now than it is for somebody else, but it is what it is. And whatever life has given to you, whatever life has allowed, it is what it is. You still have to choose to live. Here's what Ecclesiastes says in Ecclesiastes 2:24-25. Nothing is better for a man than he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God, for who can eat or who can have enjoyment more than I? Now, if you've read, read Ecclesiastes, It's about life sucks. That's what it's about. It is about we're all gonna die. It's about no matter what, vanity is vanities. There's nothing new under the sun. Everything's on a cycle. You know, it's gonna be hard. And then out of the quagmire, Solomon says, you should eat and drink and you should enjoy your life. Do you see what I'm saying? He's saying, you know, further on Ecclesiastes, he says, for God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man. Okay. He, he, he enjoy your life. My mother used to say that to me all the time. Enjoy your life, slow down and smell the roses. Life is going to be hard, but this too shall pass. So what does it mean to run your race? And I saw your comment on Free Indeed, you said, eat cake. Absolutely. Um, Free Indeed, you also said it is what it is, but it's not what it seems. Exactly. And if you just live long enough, God is always up to something. He's always up to something. I don't know what it is for you, and I don't know when you'll know what the details of the something are, but he's up to something, and he's always working things out for your good. Romans 8:28, always according to the power that is at work within you. And you, if you have God in your life, Jesus in your heart, there's power. You may not feel it all the time, but there's power available. So here's what it means to run your race. It means you need to know what you're fit for. You need to know there's a difference between being uncomfortable and pushing your limits in an unhealthy way. There's a difference in being uncomfortable and going too far. There is a target heart rate, and I talked a little bit about this on a previous episode. Of these Coffee with Chrystal Hurst. And you gotta know when you're running at a pace that you can sustain and a pace that'll kill you. You gotta know the difference. Somebody's coming downstairs. Who's that? Hey, Jerry. What'd you say? Uh, no, I don't think so. Thank you. Okay. You know, there's a point at which you are lightheaded. You know what I mean? That's not good. That's not good. That doesn't mean you can't increase your capacity. And oftentimes when life comes and life is hard, that's exactly what it's all about. It's about increasing your capacity. Okay, so you do need to stretch yourself sometimes, but you're running your race means knowing the difference between being stretched and being strained in an unhealthy way. How do I know when I'm running in an unhealthy way? My body starts talking to me, uh, I start dropping balls, and I can't live. It's a limit I'm extending myself beyond my limits and I'm dropping things that are not things I know that I need to drop. Okay, so let's just say I'm juggling and I'm running. Okay, if I'm juggling and I'm running, um, and I start dropping balls, that's not the end of the world. I should be dropping balls if I've been running for 12 miles. But if I'm holding my baby, I shouldn't be dropping my baby. Do you see the difference? There are things that you hold in your hand that while they drop, drop, it's okay. It's not a deal breaker. But then there are other things in your hand that you shouldn't drop because they are deal breakers. We know that if you're married, you gotta, you gotta do your husband right. If you're a mom, you need to focus on your kids. If you have a job, you need to make sure that you're able to show up in excellence to your job. If you, uh, if you know you need 7, 8 hours of sleep and you know that at the speed you're running, you're only getting 5 consistently, shouldn't drop that. There are things in your life, boundaries that you should have. Okay? That's the difference between being stretched and being strained. A little stretch, not gonna hurt you, not gonna kill you. It's not gonna turn your life upside down. Now I know there are seasons in your life where stretch does feel like strained. I have a friend whose husband is in the hospital right now. He walked out to take the trash out, got hit by a car. Somebody was on their phone, split his head wide open. He has not been able to wake up for a month. June 4th, in the middle of COVID-19, the father of her children had his face cracked wide open. That feels like strain. I bet. But that she can't control. And that is where life comes in. 'Cause there are races we would never choose to run. Never, never. I would never have chosen last year to run the race of walking with my mom through her battle with cancer. I still, when I say that out loud, if I say my mom died, my mom passed away, my mom had cancer, it's still out of my mouth feels like I'm talking about somebody else's life and somebody else's mother. Still can't believe that. And yes, I felt strained beyond belief, but that wasn't my choosing. I'm saying that there are times in life where there is nothing we can do about it. And then we just go with it. Life is what it is. But there are times in life, y'all, when what we have chosen is what's straining us and God did not put that on our plate. So here's the deal. When you are strained and you did not put that on your plate, then something else has to go. For me, the podcast had to go. I kept doing them, but I was not very consistent. I was just this last 6 months, I'm stretched and I'm like, you know what? I just have to get to it when I can get to it. It'll go up. I'm gonna get there around 7-ish. You know what I mean? It'll happen. All right. So you need to, you need to understand that there is a difference between being stretched and being strained, but you have to choose to live and know what you're fit for. Know your boundaries, know your limitations, know when to take things off and when to add things on. How do you know when to add things on that are going to stretch you that you don't want to do them? When you— that's the beauty of walking with God. He'll let you know. He'll let you know. You'll be uncomfortable sitting there watching the 9th episode of whatever you've been watching. You'd be like, I know I need to be doing something else. The Holy Spirit will prick your heart, and the more you're obedient, the louder he will speak. Telling you what you need to, what you need to do next. Okay. Right now, here's what I know I'm fit for. I know that I'm fit for showing up for you. Okay. And I've had some conversations with Jesus about it. I'm not doing it every day, but, um, showing up for you maybe once a week on Mondays to give you a little coffee boost. That's what I'm supposed to do right now. Okay. Uh, 7-ish. I'm not even going to commit. I'm gonna do my best, but that's what I'm supposed to do right now. I'm also still working on a book. So there's that. That's what I'm fit for. I know I'm fit for moving in and I know I'm fit for being stretched and in this area. Uh, it is what it is now. Kim Dillard, you said Jesus wouldn't talk to you during your shows. How would you know? How would you know? What if he actually is talking to you during your shows but you can't hear him because you're tuning them out? Okay, so knowing what you're fit for and knowing your soul. Now, some of this comes with age, but some of this comes from listening. And just knowing. Have you ever said to yourself, I knew I wasn't supposed to do that. I knew it. I knew it. And as soon as you do it, you're like, ugh, I knew I wasn't supposed to do this. So your knower was talking to you. So I went and visited Winter's grave. After Desperate for Jesus, I ran the first night. I ran to the gravesite to sit there. And think about her and have a conversation with her. Don't want that to weird anybody out, but you know, you can have a conversation with people you love in your head. And I was like, all right, Winter, I'm here to learn from you. What am I supposed to teach, learn this year? What, what did you teach me that I'm supposed to be attentive to? What wisdom did you share that I'm supposed to learn? And that was it. Shani, listen to your knower. That was it. How'd you know? Listen to your knower. Did I say it already? I probably said it already. It was, you know, you know. One, you're a woman and God has given women the sixth sense. Trust it. Also, the Holy Spirit lives in you. The Holy Spirit lives in you. And so listen, listen, know what you're fit for, know your boundaries, know your limitations, and listen to your life. That's the second thing I want to say. Listen to your life because your soul is— you are a spiritual being. There are some things— yeah, she probably said take a nap too, Brenda. There are some things that your soul knows, that your soul has also been given to getting directions from your flesh, which is why you need the Spirit of God to give your soul some direction. But your soul knows, and the Holy Spirit lives in you to say, I know you want to go left, but really you're supposed to go right. But a lot of times, y'all, we don't listen to our lives. We don't listen. We're not paying attention. We're not, we're not attentive to the fact that the last time we did this, we were out of breath and we passed out. The last time you dated that guy, it was the same guy. You just dated the same guy 3 times in a row. Listen, listen, listen to your life. You understand that the last time you faced this situation, you knew that God's word spoke about this, but you really hadn't been in the word, so you couldn't really remember what God said. Listen, get in the word. Listen, the last time you took a job that you hated, you knew in that interview that you didn't want it, but you were so desperate and you didn't believe that you could wait on God to, to fulfill your calling. And so you jumped at it and you missed the opportunity God was giving. Listen, listen. Now the Bible also says if a man doesn't work, he shouldn't eat, but I'm just talking to the people who had an option and you took, you took the easy way out. Listen to your life. Be still and know. That's what the Bible says. Know that I'm God. But you don't know anything if you're not still and you cannot hear. When you're driving 90 miles an hour, you cannot hear. One of the things about running I learned, and I'm having to learn again as I get back into the groove, is this concept of listening to my breath. There is a rhythm. If you've read my books and listened to my stuff, you know what I'm talking about. There's a rhythm that you will find when you run that first mile. We all hate the first mile. Then there's a rhythm. Your body, your breath gets into a rhythm. There's a rhythm and you can hear it. You're running— hu-hu-hu or hoo-hoo-hoo sounds crazy but there is a rhythm. And once you find your pace, you know it. And when you go uphill, it changes. All hills don't last forever, but you'll hear your breath change. There is a rhythm. That you can find if you listen for it. And you'll know when you're on a hill and you'll know when you're on a decline and you'll know what you need to shift in order to function well. So in my life, what this looks like is I downshifted, got off. I haven't been on a lot of social media either, here and there. Uh, but I got off. I wasn't doing the lives every day. Because I needed to find my rhythm. I'm in the middle of a move. I still am in the middle of two houses, which has been a little chaotic to say the least. But I've just had to say, you know what, this is all I can do today. So sorry, friends, I couldn't make it. I feel horrible, but this is the best I can do. Sally Clarkson, um, there was a quote of hers one time and I saved it, but she basically was like, I can't run at everybody else's pace. I have to run my race. I have to live my life and I have to live within the boundaries that God has given for me. Some of y'all need more sleep. That's all right. Some of us need less sleep. That's all right. Some of us need a high level of order in order to function. That's all right. Some of us are comfortable with our piles. That's all right. So right now, for me, knowing my rhythms and listening to my life means a lot of quiet. Because there's so many things changing and there are so many things that I don't, I don't know. I don't, I don't know if I'm stretched or strained. I don't know if I'm living beyond my limits. I don't, I don't know. And I have to be still and just listen and let the answer rise to the top. Like cream rises to the top of milk, like something that is light floats to the top of water. I just have to slow down. And listen. It is a lot more comfortable when I'm running to listen to music. It's distracting. I like it. It makes me not think about the fact that I don't want to be out of breath, but something happens when you turn off the AirPods or the Beats, you know, or the wired headphones. Something happens when your soul knows you're listening. I'm about to sound a little cray-cray, but if you're, if you're tracking with me, you'll understand. Okay, track with me, you'll understand. And I gotta hurry up because I'm on Instagram and Instagram will cut me off. When you, when you slow down long enough to listen, your soul speaks. There's an ease If you can think about a place where you are most comfortable, like let's just say there's a spot in your couch or a chair, a special chair. And when you're in that chair with a certain thing on, with a cup of tea or whatever your drink of choice is, you're comfortable. There's an ease. Think about the person in your life who you are the most comfortable being around. When you're with them, there's no pretense. It's just easy. Okay, okay. When your soul knows you're listening, it speaks. You'll know if you're comfortable or not, if you're stretched or strained or not, if there's something that you're not doing that you should be, because You, the inner part of you, wants you mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically to be good. But you won't know what's good unless you listen. This is why when I get in the shower, all of a sudden I get all the greatest ideas because my brain has been trying to work on my behalf this whole time. My soul has been trying to speak to me this whole time. I haven't been listening because I've had things in my ears that make life easier, but that are distracting me from what my soul wants to say. Sometimes my soul says, don't do that, don't go, don't participate, skip that event, and I go anyway. And then I'm strained because I shouldn't have been there. My soul says, make the phone call, send the text, have the coffee, and then I realize a week later that the person who I was supposed to call or text God called them home. And my soul, Jesus, the Holy Spirit within me was prompting my soul to tell me something. And I wasn't listening. Do you understand what I'm saying? Sometimes y'all, your soul, because of your design, because God made us to be spiritual beings, it senses things you can't sense. You know, they talk about the the, the lizard brain, the reptilian brain. And they always talk about this from the standpoint of evolution. So I'm not talking about evolution. What I am saying is there is a knowing that you have. That's why when something's not right, the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and you know something's not right. If you have kids, you understand this. You know when they lying to you. You don't have no proof. You just know there's something on the inside of you like this. You start getting the tinglies because something is not right and you know it. Okay, this is a part of our build. So you'll hear the world talk about about it. And they'll say the reptilian brain. They'll say, you know, your lizard brain. They'll talk about this from an evolutionary standpoint that we are designed to pick up on things. What I'm telling you is God made you this way. Yes, fight or flight brain. God made you that way. He made you to know things. And then when you believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is in you. The knower that knows all things lives in you. Because there's something still as a human being, you're finite and you can't understand. How can you run your race when you are not listening to your knower? How can you run your race when you are not paying attention to the wisdom, the knowing that God has already put in you? And then when the Holy Spirit comes, you will have power to know things that you wouldn't have known even in your soul. I always would tell my children, You know I'm gonna find out, right? Tell me the truth, sweetheart, because Jesus talks to me, honey. He talks to me. And whatever you lied to me about, oh, he'll make sure I find out. And I'm confident about that. Okay, so You need to know what you're fit for. You need to know what your boundaries are. Right now, my boundaries, I have to be honest and tell you that I've extended some of them and God has been spanking me a little bit. But my boundaries are, I got these 3 boys at home and I got to do that right. My boundaries are, I've got a husband that I want to honor, respect, and care for. Right now, my boundaries are, I got to work, right? Those are my boundaries. I got to write, I got to speak, and all the things that I do, y'all, as much as I love Jesus and as much as I love ministry. There's a job involved in this for me, and I got to do that well, right? Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna stop you. Renee Flores, you say, Chrystal, you have the gift to speak to us as if you were talking to us individually while speaking to a whole group. I feel like we're having a one-on-one conversation. Let me tell you why I stopped you there. Let me tell you why I stopped you, because that's my boundary. That's one of my boundaries, is having conversations. Um, in 2013, I spoke for the first time at my church, my women's conference, conference, which is unnerving to speak to the women who basically almost changed your diaper, but whatever. Anyway, my friend Talisha said to me, "Chrystal, are you nervous?" I said, "Yes, I am." She said, "Why?" I said, "Because there's 3,000 women in the room, half of which they know me really, really well." And she said, "But you know what you're good at? You are good at having one-on-one conversations." I said, "That I am. I love having one-on-one conversations. I wish I could take everybody to coffee all the time. I love to ask the hard questions and do the digging to make you think about your life and come away with an action plan. That's my jam. She said, so when you're speaking to 3,000 women, have the conversation with the one. The only difference is that you're having conversation, a one-on-one conversation, 3,000 times simultaneously. Focus on the one. If you focus on the one, then you'll do what you've been called to do. My soul knows when it's time for me to have coffee with a friend. My soul knows when it's time for me to send a text for somebody I haven't talked to in a while. My soul knows when it's time for me to show up and talk to you. And my boundaries beyond my husband and my kids and the work that I have to do in my life is to know that I'm called to the one. And if God chooses to let that one conversation be on a stage, then so be it. But that's not what I'm called for. Called to be a big sister and to show up as best as I can for the one. Instagram is going to cut me off in 90 seconds. So I'm going to stop it and restart it. Okay, y'all, I'll come back to you. So one of my boundaries also is that I have to know that, um, One of my boundaries is right now, honestly, one of my boundaries is that I need to, you know, it's my body, got to take care of my body. And I've been losing weight, y'all, partially because I've been paying attention to food. But honestly, the real reason is because I've been running myself ragged and forgetting to eat. That's a part of it too. Um, so, you know, that is what it is as well. So I, I, I've been singing, you know, I've got my water bottle over here somewhere, and, um, you know, just trying to make good choices and do what God is asking me to do with that. But I also want you to know that's a boundary. You want to know why that's a boundary? And it's a boundary for all of us taking care of our bodies is because without the care for our bodies, we're not going to be here to do whatever other things are we are to Okay. All right. So know what you're fit for. Uh, know the difference between being stretched and strained. Know what you're fit for. Listen to your soul. Listen to your knower. And the third thing about running your race is know what's for you. Know what's for you. One of the saving graces in my relationship with my sister is, is knowing and respecting and championing and making room for where she should run in her lane and when I should run in mine. That doesn't mean we don't collide sometimes, cuz sisters collide. But let me tell you something that I, that I celebrate her for and, um, make room for her for, because it's her thing. One of the things that Priscilla is really good at is gift giving. Gift giving gives me hives. I, if I see something for you that I want to get for you, I usually just get it and give it to you. But when it's time to give on cue, like at Christmas time or birthdays, or because I need to honor you, because my whole body is like, it's stressful for me. Um, shopping is stressful for me. I don't like shopping. Priscilla loves it. So when it comes to gift giving and like we were doing some things at the church and I said, listen, we got to give some gifts for this stuff. I'm like, Priscilla, do your thing. Um, when it comes to, um, um, you know, shopping, I'll say, should I wear this? You got to know your lane. You have to know when you're living outside of your boundaries, out of what God has called you to do. But honestly, what's for somebody else to do? One of the things Priscilla has said to me, is one— she says no to so many different engagements. And, you know, sometimes when I'm looking at a speaking engagement, I'm like, do I say yes or do I say no? And I pray about each one. Um, one of the reasons that she's reminded me about is when you say no, you're making room for somebody else. You could go out there and do 50 speaking engagements a year, but should you really? Because one of the boundaries is your children. So no. But then when I do say yes to— not only do I need to think about, is there room for it in my life, but am I leaving room for somebody else? Am I leaving room for somebody else? There is a great peace that comes from knowing your lane and honoring somebody else's. Do you understand what I'm saying? Priscilla, on many of an occasion, has called me because she's a host with the mostest. She's going to have it laid out. The plates are going to be beautiful. The food is going to be delicious. It's going to be presented. You know, my thing is my food is going to taste good. With it. I may, it may not, you know, the table may not be set. The paper plates may be over there. I may tell you to get your own cup out of the pantry, but you know what is going to happen? You're going to have thirds. Priscilla, I mean, I'm sure her food is good too, but her giftedness is in the hospitality. After you finish your meal, she's going to say, would you like some coffee? And she gets delight in going to make it for you. Okay. So here's the thing. She has called me sometimes after she's made the beautiful, beautiful thing. And she said, "Girl, what are you doing today?" I'm like, "What? What?" She'd be like, "Come over, come over." I'm like, "Why?" "Because I asked this person over for lunch." And you know, sometimes having those one-on-one, like having just a one-on-one conversation with a person, you know, I just feel like, "Ah, just me and that person. Can you come over?" I'm like, "Sure." You know, because my thing is I'm going to look you in the eye and ask you all the deep questions and all the things and take my time with you. So the thing is you have to know your lane and know what's in your hands to do. Let me tell you why I sang it, "Desperate for Jesus." One of the reasons why I sang. Singing is a thing for me. It's actually a great place of insecurity because I have been around my whole life people who can really sing. I mean, really sing. And I have some scars related to my singing. I've had some people say some things to me over the years or not make room, or it's just, it's a whole thing, it's a whole situation. Like, I'm getting a rise in my spirit talking about it. But here's the thing, I know that there's a sweet spot for me in my relationship with the Lord when I'm singing. And I feel like there's an authenticity that I bring to worship in my relationship with God that is a blessing, even if I'm not the best singer in the room. And so I actually had nervousness about that because I've sung before at Desperate for Jesus. If that's the one time a year I normally sing, it's at Desperate for Jesus. But I was like, okay, I need to call the committee head and tell her I would love to sing, but I don't want to sound like I'm inserting myself. I don't want to sound like I'm trying to, you know, not make room for other people. But I feel like this is the thing I'm supposed to do, right? I'm supposed to do this. And God was convicting me that this is— I put this in you. I put this in you. So this is— and he was saying, do it, do it. And actually, the committee member called me first. Chrystal Hurst, before I got a chance to call her. She said, "Hey, we want you to sing this year." I said, "I'm so glad you asked me because I've been sitting over here not wanting to ask you because I didn't want to sound crazy and I didn't want to put myself out there." But in my heart, I was uncomfortable because God was saying, "For this season, at this event, for this time, this is your lane. Own your lane. Own it." And I have to tell you that there are things, y'all, I struggle to own because I keep thinking, "Oh, this is somebody else's lane." lane. I shouldn't be in here. There are things I struggle to own because I'm not supposed to be doing them. It's somebody else's lane, and I'm doing my best to zigzag in two lanes while I'm running. You can't run your race like that. You can't run your race like that, zigzagging between two lanes or not owning your own. If you run off course, if you run through the woods and in the trees and through the neighborhoods, you're gonna exhaust yourself because that's not the lane you're supposed to be running in. When you enter a race, a 5K, or marathon, they give you a path to follow. And there's a reason for that. You gotta know your lane. And sometimes that means own it, show up, sit at the table, do what you're supposed to do. Stop shrinking back, own your story, own your life, tell the truth, do the thing. And sometimes, y'all, that means get out of her lane. Get out of her lane. Quit trying to do her thing. And there's a difference. You know the difference between you being uncomfortable because you're doing something somebody else was called to do and you being uncomfortable because you're pushing through what God has called you to do. There is a difference. How do you know? Because you listen to your knower. You listen to your life. You look at the doors God is opening. You, and like, this is something I've had to reconcile with. And then I'm gonna wrap this up because I've been talking for doggone ever. How do you know the difference? Okay. First of all, and I know y'all have to get to work. You gotta take care of your kids. I gotta get off. I'm not supposed to be distracting you from your life. Okay. So I'm putting this back on the screen. Prayer. Here's how you know the difference. Difference because your soul can get off track. We are human, right? So yes, you read the Bible because God's word is true, okay? In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. When you read the word, you get to know God. But prayer— and this is why the 28-day prayer thing was a thing— I wasn't praying enough, and I knew it. And when you pray, when you make room to pray, You make room for God to inform your knower. That's how you know the difference. When I'm faced with a door, okay, I'm trying to run my race, going along, and then there's a hard stop. There's a door. The question is, do I say God closed the door so I sit and wait, or do I reach with my hand that he gave me and open the door? Okay, if I reach with my hand that God gave me and I try to open the door and the door is locked, locked? Do I say, oh well, the door is locked, or do I feel above the doorframe for the key? Okay, if I feel above the doorframe for the key and put it in the lock, and then I turn the lock and it still don't turn, does that mean I don't go to the locksmith and try to get a lock— a key that fits, or that I don't look for an open window? When do you know if you get to the door and the door is closed? Oh, I have tinglies all over right now. When you get to the door and the door is closed— come on, Holy Spirit— when you get to the door, the door is closed, how do you know the difference between turn around because the door is closed and open the door because it's your door? How do you know the difference? Yes, you pray because God can tell you the difference. But I also want you to know, if you turn around and you start walking away from the door because it was closed and your knower starts screaming at you to go back to door, you go back to the door and you try it again. Because sometimes you are supposed to keep trying that door until it opens, because it's your door. It's your door. That's how I feel about singing. My dad said to me the other day, if you weren't writing— and I've always been a writer, always been a writer, always know I was supposed to write. I didn't know I was supposed to speak, but I did know I was supposed to I said, "If you weren't writing and speaking, what would you be doing?" I said, "Singing." And he was like, "What?" He said, "That's like over here." I said, "That's what it is. There's a connection that happens somewhere else outside of me when I do that." That's how you know you're walking in the will of God. Because there is something that turns on in you when you're doing what God has called you to do. It turns on, the light goes on. If you're a caregiver and you're serving somebody and the light goes on in you when you are able to, um, to, to meet a need. When you're, when you're holding a baby, if babies are your thing and you're like, and they're not your kids, but you're working in the nursery or you're working with the 3-year-olds and there's something that turns on in you when you're doing it and other people are feeding that to you and they're saying, ooh girl, this is your lane, honey. This is you. Okay. This is— that is otherworldly. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's otherworldly. It's— there's something that happens when I'm teaching, when I'm doing this with y'all, something turns on. Now I have a turn on when I'm speaking too, but it's a different turn on right now. Like knowing that you're watching me as I'm talking to you. And you can hear it. Y'all can hear it because y'all, if y'all watch me for any length of time, you know that there are versions of Chrystal Hurst. There's a version of Chrystal Hurst usually when I'm with my siblings. It's totally tuned, it's totally toned down. I'm usually very toned down when I'm with my siblings. There are, there are reasons for that, but I'm toned down when I'm with my siblings. I've had some of y'all email me and be like, are you okay? Because I'll be just sitting there very reserved and very whatever. Okay. Yes. When you feel lit up though, there's a whole different situation. It's a whole different situation. Okay. When are you turned on? That didn't come out right, but you know what I meant. When are you turned on? When are you on fire? What sets your soul on fire? Then keep trying that doggone door. Keep trying it. Keep trying it. Uh, there's a previous intern who's kind of an, an, uh, archived intern. She's an honorable intern this year, providing some guidance and direction for our current interns. Kwani Boo, Kwandrila. She has her doctorate degree, 10 years y'all in the making. And she finally got it. Some of y'all been working on that bachelor's degree for 7 years. Some of y'all have been trying a lot of things and you, and, and, and if you can't shake it, don't, don't live with no regrets. Know what you're fit for. Listen to your life. Know your lane. And when you know your lane, own it and keep working on it until it opens. Until it opens. Okay, I'm gonna share something with y'all. This may or may not be a good thing. It may or may not be a good thing, but I'm gonna share this with y'all. In 2015, I started talking about the Sister Circle. 2015. In 2016, I wrote about the circle, the Sister Circle, and she's still there. It had its own chapter. In 2017, I put out a book that had the Sister Circle in it. Now here's the problem. Because God gave that to me, I spent money, y'all, like not $5. I bought the domain and it wasn't cheap because God said— I kept hemming and hawing. Should I buy it? Should I not buy it? And God was like, I gave it to you. You buy the domain. I bought the domain. Huge sacrifice, like huge, like more than $100 huge, like way more. I bought it because God gave it to me. And then y'all, right about the time I was gonna launch it, a show comes on TV called The Sister Circle. I was like, what do I do? What do I do? I'd already made the video entry throw for the Sister Circle Show on my YouTube channel. I had already spent the money on the website. I'd already spent the money on the logo. I'd already done all these things. And for a hot second, I held my mule. I was like, okay, this can't be it. So I went Googling other names. Okay, should I do this? Should I own this? Should I do— it's got to have the sisters. I mean, I got to do this. I was so stressed out. And I was like, what's going to happen? Because I have this. God has given me this. He's given me a vision for what it's supposed to be. Y'all, I was Googling last night, last night, and in April the show was canceled. Now I'm not happy about that for the women who were on the show. 5 years of me saying, God, did you give this to me? Because it, 'Cause I can't really go all the way, like for real, all the way, like legally protected all the way. If there's something else, I can't. What did you, did I hear you wrong? Did I hear you wrong? Maybe I heard you wrong. So I looked online just last night and I was like, I didn't hear you wrong. I didn't hear you wrong. 'Cause I thought I can't compete with them. You know, that's a different thing than what I'm doing. I can't compete with that. There's thousands and thousands of dollars going into the look of that show and the marketing of that show and the all, I can't compete with that. So my point is, you just know what your lane is. And you own it. Even if people aren't trying to give it to you, you own it. Let me tell you something I said to my brother recently. Nobody is you. Nobody is the firstborn son of Dr. Tony Evans. Nobody has a voice like yours in the body of a football player. No one is as caring and kind to 13 nieces and nephews in this family. Nobody has a level of excellence. Nobody is you. And nobody being you is your superpower. The space that you were designed to occupy belongs to you. Here's what I've had to tell myself. This is what I've had to tell myself. Nobody is me. I can respect and honor and cheerlead and celebrate and show up for my sister, my friends, my coworkers. I, I can show up and honor people that are in positions over me, people that I need to honor and, and, and respect and work for. I can show up for those people because They can't be me. They can't. And I have to own my lane. Let me give you an example of this. So with my mother passing away, my dad asked me to continue her work at the Urban Alternative, Tony Evans Ministries with pastors' wives. I am not a pastor's wife. I'm not a pastor's wife. I just am not. I can't do it. I can't do it. And then here's what came to me one day in tears. I'm probably gonna cry. Just get ready. I would have loved to have my mother for another 27 years. My grandmother died at 97. Had my mother lived as long as my grandmother did, I would have had her for 27 more years. 27 more years to spoil her. 27 more years to honor her. 27 more years to to, to care for her, to do all the things in a season of my life where I can finally, finally afford to do things that I know she would have loved. Like, you know, even though she loved everything I did, you know, mostly that I would gift her, there are things I know she enjoyed I couldn't afford. And I, I'm still ain't there, but I'm closer. And I would have loved to take her out to the fancy dinners and love to buy her the outfit at her favorite clothing space and love to do these things, take her to her favorite a health spa. Love to take her to this place in California we talked about going to. Love to give her an all-expense-paid trip to, you know, Australia because she'd never been. I would have loved to do all that. I didn't get to. I didn't get to. But here's what I get to do because I understand close up and personal what it is to be a pastor's wife I get to, in her honor, spoil pastors' wives. That's what I get to do. I told my dad, Daddy, you want me to do this XYZ and the other, and I'm not a pastor's wife. I'm like, I'm not a pastor's wife. And he looked at me and he said, but you're a pastor's daughter. So, you know, so while I'm not a pastor's wife, what I can do because I'm a pastor's daughter is honor pastor's wives the way I would have loved to honor my mom, or at least in some of the way. Do you understand? That's my lane. Sometimes you have to reconcile your lane with what you can do, even if you wished you would have been able to do something else. What you can do. Let me give you another example of that. My grandmother wanted to be a missionary. She got saved and she wanted to be a missionary. And then she met my grandfather. Then they had 8 kids. She really wanted to be a missionary. She wanted to feel like she was changing the world for God. And she couldn't go out and be a missionary because she had the mission field down the hallway. Do you want to know what she did? She spent her life often writing letters to missionaries. You are doing what I thought I was going to do with my life, and that's not what God has called me to, but I want to support you and minister to you and care for you while you do what's in my heart to do. I just found a letter from my grandmother the other day. Day. Just found a letter and I read it. I didn't even remember getting it from her. I didn't remember. I didn't remember writing her, which is why I'm, you know, a low-key packrat, because I'm always afraid that if I throw something away, I'll throw away the memory. And a lot of things are like that, honestly. I pick up a thing and it's like, oh, I remember my mother bought this for me, or, oh, I remember she always gave us this, or, oh, I remember. So as I move, I'm going through things and it's, it's horrible. I'm like, Chrystal, you know, my daughter said you're one book away from being a book hoarder. And I am. Books are a problem. But I have like 15 bookshelves, y'all. It's a problem. My point is this: because she wasn't able to be a missionary the way she thought she wanted to be— hey, Susan Shea! See, Shay? I don't know why I cannot get that straight in my head. Susan and, um, she wrote letters. And then she said, it is for me to support the missionaries that God did call to go, and it's also for me to be a missionary to the mission field in my home. So my grandmother, it— and all of her children— she had children in Germany, children in London, children in Maryland, children in Houston, children children in Dallas, all over the place, all loving the Lord. My grandmother took classes. Hope my phone is not going to die. Oh, maybe I can plug it in. I'll hold— I have to hold it because I think it's going to die, y'all. My Instagram situation. She took classes, and Priscilla, when my grandmother was 70 years old, called the, um, called the school and said, hey, my grandmother has been taking classes for 20 years and she's just taking the classes she's interested in, but can you give her a degree? And they made up a degree for my grandmother because she had taken way more hours than any degree would have required. And we had a little personal graduation ceremony for her because she never stopped learning. Education was important. So when people say, why do 2 of your children have doctorate degrees? How did that happen? Why have all of your children had higher level learning? 3 of your children have doctorate degrees. Excuse me. You know, 3 outta 8 ain't bad. Why do all of your children, why do all of them have higher education? Because she said, I told them how important it was. I didn't get to go and finish the thing that I wanted to finish. Finish, but I wanted them to, and I imparted that to them. Knowing your lane means you show up for the thing that's important to you and you do the thing. Knowing your lane means knowing when it's not for you to do, but it's for you to support others doing it. I was talking to a friend of mine who, um, and I'll say this and then I'll wrap up because this is Ridiculous. Sorry, y'all. I just hadn't talked to y'all in a while. I was, um, with a friend and, um, she had an assistant. This is years ago. And, and the assistant, I just said, what? Cause she's the assistant was a rock star. She used to be the director over some program at their church. And I said, so why are you now an executive assistant? And she said, because I realized as I was directing that program at the church, that while I could do it and while I had the skills to do it and while I had the know-how to do it, I wasn't passionate. I was passionate about doing it well, but the it wasn't my passion. And I watched other leaders who were leading in an area that was their passion. They were passionate about the youth group. They were passionate about the women. They were passionate about the mission field. They were passionate about the children. Like they were called to that area. She said, I was called to the excellence. And I said, you know what? I need to put myself in a supportive role to use all of my juice to support somebody who is called to the thing, not called to the execution of anything, but called to a thing. And so she pulled back. I say pull back and looked intentionally for an executive assistant position or personal assistant, administrative assistant, I'm not sure, but to work for a leader who was on fire. She said, I just need, I just need a leader who needs somebody who can run with their vision. She said that's, and she said, I had to, I had to lose my pride in being number one. I had to lose my pride about having the title. I had to lose my pride for being the person that everybody reported to. I had to lose that so I actually could run full force behind a vision that was clear instead of trying to lead through something that I, you know, I could do this, but I could do anything. No, no, no. I had to get behind the thing that somebody else had the fire for so I could run with fire towards the vision God gave them. You have to know the difference. You have to know the difference. How do you know? You have to know what you're fit for. You have to know, uh, you have to listen to your life so that the knower can speak. Okay. And then you need to know your lane. Sometimes that means owning your lane. I'm not a pastor's wife, but in this season I am called to minister to pastor's wives alongside the ministry that I have to women. I am called to own that. And not shrink back from it. I am called to show up, um, and serve my dad in the capacities that I've always served him in and in some new ones. And that may be good with some people and not good with others. That has nothing to do with whether or not that's my lane. And I can be sweet and I can be calm and I can be clear and I can also say, well, so on behalf of Pastor, this is what we would like to do. I can channel my Lois C. Grace and my Priscilla Grace, because y'all, that's not usually the kind of leader that I am. Somebody say, help her, Jesus. Help her, Jesus. Help her, Jesus. Listen, I come from corporate America and, uh, sometimes that corporate America sauce, it don't fly so well in the church. Sometimes you need to bring a little bit of that corporate sauce to the people. Of that love Jesus and say, oh yes, I know we love Jesus. However, we're going to operate at this level of excellence. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Yes, we love him. So anyway, my point is that means sometimes I have to quit saying this is who I am because no, I'm not. I'm no longer the 12-year-old girl who grew up in the church. I, I am also the almost 50-year-old woman who has life experiences, who has training, who has a voice, who has knowledge, and who God has placed for such a time as this. And I have to tell you that that is something I have to work to own. I have to charge myself up sometimes before I go into meetings. When I'm sitting in the meeting with my publisher, sometimes I have to remember that I have a voice. I like, I have to charge myself up a little bit because I'm also a good girl who doesn't want to break the rules, who doesn't want to make anybody uncomfortable. And I don't want to go outside of my lane. And I also have a very strong personality. I'm very zero to 60. So I'm either very quiet and too quiet, diet, or I'm either running over people. And I'm finding the way to live in the middle and to be healthy, but I have to own it. If I don't own it, it's a travesty. It's a travesty to what God is doing in my life. It's a travesty to the people I'm supposed to serve. It's a travesty to the people I'm supposed to minister. If I don't own my lane, while God can fix it, I'm not showing up for what God has asked me to do in this season. Do you have to charge yourself up? 100 doggone Do you need to tell yourself who you are in Jesus? Absa-dog-on-lutely. Do you have to rehearse some things in your head? Might you need some affirmations you write on your mirror with lipstick or some 3x5 cards that you put in your car? All right. Do the thing. What I'm trying to tell you right now is, honey, it's your lane. Own it. Own it. Hey, Carla Roberts. Carla Robertson is one of my friends who has owned their life. She's a seamstress and has created a whole business of sewing, but not just sewing, but teaching others to sew and getting these mountain projects because she was like, I could have gotten a job. I could have done this. I could have done that in the seasons where sewing didn't seem like it was like, should be my life situation. But this is what God called me to. And God has given her some crazy creative ways to make a living as a seamstress. Beyond sewing, but it's because she stuck with what God had put in her heart. Hey, T, own your lane. Own your lane. All right, y'all, you can run your race. You can, but you have to know what you're fit for. You gotta know your boundaries, know the difference between being stretched and being strained. You need to be sure to stop every now and then and make sure you take out the headphones, drop down the noise, hence me getting off of social media. What is my breathing pattern right now? What is the rhythm that I need to maintain? And then you need to know your lane, and then you need to own your lane. You need to honor the lane of other people. And you need to run hard in yours. Listen, some of y'all need to hear me say this. Quit sidestepping in your lane to give people room to run in your lane when God has given you your lane. It's all right to make room for other people, but quit giving up territory that God did not call you to give up. Quit playing yourself down. Quit mitigating your presence. Quit asking for permission to be what God has already told you to be. Own your lane. You can be kind and say, excuse me. You can be gracious and say, I do wanna say something. You can be clear and say, I know we moved on from this point in the conversation, but I just wanna reiterate what I, what I said. You need to document the mess out of the things that you know that God has given you so that when they come around and realize that you were right all along, you can reference where you said it in an email. Somebody say glory, glory. I tell my children, remember the day that I said X, Y, Z. Mark the moment because you're going to realize in 6 months, 2 years, 5 years, your mama was right. Document the moment. Your mama was right. So that later you can say, oh, I need to listen to my mama. Quit giving up territory that God has given you to own and quit messing around and trying to dip into somebody else's lane. Stop. Honor that girl over there. Let her do her thing. So here's the deal. Let me tell you why I'm gonna bring this back around and then I'm gonna jump off. And don't forget to layer all of this. I've got the link up on Facebook and YouTube, Instagram. You can't see it. ChrystalEvansHurst.com/pray, because everything needs to be layered in prayer because there are some times where the noise of this world world will get in the way. It'll get in the way, and you just need to pray so that God can connect you with some things that you'll only get when you pray about it. There are some answers you're only going to get when you pray about it. There's some clarity you're only going to get when you pray about it. There are some, some information you're only going to receive when you pray about it. There are some chains that are only going to break when you pray about it, okay? God wants to inform your knower. The Holy Spirit wants to inform your knower, okay? Pray without ceasing about all things and bring all the things that are causing you anxiety to the throne room. But let me tell you why this whole Lane situation— let me, let me come back to the Sister Circle. I have big dreams for the Sister Circle, big dreams. I don't even know if I've been able to articulate them all, if they're all written down. But in my head, I, I have a, I have, I have a thought. But here's what you need to know. Number one, I know what I'm fit for. I love connecting people. And I also know that there are a lot of things that I'm not fit to talk about. There are some things you're not gonna hear me talk a whole lot about. If you've ever said, why doesn't Chrystal Hurst ever talk about this that much? It's probably a reason. Okay. Number 2, listening to my life. When I go back in my life and I wrote about this in my book, She's Still There, when I go back, I can see that Chrystal Hurst has always been gathering women. Always. I was the one that made peace on the playground between this girl that wanted to fight with that girl. I was the one that started the teenage group of the girls who were going to study the Bible. I'm the one that had the group that met to go through the book when I was in my 20s. I'm the one that created this event at my church to gather women at my church in my 30s. I created a choir. I've always been gathering people. I'm listening to my life. Chrystal Hurst, God says you are a gatherer. You are a gatherer. And it's not always so that you can be on the main stage. What is my lane? My lane is every now and then I'll be on the main stage, but my lane is helping other women who should have— uh-oh, my Instagram phone died— is helping other— I thought it was plugged in. Obviously that didn't work. See, I My lane is helping other women who should be on stage have a platform. That's my lane. There are people that I know that have a word and you will never know who they are. Not never, but you wouldn't know who they are right now because they got 200 followers on Instagram and they don't have a connection for a platform, but they are a killer speaker, a killer writer, or they have a killer level of experience. So my thing is, oh, but God introduced them to me. So my job with the Sister Circle, my lane, my lane is to encourage other women to do the thing that God is calling them to do. But the other part of my lane, the other part of my lane is to create a situation where other women can find each other. I've never been divorced. I'm not going— you're not going to ever hear me talk about anything about being divorced and walking through that season. Season. I've not lost a spouse. You're not gonna hear me talk about that. But here's what you will hear me do. You will hear me grab a woman who has been divorced or who has lost their spouse to talk to you about walking through grief, to talk to you about finding your life after that person has left. You, you, you will never hear me talk about adoption because I've never adopted anybody. I would've loved to, but we didn't. But you will have me have somebody come on here and talk about adoption or talk about fostering or talk about infertility. I've never had a miscarriage, never. And I'm so grateful for that, but I am not going to then postulate myself to talk to you about miscarriage when that's not my lane. That's not my lane. Okay. So what the Sister Circle is, is me being in my lane to say to other women, hey, Hey, I need you to come on here because they need to hear what you have to say. I'm gonna ask you some hard questions. I'm gonna dig in deep. I'm gonna, I'm gonna prompt you to say some things that other people may not be willing to say, but at the end of the day, this is your lane. Okay. Being you, a Black woman married to a white man. I'm not married to a white man. This is your lane. Even when I talk about social justice stuff, there is some stuff y'all that I have friends who are— this is their thing. This is, this is it. This is what God has called them to do. And while I want to educate and while I want to, um, help other people learn what they can do, okay, being all the way in, that's not my lane. But me having them on my show to talk about things that we all need to know, that is my lane. That is. The minute I try to get out of my lane to do what somebody— what God has gifted somebody else to do, what he has set them on fire to do, what he has given them a passion to do. The minute that I go out of my lane to do it, guess what? It's not that I can't do it, but it will be anemic. It'll be anemic. Have you ever tried to run through life with your iron low? You can do the thing, but you tired all the time. You have low energy. Your coloring ain't Right, you know, you need some iron. You got to take the right kind of iron though, so you won't be constipated. But anyway, here's my point: you can do it, but you won't do it strong. And I want you to run your race strong. Do you understand? I want you to run your race strong. So here's my commitment to you. My commitment is, unless the Lord says elsewise. Just made up a word, elsewise. My commitment is to be here on Mondays to give you something. I'm not going to go this long every Monday because life. I'm supposed to kickstart you into living your life. And if I sit here with you for 2 hours on a Monday morning, I am a distraction. Okay. All right. Yes, honey. You said you need to take your iron pill. Feel the right start. I got my iron right now in my bag. I double and triple and quadruple dose on iron because it's just a problem. But anyway, here's the thing. What I want to do is be ridiculously practical. There are some things that I can talk about, but they're not my full lane to talk about. I may like, like homeschooling. I can talk about homeschooling. And I know a lot of y'all have been asking me, Chrystal Hurst, oh my gosh, can you please come back and talk about these kids. And I will, my team is working on something so that I can give you some very specific practical things. Okay. Cause I've been helping my in real life people. My sister-in-law is now homeschooling her kids. You know, I had a whole group of women that came over to my house and we talked about curriculum and what to do and what to— it's a whole thing. And I need to do that again in real life because, um, but I'm not the homeschooling lady, but I know women who are. Are homeschooling people. Susan is on, she was on Instagram. She's one of them. My point is I want to come on and talk about some things that are practically helpful to you. But I want you to know, as we go into yet another month of COVID-19 pandemic situational mess, that you need to run your race. That is the most important thing I need you to know. Run your race. So let me give you an example of that. This is why I don't like talking about homeschooling, because then everybody wants to use the curriculum that I use. And the problem is there's a million different types of curriculum out there, and I picked the one that works for me. If I tell you what works for me, yes, it's a starting point, but what if it doesn't work for you? So that's the thing. So even in that, you can have a workbook, you can do it online, you could read a lot with your kids, you can unschool. You can, uh, do grades, you cannot do grades. You can do— I mean, you know, you can do it till 12, you can do it all day. I mean, what works for you? I don't know. Losing weight. I can talk about losing weight, but really it don't matter how you lose the weight. Do intermittent fasting or do Whole30 or do Weight Watchers or just stay out of the drive-through line and getting that sweet tea. I mean, really, we all know, eat some salad, drink some water, and eat less. So yes, we need people to follow. What I'm trying to tell you is my— you following me is not about doing what I do. It is about me introducing you to you doing what you need to do. Okay. So I will be I'm here every Monday unless the Lord says differently. The podcast will release on Tuesday. Be sure to check out my conversation with Don Barton tomorrow. It'll release tomorrow. If you didn't yet listen to my conversation with Sheila Walsh, go check that out. 263. If you're not on my email list, go to chrystalevanshurst.com and do the thing. Hey, Christy Harper. And then grab the prayer book because, oh, I forgot to tell I'll tell you, in— once the book releases, I think within a week of the book releasing, we're going to have this exclusive online, um, what are we calling it? An exclusive online prayer group. It's like a prayer group. I don't know if it's a Zoom thing exactly. I can't remember. I don't have my notes in front of me, but, um, it'll be like you joining a prayer group. For like it anyway. But you'll only be able to do that if you have the book by that first week. So the way to guarantee that you have the book by that first week is to pre-order it, because if you order it on the day it comes out, it may or may not make it to you on time. Okay, so anyway, I hope you're blessed. Here's the bottom line: run your race. Nobody else can run your race but you. Nobody else can run your race but you. But you have to know what you're fit Be willing to increase your capacity. Listen to your life, okay? Know the difference between being stretched and being strained. Listen to your knower. Engage in knowing God because that is how the Holy Spirit infects and informs your knower, okay? And then own your lane. Stop trying to get in her lane. Honor her lane, okay? And then stay in your lane. Own your lane. Quit getting out of it, making room for other people. You, you, you can make room for other people, but some of y'all are running away from your lane and saying, well, I just wanna make room for other people. And you're actually, you actually are not doing what God has asked you to do. You're taking the easy way out. You're being a coward. You're being a coward. Own it. Own it. And it doesn't mean you're gonna get it perfectly. But you can own it, Darlene. The name of the book, if you're talking about the prayer book, it's, uh, the 28-Day Prayer Journey. I have to think about it. Okay, y'all. Yes, the book will be available on audiobook. I read it out loud. Oh, Becky, you prepared the white cherry cake for the first time. Yay for my mother mother's cake. Can you participate if you have a copy of the first 28 Days of Prayer? Sure, but it will be a little different. And then yes, you can. I would say yes, you can, because we'll just be praying. You may be a little— because there's different content. We added a lot of new content. And also, um, the pre-orders, you want to get the pre-order stuff. That's the stuff. But yes, I'm not going to tell you you can't come and pray, but I think— can I say that? I think the invite is only going out to people who pre-ordered. So I think that's the thing. What time will you be here on Mondays? 7-ish AM Central Standard Time. Okay. I'm done. It's 9:01. This is ridiculous. I have talked now for 1 hour and 51 sec— minutes. Sorry, y'all. Seven-ish. I do my best. I'm doing my best. Here's what the word of the Lord says: Nothing is better for a man than he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. It killed me to pull away from being in the middle of two homes moving, but I am with my family today. And I said, there's nothing better than to eat and drink and to enjoy. And if I only live to check things off, if I only live to fill in the blanks and to circle in the boxes, I'm not living. So pull away, Chrystal Hurst. Pull away and live. So I brought my computer and I brought my laptop light, and I brought my microphone, and I have all, all of the— I brought my wires. Deborah, you said I made up for the weeks that I missed. Oh, y'all. Okay. I would love for you to share this. If you've been with me this whole time, Lord Jesus, I would love for you to share this video because sometimes Sometimes Facebook makes it hard for people to know something happened unless other people share it. Okay. Uh, and if you're new, then binge watch. There's plenty of YouTube free stuff on my YouTube channel. And then also for those of you who are in the Inner Circle, don't forget to binge watch all the content that's in there from the QCs, from my guests, Lisa Turkhurst, Priscilla Shire, Michelle Louie, Nicki Koziarz. Who else did I have on there? Sean Cannell, lots of things, lots of those. So you can check that out too. I'll throw that up on the screen because I know that it's probably hard to remember. All right, y'all. I'm glad that you joined me and I want you to live your life, run your race, know what you're fit for, listen to your life, stop the noise. Voice and own your lane. Make room for her, but own your own. All right, y'all, I'll talk to you later. Bye.