Strong Girl Summer

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Give me a thumbs up if you can hear me. I want to make sure I have my sound right before I move on.

Give me a thumbs up if you can hear me.

Yay! Awesome!

And just so I know, can you hear the music too still?

Awesome!

Is the music still going too?

You barely hear me. I'll speak louder. I'm very, very faint. Okay, I'll speak louder. Yeah, I know you can't see me yet. You said it was awesome. Awesome, awesome. Okay.

Good morning.

Good morning. How are you sitting? Of course I'm gonna be talking to you. Chrystal. Listen, y'all. Hold up. Just hold up. This is my story.

This is my song.

Playing with technology made me sing. Oh wait, let me fix that for you. See? Oh, I don't know what the heck that was.

All right, better.

Better.

Let me turn the music all the way down here. Let me turn my volume up. All right. All right. All right, now we're cooking. Y'all good? Oh my word. So y'all, first of all, if you're here from the inner circle, let me know that by dropping a yellow circle in the comments. I cannot control my environment. What that means is that if you hear vacuum in the background, I can't do anything about that. What that also means is that if you see somebody walk behind me, I can't do anything about that either. This is called commitment, okay? You see that? See the people walking back there? This is called commitment because I am traveling My family is somewhere outside. They are eating breakfast, I believe, right now. And I have been scouring this place for the best spot for me to go live. So last night I went live on Instagram for like 5 minutes just to make sure I had good signal. Here comes somebody, Lord Jesus. And I had great signal. So then when I set everything up No go, no go. So I found a little place. So this is the game room. You can see the puzzles over here. My device, I'm using a phone as my camera this morning. I don't think she knows I'm— can y'all hear that vacuum?

Okay.

So y'all can hear okay? I may go close the door. We'll see. I just want to make sure y'all can hear. Yeah, you popped up and you were gone.

Yep.

Maybe they will just— I just want to make sure y'all can hear. And she's running a whole vacuum, so I think you all can hear. She said gang gang. Okay, and here comes the vacuum. Hold on, let me tell her. Can I— I'm doing a recording this morning. Is it possible for me to finish that? Thank you. Okay, y'all, great. So y'all, um, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning. I went live this morning everywhere because Last night, it's a whole thing. The bottom line is it has been, I would say, 6 weeks of extremely interesting circumstances, of extremely extraness. Have you ever had a season in your life where it just, like the waves keep coming? Mm-hmm. That has totally been, totally been my situation. So I did not get a chance last week to record with my inner circle, and that, those, those are the videos that normally show up here. But since I didn't get a chance to do that, and that's where the Sunday night videos come from, I thought, you know what, I'll just, you know, go live last night and, and just chat a little bit with everybody. And then that did not work. So this morning I am here. I'm actually in New York at a campground. I'm in upstate New York, spectacular New York to be specific, about an hour and a half outside of Albany. And we traveled here as a family for the most part to hang out for the week. I may be here all the week, part of the week, but some of the week for sure. I'll be speaking here as well. So that's what I'm doing here. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to do things, especially when I get to do them with my family. But I'm also committed to doing all the things I'm supposed to be doing. And I did check before I got here and knew that there was Wi-Fi. I just didn't know where it was last night. Okay, so Anyway, so this morning I want to talk to you a little bit about what it looks like to be a strong girl in a strong girl hot summer. That's what I want to talk to you about. So if you've ever been in a season where things are just tough, what does it look to muscle up? What does that look like for a girl to muscle up? And I have some things I want to say that are totally not scripted. So this is either going to sound extremely mumble jumbled and unorganized or it's going to be extremely anointed and it's going to light your soul on fire. I prefer to believe the latter because I feel the message so strongly and we're just going to see what comes out. Up and comes out. So that said, there's a couple of things I want to say first of all. First of all, if you're here in the inner circle, don't forget every now and then to drop your yellow circle. And my phone rings because my kids.

Hey, sorry.

This is my whole life. This is my whole life. This is my life. Life hitting buttons. Okay, now let me see. I'm gonna text him and I'm gonna say, just let me know where y'all are going. Here we go. And I put it on do not disturb. He must have called me multiple times on a live WhatsApp. Just let me know where y'all are going. I'm in the social hall next to— all right, not right now, y'all. He is calling me to accept the request for an app. Oh wait, hold on. Okay, yes. Okay, I did it. Done. There we go. This is my whole life. All right, good morning. Yeah, y'all are giving each other instructions in the chat. I love it. Okay, so here's the thing. First of all, um, if you are here and you're in the Inner Circle and you haven't moved yet Okay, you haven't moved to our new home yet. What are you waiting on? What are you waiting on? Everybody in the inner circle that's at Coaching Connection and Coffee, okay, not co-producers, not co-producers, that's another story. Coffee Connection and Coaching. If you are paying $25, $50, or $100 a month, you got an email to move. It's time to move, y'all. We closed on the new house. It's time to go. It's time to pack up, get your stuff. Stuff and go on to the new abode. Okay, so if you haven't yet done it, do it. Read, because we know people don't read. Read the instructions. It'll save you extra time and headache. Read the instructions. First you move, then you cancel on Patreon. But first you move. Okay, y'all, for gosh, what, 2 and a half years now, we have been making this thing work. Do you hear I'm a geeky girl at heart. Listen, what other kind of person like travels with extra lavalier mics? Chrystal Hurst, that's who. Who else walks with all their stuff? Who else has wires coming out their ears and microphones in their suitcase? Chrystal Hurst, that's who. Okay? So we've been making this thing work for 2 and a half years. We have been using 4 different platforms. One for our courses, one for our membership gateway, one for our store, and another one for our community. And we, y'all, because the girls who have been here, give or take, for 2 years have basically built this house. So if you are in the inner circle, first of all, thank you, because you helped us build the house. But the second thing is we have a gift for you. It's, it's a, it's our Inner Circle 2022 Inner Circle shirt. Every year going forward, the plan is to have a shirt, but this year the first run of these shirts has a little, little situation on it and it says Founding Sisters. So if you are currently in the Inner Circle, you want to move because you have to move by my birthday, July 7th, in order to get the shirt. You can get another shirt after that. You can get the regular shirt after that. But if you want the I was here before everybody else Came in the Door shirt, then you have to— am I saying that right, Emily? Is it July 7th? Correct me if I'm wrong. You can text me if I'm wrong or Vox me if I'm wrong. So I believe it's July 7th at 7 PM. If you are currently in the Inner Circle and you get in, is it before July 1st or is it before July 7th? I'm going to Vox you. I am talking, Emily, and I could be giving misinformation. So for the girls who are in the Inner Circle, people now. What's the date that they have to move by to get their shirt? Is it July 1st or is it July 7th at 7:00? One of the two. Just move. Just don't have to wait till the 7th. You got a whole week to get that done this week. She'll correct me in just a second. The point is, y'all, we have a special gift, but we need you to move on over. You gotta move. I guess it would be this way. No, this way.

I don't know.

All right, so you have received an email. If you did not receive your email, Okay, this is a little family conversation, y'all, first. If you did— okay, see, thank you, they're telling me what the email said. See, I'm lying. That's another deadline. So if you are in it, then you've got to move over by July 1st, because y'all, that's when we open the doors to everybody else. So you got to get in before everybody else, and then what you want to do is make sure that you follow all the instructions so that we can make sure we send you your shirt. Shirt, okay? So you can still get a shirt, but if you want the shirt, the original OG shirt, then you need to make sure you get in, okay? And then follow the instructions. You gotta get into one home, get out of the other home, and then fill out your survey so we know what size t-shirt to send you. We're really excited. Nope, it's not complicated. It's just, just read. Now, if you did not get an email, let us know. Just go to hello@chrystalevanshurst.com. Just let us know. We've had a few people, not many, not many, a few people tell us that. We're happy to help you, but we want to make sure we get our girls over. Okay, we want to make sure we help our girls cross the street before we invite our new girls across the street. So that's what you need to do. Hey, good morning. You want to lean in and tell Just lean in and say hi. You found me.

Hello. Hi.

You need me? Because I am currently live everywhere. Okay, well, all right. Okay. All right. All right. Emily said you just need to be in before, like if you're in the inner circle now, you're good. She said we didn't say when you had to move by, so just hurry up. That's the bottom line. Just hurry up. It is easy, Kim. That's the whole beauty of the new site is it makes things so much easier. Everything is in one place. Okay, so now No, I can't do all that right now. I am currently live. Can you operate for 5 seconds without the app? Thank you. I promise I will approve it later. I love you so much. You need me to type in passwords and stuff. I can't do all of that. Okay. All right. So now, if you are not currently in the Inner Circle, the doors open up July 1st. They open up July 1st. And the thing is, you want to be in by July 7th. At 7 PM. I can't even remember why. I can't even remember why we said that. Why did we say that? They have an ATM here. Somebody will tell me in just a minute. I can't remember why, but I do remember that there's a reason. We used to come down. So we'll have to figure that out. All right. You can see them. So, all right. So that's the address that you will go to. It's chrystalevanshurst.com/innercircle. And that's where you go to in order to get more information. So right now, if you go there, you'll see all the information, but there's— you can't do anything. On July 1st, you'll be able to actually take action and come on in the room. Yeah, there you go. See, come on, girls who are helping me out.

It's—

Emily said money. Okay, so the prices, like everything else in our lives, is going up, right? So that effective pricing is already in effect, except if you come in July 1st through July 7th, then you get to take advantage of a promotional pricing that will last to the end of the year. Okay, so for— from now until the end of the year, or July 1st to the end of the year, you get special pricing. Because, you know, I get it, gas is stupid. So that's why you need to move in if you're new before 7/7 at 7 PM.

PM.

777 at 7 PM. Yeah, and the doors will not close. We're going to try an open always policy. We're going to try it and see how we like it. However, the money will change, so that's why I'm telling you to come on in the room. All right, praise the Lord, everybody. Praise the Lord. So let me, um, show y'all some stuff. Y'all know I always like to. All right, so let's see what I want to show you Chrystal Hurst. Okay, so my husband has got some stuff going on, so he is guarding the abode, the homestead, while we're away. But me and the boys are on a little trip, and much to their chagrin, I'm filming. I'm filming them as we are on the plane. I'm filming them as we walk through the airport.

Ciao!

Just filming the bejesus out of their whole lives. They love me so much. Wave, Kanan. And I'm giving them instructions. Smile, turn around. The oldest son is like, leave me alone. After we got on, I mean, it was— oh, sorry, video, but you can get the gist. Look at this beauty in upstate New York. Isn't this gorgeous?

Wonderful. Just stupid beautiful.

So we traveled all day because there's no direct flights even though Dallas is a hub city. We traveled all day to get to this beautiful camp and it's still not facing the right way, but you get the gist.

Mm-hmm.

This is me coming out my door this morning and this is what I get to look at.

Wonderful. Mm-hmm.

Butamus. Sorry about the sideways videos. This is my whole life. Me doing the best I can. Speaking of which, another thing that I had to do the best I could with yesterday was on the plane. I knew this, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, but I, y'all, I have a 16-inch MacBook. I need a 16-inch MacBook in order to do these lives and stream and connect all the equipment and the foolery. I had a 13-inch and also the 13-inch before was like 5 years old, but I had a 13-inch in 2020 and it kept choking on the lives. And they were like, first of all, you have a 5-year-old computer and then you need a 16 because you need a dedicated graphics card. Graphics card, so I got a 16. I love my 16-inch when I'm at home. Have you ever tried traveling with a 16-inch? The airplanes are not friendly. So I'm, I'm, I used to be Gold, I think I'm now like Platinum Pro. So the point is I always get the extra, the extra 6 inches in the seat on the plane. That don't even do it for the 16-inch. Like you need a straight up emergency row or to get bumped up to first class in order for your 16-inch to make sense. And I'm borderline like, don't tell me I need a traveling computer, Lord Jesus, because I'll do it. Anyway, all the things that I'm sitting here trying to do just to make— I mean, just struggling with every little thing. It's every little thing. I'm on the computer, y'all, with my computer like folded in half and like bent forward. I mean, it's just stupid. It's just stupid. Okay, so we have questions. So CT said, I don't do Facebook. Can I still be in the inner circle? That's the beauty is we are going to be moving our community, our inner circle community off of Facebook. We have big plans for this community, like big plans, long-term big plans. Right now we're starting, we're starting smaller. We're building one step at a time. Lucy Lou said, I did not get the email to make the move. Okay, so if you are coaching connection or coffee, copy and you didn't get the email, just let us know. hello@chrystalevanshurst.com. Okay. Yay. She said the website has literally everything. It does. It does. It does. Megan said, are you in Finger Lakes? Girl, I don't know where I am. I don't know what lake I'm on, but I know it's beautiful. I know it's beautiful. Yes, we're gonna try it. We're gonna try it. We will see. We will see. I guess I should show you. You're going to be in Hawaii, Laveera? That is amazing. Yes. Okay, so maybe I should show you a little bit. Let's see. Let me see. Okay, yeah, that's, that's what I'll do. I'll show you a little bit of what we have going on in here. All right. So this is the website. This is my website. So on the very— so that little box, that little yellow box every week is going to, when I go live, when I figure out how to do it, that little yellow box will open up. So you can go to YouTube if you want, but you don't have to anymore. Like, you can literally come here and everything, even the lives, the regular Inner Circle lives, will be right here. Then you see on the left you'll have a calendar. On the right you have the updates from me. This would be our featured journey, like what we're doing together as a group. The store— here's the store. Stores on there. Hey Jennifer, I'm not sure, but you can email us at hello@chrystalhurst.com to ask. All right, so then we have the library. So we have all of this content that we have in the Inner Circle. Some of it is courses like We Do Them Together. Some of it is extra podcasts past things. So like here at the top, we featured a few things. So when the whole world got to hear my interview with Tabitha Brown, the Inner Circle got to see my interview with Tabitha Brown. So we featured that. We have a faith pathway here and a 21-day journey here. So here's our library. And what's super, super cool about our— this is one of my favorite things because we have so much stuff. And if you were in the Inner Circle before, unless we told you about it, it would be hard to find it. So now not only can you just see our whole library, like everything is here, you can also like, uh-oh, you can also drill down. So like here, if I wanted to say, okay, I wanted to see this last coaching session with Shandria, here's that, here's the notes we took for you. And then there's a comment section at the bottom. But if you want to find what you're looking for, you can literally come over here and say, okay, I just want to look at the podcast extras. That's all I want to see. And then it will only show you the podcast extras. Or you could say, I don't have time to watch anything, but I want to see what are, what are my audio options? And I can click there, right? I can go by topic. I can say, okay, I want to work on my emotional and mental well-being, but I want to watch a video.

Look at that.

Listen, this is like amazing. I have the greatest web developer ever. He's been with me and I've been with him now for gotta be, gotta be like 6 years. He's helped me. He, I found him when my first website got hacked. I was like, I never want to figure that out by myself again. And now we've grown to the point where I can actually pay him to develop a site. Okay. So here's where it gets really fun. So here's the community, and in the community you can see the posts. It's just like a Facebook feed. It's just like a Facebook feed, right? All right, so we have a community, but you'll see that we have this general community. It's a new Inner Circle post, but also in this community we have groups. You see, she just made a comment in the South Central group. So our first goal is to have people connect by where you are. So we created groups so you can find your people. So in groups, you can say, okay, where do I live? You know, and then I'm going to find my people in the South Central area of the United States. So we did it by region. And then here's what's super fun. So when you first come in, and this is my profile, we're going to come down here and we're going to say, all right, Who are you? Who are you? Well, what generation am I? What's my marital status? What's my motherhood situation? What career am I in? What are my hobbies and interests? And when you do that, then you'll be able to find other people like you. So if I click the homeschooling box— why did I not click the homeschooling box? All right, I'm going to click the homeschooling box and somewhere I should be able to save. But if I go to the members section, okay, and let's say I want to search for somebody. Well, I want to search for all of the people who are here that are homeschoolers. I'm going to click the homeschooling box and click search. And guess what it's going to show me? It's going to show me all the women in here who are homeschoolers. Like seriously, y'all. I think we have outdone ourselves. That's what I think. I think we have outdone ourselves. So we like, it's like a new house. And what that means is we are, it's like we moved in and the house is ready, but we are still hanging up pictures, moving furniture around, buying new furniture. So even those who are in there, like for the next few weeks, and honestly, because it's our own site, because we've developed we can do whatever we want. So like the sky's the limit. So we kind of just got the bare minimum ready. And we have, we already have a list of features we've been talking to our web developer about, like, can you do this? Can we do this? Here's the best part of this. Here's the best part of this. The best part of this is the way we set up our site. It's not going to be like right away, like right, but we're going to get there. The way we set up our site, we will also be able to develop our own own app, and it'll all be the same thing. So then you'll actually be able to have the Sister Circle app on your phone to be able to tap into whatever you want. So it's awesome. It's awesome. If you are already in there, then what's going to happen is you will have anything that you've paid for will be already connected. Like, we've, we've basically, for those of of you who either are in the inner circle or you had already paid for a course. Like one day you came to an event or you bought a speaking and writing workshop or something like that. When you move in, we already moved your stuff. Like the stuff has already been moved out of the old house, right? And so once you show up to the new house, then we put the stuff in. We're like, oh, here's your— this box goes into this room. So that's why you have to follow the instructions when you join, because we want to make sure we connect you with all your stuff. All right, so, all right, so those are our family announcements. Those are our family announcements. All right, so I think I've made all the announcements that I'm supposed to make already. Oops, I made all the announcements that I'm supposed to make. I'm gonna make sure, because y'all know there's a million things happening in my life right now. Let's see.

Yay!

I'm looking for my notes, Emily, because you were so great to print them out for me, and then I mean, or to do them for me, and then I'm not home, so I have to find them. All right, so this morning, y'all get busy in the chat. I didn't ask the question yet. Let's get into our teaching for today. Um, what are you drinking? I'm drinking cold coffee. Coffee. They had it in the main area. I mixed it. This is what I do when I go to the Hampton Inn. The Hampton Inn is my favorite hotel. And listen, y'all, I'm not mad at a Ritz or Four Seasons. I'm not mad at a Ritz or Four Seasons. However, I love me some Hampton Inn. The bed, even though they're owned all by the same company, Hampton Inn is Hilton, I believe. They are not the same. They're all, they're not the same. The beds are not the same. Hampton Inn has the Beds, but I make coffee—

whoops—

and then I put hot chocolate in it. It's like I'm making my own mocha, and then I put a million of these in there because, you know, you need the milk. And then I usually use a sugar and a Splenda when I'm making my own mocha. So that's what I'm drinking this morning, but it's cold, so I also have— because, you know, naturally alkaline is great— I have a peachy because I'm trying to be good. So I'd love to know in the comments what you are doing, what you are drinking today. Aren't y'all proud of me? I have— I brought my little lav mic so you can hear me well. All right, we got water. Barbie, mineral water. Kathy Foster, coffee with hazelnut creamer. Brenda Bates says, I like Marriott beds and pillows. Room temp water, Anthony says. Everett Jones says orange. Latoya says hazelnut coffee. Latanya said black coffee, second cup. Come on, Amy Stockwell with the McDonald's Coke, tell the truth and shame the devil. Okay, I think I've made all the announcements. We open up on July 1st. Move, y'all, if you're in there, move so we can send you your free shirt.

Shirt.

Oh yeah, if you're in the Inner Circle, y'all, don't forget that. Yeah, this is your last week of coaching with Shandria. Okay, sorry, your last week of coaching with Shandria. You have not been, it's not too late to join, but don't be late. We shut the doors after 10 minutes because you need to be in there so we're not unfocused and disrupted about all the things. So That's this Thursday at 6 PM. All right. So, y'all, here's the deal. You know, I'm turning 50. 7/7, I turn 50. I really do believe it's just a number because I don't know what 50 is supposed to feel like, but I don't feel it. I also don't know what 50 is supposed to look like, but I don't think I look like it. I have 4, well, almost 4 grandchildren. I have 5 children. I've lived a whole lot of life. So maybe that's what 50 means. But the point is, I'm really excited about my birthday. I have to tell you, though, that it has me asking questions, right? Midlife. Where do I really want to invest my time and my talents in the season? How am I making room for what matters the most? How can I, since I know that reaching and impacting women is a part of my purpose, how can I do that more effectively in the season? I, like you, only have 24 hours in a day.. And so making sure that I'm utilizing those 24 hours first as a person God wants me to be with my husband, with my children, with my family, with my church family, with the people that are in my real life locally. And then what does it look like to expand my reach and to say to other women, hey, this is what it looks like to live your life well. This is what it looks like to be a woman of faith and live your life well. This is what it looks like to tackle practical circumstances and live your life well. What does that even look like? So I think that those questions are good questions for you to ask in any season of your life. But I think what age does is it says— it brings the reality that you don't have forever time. And so you say, okay, based on the fact that I've lived this much life and I want to make sure I'm grateful for how I've lived my life, what do I need to change? So my birthday, you know, is so much about me thinking about those decisions, but those decisions usually land me back at what does that mean I do for you all? You know, because I can talk about a lot of things, but what are the most important things for me to talk about, really? What are the things that you need to know, really? Like, I can tell you, I don't know exactly when, but within the next year, We'll be talking about estate planning. We're gonna be talking about the important black book that every woman needs to prepare for her family, single or married. That's morbid, but you need to know. And I can't tell you how many people don't do it. Okay. And I know older people may be thinking about that, but I think about my younger sisters, right? I think about those who are in their 20s, early to mid-20s, how to know he's not the one. Like, seriously, how do you need— how can I save you some save you some trouble and talk to you about how you need to know that he's not the one. Okay, I think about my 30-something-year-old women who maybe have small children. It's not— it's like how to maintain your sanity, right? When you are serving your family.

Wow.

I remember I was in the airport yesterday and as I walked by, I was that woman who would walk by by all the women who have little children. And I would just look at them and smile like some doting older woman, right? It's like, mm. And I resisted the urge to say, these are the good old days. Relish the season, it goes fast. These are the best years. Because I used to hate it when older women would say that to me. I was totally stressed out. But it's true. So what do I need to say to younger— I was thinking No, I was following this woman in the airport. She had one kid on a leash. She had another kid holding her dress. And then she had another kid in the stroller. And I remember traveling with 3 little kids. I did that thing. But I was looking at her and thinking, I want to encourage you that this is really a great season for you. But I also want to encourage you to continue to grow you.

You.

My mom used to always tell me that. She used to say, regardless of the season that you're in in life, you keep developing you. So I kept learning. I kept writing blog posts and figuring out how to code HTML on the backside of a website. I kept— I just did little things. I would take— watch little videos on YouTube. I would read, read, read, read, read, took classes, went to Bible study. I kept developing my interest and my passions, not even knowing that in this season of my life I'd be coding on the backside of a website or be fooling with videos because I had learned all the tech stuff or be teaching biblical principles. And so, you know, those 10 years in BSF paid off. I didn't know. I just kept developing. And so these are the things, these are the lessons that are important for me to teach. All of the lessons, I want to make sure that I make them available to women on the podcast. Or, you know, if it's a gender-neutral topic, to anybody who listens to the podcast or people who watch on the YouTube channel. But here's the thing: there are women I know who want more. They want more. They don't want just to hear me talk about it. They're like, Chrystal Hurst, the thing that you— the book that you read, can we read that together? Yes. Yes. So that level of engagement and involvement, that's what happens in the inner circle. For women who don't want to just be passive hearers and learners, but they want to be active hearers and learners, and they want to do that in the context of community. And we created the Inner Circle for that. And what happens is the Inner Circle supports and serves all the other free content that we put into the world. I am a ministry girl with a ministry heart, and Jesus is free. I would love for everything to be free. However, ministry is not free itself. It costs. And so the beauty of the Inner Circle is that women who want to do more more, or who just want to be a part of me being able to create more. It's not just me creating content. I bring other women in to create content too, because I'm not an expert in shame, regret, and guilt. But my friend Shandria is. She's, she's been teaching and coaching the mess out of that topic in the Inner Circle. So my job has been for years, even in my local church, my job has been to see the needs and the pain points of people and then to gather people who have wisdom wisdom, experience, skill, training, or education in those areas to gather everybody in the room to make sure we all grow. And sometimes the speakers, the teachers, the encouragers are experts. Sometimes they've just been alive for 30 years and you need to hear what they're saying. They've been adulting and living that thing for 30 years and you need to hear them talk. So that's my job. So I'm looking at everything that I do and saying, what's really important? What's really important? Important for me to do, for me to say, who's important for me to gather, you know, and how do we do that in the best way possible. So for those of you who are in the inner circle, thank you for helping us build this site. For those of you all who will come, thank you for coming to join our site and know that all of us in there together are— the goal is for us to grow. My desire in this season of my life, and as I think about 50 and we get ready for all the fun things I hope to do to do, not just on my birthday. I've been celebrating all year so far, and I'm going to continue to do that. But it's to think about really what's the point of your life? What does the Lord require of you? What did he put in you, and are you using it? Where have you stalled out on the degree? Where have you stalled out on the discipline? Where have you stalled out on community? Where have you stalled out on obedience? And to realize that you don't We have time. My dear friend, a dear friend, 30 years, 30-year friendship, buried her 25-year-old son last week.

25.

And as my dad would say, you only have as long to live, you're only old or young based on the date of your departure. And since you don't know when that is, what you waiting on? What are you waiting on? Now, what I don't want you to feel like is that if you're in a season of waiting or you're in a season of service, or if you're in a season of dedication, like for school or young children, or you don't know what to do, but you're trying to be faithful on your job, that your time is wasted. Nope. God can use what you give Him, what you offer to Him in any season. Season to be fertilizer and nutrition for the soil of the next season. So just be faithful with where he's put you. But I'm telling you, if you already know, if you already know the next step that you're supposed to take, if you already know the next thing that you're supposed to do and you have not done it, the Bible says, "To him who knows what to do and who does not do it, to him that is sin." If you don't know what to do, just do whatever God told you to do last. Keep showing up, keep reading your word, keep being obedient and trust Trust me, God will light your path. He will leave the breadcrumbs. He will create a path of discovery for you. He will. How do I know? Because he's done it for me. How do I know? Because he's done it for a lot of other people who are not me. What I do know is that if you will be faithful to show up for him, he will be faithful to show up for you. He doesn't always give you the picture of the future vision. For some people he does. My father is a visionary. He saw every building that we have on our church property. And he walked the property and he prayed and he visioned. He created vision and casted vision so that other people around him could see it. He could see it. There are people who from the age of 8 have known that they're supposed to be a doctor. They've known that. And then they become doctors. There are people who are wired like that. The most of us, y'all, we figure this thing out as we go. But the way you best figure it out is by showing up and being faithful with God, with whatever God has put in front of you. Okay? You gotta be faithful to what God has put in front of you. And I have big dreams when I tell you, and I need to do a better job of writing those out and casting that vision to our team. I'm working on that. I've got a book somewhere about vision leadership that I'm reading right now. But what I can tell you is if I get distracted by the dream and forget to do the right now thing, then the dream doesn't happen. And some of us, because we have a dream for our lives or we're despising the season that we're in. I can't remember if it's Zephaniah 4:10 or Zechariah 4:10. It's one of the two. Do not despise the day of small beginnings. So whatever God has put in your hands to do right now, even if this is not your thing, trust me, he will take something from every season and allow you to see how he can use it, morph it, and put it as a tool in your hand for the next. What did Moses say when God said to come and, and I want you to come now and tell Pharaoh to let my people go? That is Exodus 3:10, 3:11. Moses has all these questions, and one of the things that God tells him to do, he looks at Moses and he says, "What is in your hand?" Moses had a staff. He said, "Throw it down." That rod became a snake. He took what Moses had in his hand and said, "I know you think you know what this is, but let me show you what this actually is." There are things in your hand that you're despising because you think this is only for that That's like the little boy with the fish and the loaves. He said, I just brought my lunch. Jesus said, oh no, we're about to feed some people on today. You can never, ever despise what you have in your hand because you are not the determining factor of what God can do with it. You're just not. So you have to live as if everything that you're doing matters because it does. He says. And then you have to walk in obedience in the season that you're in because that's the right thing to do. God rewards people who are faithful and who are obedient and who show up as best they can in righteousness. That's how you open up the windows of heaven. That's how you clear a straight and a straight, clear path from God's direction to your life is by not allowing your sin, your disobedience, or your lack of discipline to get in the way. So I feel like that's a whole situation of wisdom, and that's not even what I wanted to talk I wanted to talk about is Strong Girl Summer. Okay, so let me tell you why I want to— we've been— last time we did Dream Girl Summer. Dream about what you want your summer to be. Strong Girl Summer. So listen, y'all, I'm from Texas. I'm so grateful to be in New York right now because the weather is glorious. I left Texas. It was over 100 degrees. It's like a sauna right there. I'm used to it. My air conditioning is working. Thank you, Lord Jesus. But it is hot, right? But because I've grown up in Texas and I know when we were growing up in Texas, nobody cared that it was hot. My mother sent us outside, we rode bikes and we sweated. And we didn't have water bottles, we didn't have no Fiji water. You wanna know what we had to do when we needed thirst? We had to come back to the house and turn on the water hose. I will never forget, I will never forget that when my boys were little and I lived next to my sister Priscilla, that her boys came over and they were all outside and they were hot, right? And the boys came in and they said, "Mommy," and the nephews call me Chrissy, they said, "Do you have some bottled water?" What? I said, "No, y'all go turn on the hose." The boys looked at me and they They said, "You want us to drink out of the hose?" I was like, "Yes, yes, it will not kill you." "Well, where does that water come from?" I was like, "You little bougie kids, what is wrong with you?" It was hot outside, and do you know what we had to do? If we wanted to play or not. Because if you came inside, you weren't playing in the house. You could come inside. I remember laying in the living room on the floor just trying to cool down, and the fan would be on. We had one up above, but we also had a box fan, and you would come in with all the sweat on your skin, and that box fan would immediately cool down that wet on your skin, right? You were hot. It was hot. So you went outside to play, you would come inside for a little bit, and then you would go right back out. Because even though it was hot outside, that did not determine whether or not you were gonna be outside playing with your friends. I grew up going to camp. We're at a camp right now in New York. We grew up going every summer to a camp in the Dallas area, just outside of Dallas, called Pine Cove. You wanna know what? When it was 100 degrees outside and it was really, really ridiculously hot, we swam twice. But that didn't stop you from dripping sweat and walking through the woods. That didn't stop you from running around in the field and playing soccer or powder puff football. That did not stop you from going into the back and shooting the rifle or pulling the arrow for archery. It was camp. You were supposed to be hot. So you, yes, went in the pool. You did things to compensate for the heat, but you didn't stay out of the heat. Just because the heat was uncomfortable. Let me tell you something. Somebody knows where I'm going. I realize that there are going to be seasons of your life that are hot. I am in one right now, and I don't want to be in it. I don't. I have gotten little sleep. I have been balancing kids and, and husbands and hospitals. I've been balanced— balancing team changes. I've been balancing balancing home renovations. I have been balancing hair that is itching the mess out of my scalp. Oh, the hair that the girl who did my hair asked me to get, I didn't get because I had already bought this hair because of the other girl who had canceled. It's a whole thing. If y'all missed the other lives, then you missed it. But I have hair in my head and I'm grateful. This is not the hair she told me to get, but I was like, no, can I please use the hair I got? Y'all, my scalp has been on fire. For this is gonna be week 3, and as soon as I get back home, I'm taking it out, and I'm gonna go get the hair she told me to get, and then I'm gonna put it back in. So I'm super grateful, like, as long as I'm still. But if I start scratching one little place, my whole head catches afire. I mean, just, I mean, just woof, like, like, and yes, I put the oil on it, and yes, I've sprayed it with oil sheen, and yes, they even got a little tea tree and a little aloe vera. I have done. Listen, I have Googled and done all the things. It is steady itching, steady itching. So most of the time I've been like trying to pull it up off my neck because at least if it's not on my neck, it's a little better. Anyway, y'all, this is, this is the whole— this is, this is called Black Girl Summer right here. But anyway, I've just been itching my scalp going, Lord, please don't let me take these hair piece— these strands of hair out the follicle because I mean like But I don't care because I don't have to do it. I mean, I care, but my point is this is like a hot girl summer, like in all the ways. Like I'm sitting here going, do I have hair in my head that is itching my head every 5 seconds? Am I running back and forth to the hospital? Am I like— and my husband's okay, y'all. It's just been one thing after another though this summer. Sometimes life is like that, you know. When it rains, it pours. I have a friend of mine who just told me she was let go from her job, and then within that same time period, she separated from her husband. It's a hot girl summer. I'd love to know. Tell me in the comments, what's your hot? What's going on in your life right now that makes your summer, your right now, having now a hot girl summer? Go on, tell me in the comments. I know Donna's telling me that I need to wash it, but it's dreaded. Can I wash this or just wash my scalp? Like, tell me what to do. Yes, it is a real— that's— at first I thought I was itching and then I realized, oh no, this is an allergic reaction.

Reaction.

Like, it felt like hives. I felt like hives, and I almost started— I almost bought some Benadryl, but then I was gonna be like, then I'm gonna sleep all the time. That won't be good. Use vinegar. I did. I used apple cider vinegar.

I—

yes, I tried witch hazel.

I did.

I did the whole thing, y'all. I'm telling you. Okay, Kim says it's the graduation party and all of the company that's coming to stay. Laria says I'm relocating to another city, renting sight unseen. That's nerve-wracking. And I'm joining a new ministry. Laura Ramos says, my son was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Um, Joanna said, we had 9 days without air in Cypress, Texas. Jennifer says, Jennifer says, work stress, lots of ministry happening. Nikki says, waiting for finances to come through. Kim Possible said, I've been without AC for 2 weeks. I am gonna go get some Benadryl, take it out. I am, as soon as I get back to Dallas, that's what I'm gonna do. Boden One says, my daughter is pregnant and unmarried, living with her boyfriend. Her health insurance runs out this Friday. Latoya said, I'm coming to grips with my widowed father's girlfriend at an upcoming family reunion.

Ha!

Hot girl summer. Christina says, I'm finishing up my doctoral program, stressful work and single parenting. CF says, marriage problems at the point of wanting to separate. Bridget says, I'm dealing with a sick mother-in-law who lives with me. Rhonda said, I purchased an older home and I'm dealing with all of its issues, including mold that was not caught during inspection. Yeah, I got one of those. I have a fireplace that basically would require a second home mortgage to tear out and fix if we ever want to use it. It's unusable. And we had it inspected. Nobody caught it. Marital issues. Y'all were telling me to buy the Benadryl. Mary said, dealing with illness in my body, sickle cell, multiple myeloma cancer, now lung issues. I'm so sorry, Mary. Edwina is looking for work. Oh, Susan said, I might be losing my foster daughter to another home. Trying to lose weight to get off the meds. Sarah says, not enough money to pay my bills. Tiffany says, my daughter wants her girlfriend to come on our vacation. Listen, I'm here for y'all's honesty. Graduate school, finances. Rhonda said, my husband died last year. I'm so distorted in life and some of the decisions I've made have really been dumb. Work stress.

Stress.

I hope you see here. I hope you see if you're in the middle of a hot girl summer, you're not the only one. So here's the deal. See, I scratched my scalp and then I made it come alive. So now I got to calm it down. When you have a hot girl summer, when I would come out inside and start playing around inside Let me tell you what my mama would tell me. If you wanna play, go outside. I could choose to come inside. I could choose to lay on the floor. I could choose to lay under the fan. I could choose to have that box fan blowing in my face and the ceiling fan blowing. I could do that. But then I knew that I wasn't having fun. All my friends were outside. And I'd say, "But mama, it's hot outside." And she'd say, "Then ride your bike. Because if you ride your bike, even if there is no wind blowing, you create the wind, you create the breeze. To this day, y'all, I love riding my bike. It's one of the funnest things in the world for me. So here's what I want to tell you to do. When you're in the middle of a hot girl summer, there's nothing wrong with coming inside and taking a break. I hope this live this morning, I hope this content this morning, I hope the fun and foolery this morning gives you a little bit of a breeze, gives you a little bit of air. It's like a ceiling fan on your face or a box fan on your body. But then do you want to live or not? And if you do, you got to go back outside. What does it mean to have a strong girl summer? It means to muscle up and go back outside. It means to muscle up and do what you have to do to stay cool. It means to muscle up and make sure that you're enjoying everything that this season has to offer you, even if the season brings a little bit of discomfort— discomfort. So let me give you some examples of what it looks like to have a strong girl summer. One of the things that I've talked about this before, one of the things that in the middle of all of the I mean, I think about the doctor's appointments and stuff that we've had, I've had in certain seasons, and my husband has had. If we had to go to the other side of town for a doctor's visit, you know what it means for me to have a strong girl situation? It means that while we're out, we make it a date. I can just take you to the doctor, or while we're out, we can go somewhere where the food and the ambiance is really good, leave a little early, we got the kids situated anyway, and make it a date. Muscle up. You want to know what a strong girl summer looks like when you are in a situation where you are trying to save money because gas is stupid. Okay, you got to keep living, right? You got to keep— but maybe you figure out ways to do things differently. So maybe this is the time to plan. This is the time to plan to go and see family members so you can use their AC and not yours. Figure out how to muscle up. Like, I'm gonna come here and listen, I'm gonna come here, I'm gonna use your AC, it's gonna be a great big family reunion slumber party situation, and I'll help. I'll help you do the dishes. I'll help. What projects do you have to work on? Strong Girl Summer means you figure out how to work with what you have and in the middle of the heat still make good memories. But it also means you gotta figure out how to do things your way. During a strong girl summer, during the middle of the hot summer, I didn't necessarily play in the middle of the hot sun with no shade. We'd find some trees. You need to know where your shade is. Strong girl summers still have shade. You need to know where it's a little cooler. So let me give you an example of that. When I have to muscle up in the season, one of the things I do not compromise is going to bed. It's been a little crazy this week because of hospital stuff. But generally speaking, I just go to bed because I know that I cannot function well in my Strong Girl Summer if I have not had any sleep. Even last night before we left, or the night before, before we left to come on this trip, y'all, I laid down on the couch and I told my boys I need a 20-minute power nap. Y'all, I don't nap and I sure don't power nap. But I knew that if I was going to get them packed, get me packed, make sure my husband was situated, and then leave the house at 4:30 for a flight, 4:30 AM. I needed a power nap. I needed to take a moment and go to the shade. You need to know what fills your cup. You need to know what gives you a break. You need to know what lets you catch your breath. And that may mean going to the movies by yourself. I mean, I'll never forget the first time I went to the movies by myself. And my husband said, I said, I'm gonna go to the movies. He said, oh, what time is it? I said, no, by myself. I said, "Oh, really?" I said, "Absolutely. I love you so much. When can we schedule our date together?" This is a date for me. I need to go and not share my popcorn. I need to go and not have to discuss with anybody about where to sit. I want to go and watch what I want to see, not what the boys want to see. I'm in a house full of testosterone. Strong Girl Summer looks like me in my home, without compromise. Either put on my diffuser with my Young Living oils, and I have certain concoctions I love, or I burn a candle. Vanilla Patchouli from Bath Body Works, or a host of other ones. It is not negotiable that we turn on my Spotify playlist with Travis Greene or Bethel or Hillsong. It is a non-negotiable. And my kids walk around and say, "Why do we have to listen to that?" Because this is how I get shade.. And you want me to be out here with y'all or not? If I'm gonna muscle up well in my strong girl summer, that means I have to set myself up for success. So the question is, the question that you have to ask yourself is, what does it take for you in the middle of the heat of your summer to be set up for success? So yes, Maria, you have to rest in your shade. But your shade is your shade. You know what I mean? It's like there's a million trees out there. You got to find the one that works for you. When the kids were small and I wanted to pull my hair out, like I homeschooled my kids, though. I love being with my kids. But between the ages of 2 and 4, I couldn't handle it. I couldn't handle mobile children who were undisciplined. So I found a Mother's Day Out because Shade, even as a homeschool mother, was sending my little kids to Mother's Day Out. Planned out. 9 to 2, Tuesday and Thursday. Goodbye. I love you, but goodbye. I saw somebody in the comments mention the library. Yes, we would go to the library in the summer reading club. Yes, we would go fishing. There was a spot by a lake near our house and you could feed the catfish with bread. We'd go there. We'd go for walks. I had the whole day planned out based on how I could What would make this day palatable and digestible and doable for me? So you, it is possible for you to live in your Strong Girl Summer.

It is.

But you cannot be out in the heat nonstop without protection. And it's up to you. You're the only person that knows when you're about to overheat. You're the only person that knows when you've had all you can take. You're the only person that knows that you've got to carve out a space for shade even if it's hot outside. So strength is not about muscling through the difficulty without a break or without shade. Strength is playing outside and staying outside and negotiating the ebb and flow of your circumstances and of your life so that you can stay outside and enjoy your life. Sometimes you do need to come in, you do need to take a whole break. Sometimes you don't come to church for a while or you do take the vacation, come inside and get on that box fan or that ceiling fan, but for most of us. You keep living your life in the sun, but strengthening it out means go back out there, keep playing the game, but look for shade. Find the water hose. What fills you up? What keeps you from operating in a dehydrated fashion? And that means just knowing what you love. That means that's why you have to come up with the video before y'all, the Dream Girl Summer. That's why you have to find I understand that because you need to know that you're a better person when you read fiction. You need to know you're a better person when you have time for Bible study. You need to know you're a better person when you have time with friends. You need to know that you're a better person when you have time to eat nutritious food. You need to know these are the things that actually make me functional. Strong Girl Summer doesn't mean that you're out there and that you're not paying attention to what you physically need. Mentally, spiritually, emotionally. Someone recently was talking to me about the price of— they were talking about church women's conferences. There's so many, you know, I mean, there's lots of church women's conferences. There are a lot of para-church ministries, a lot of women who have conferences or events. And they were just challenging this idea of women in conferences and special events. And I said, listen, I can go to church all day long. I can't I can. But something special happens when women get together for special occasions. And it could be a group of women in your home, you know, just celebratory. It could be a women's conference at your church. It could, it could be anything. But there's, there's something different that happens for women than what happens on a Sunday morning. And then what happens when I do Bible study, the celebratory atmosphere of the music and the fun is life-giving. So that's why you do these things, right? That's why you go to the conferences. That's why you take the classes. That's why you go and you have fun. I was telling another friend of mine, we have to make time. I want to take a calligraphy class.

Why?

Because I love handwriting. I love the written word. Penmanship is very important to me. It doesn't matter that nobody else cares. But if I go and do something like that this summer, I'm going to enjoy myself. I want to learn how to make candles. I done already made my own body, my own face balm, because the Clinique version is too expensive. So I figured out how to do it. And I had so much fun in my kitchen with the double boiler, melting down my shea butter and my olive oil and my coconut oil and making my own thing with my essential oils. It's life-giving. So you do need to know when you need a break and what fills you up. You do need to know when you need to come inside and lay down, or you need the inside fans or the inside air. You need to know that you need to drink more water. People walk around— one of my friends online is always like, drink your water, drink your water. Yes, because here's the thing: if you're looking for other people in your life to tell you when you need to have your breaks and what you need to have to fill you up, it'll never happen. You want to know why? Because most people in your life life, they're only thinking about themselves. And even if they're nice people, we are naturally selfish creatures. So you owe it to yourself a little bit to be a little selfish. Not selfish in the sinful way, but selfish in the, I actually have a mind to protect. I have a body to protect. I have a spirit to protect. I have a destiny to protect. I have a purpose to protect. So Strong Girl Summer means, Yes, get out there and live your life. Stop whining, stop complaining. Get outside, use the water hose. But also be selfish enough to know when you gotta tell the friends you've been playing with outside, y'all, I'll be back. I'm gonna go inside for 20 minutes. And when they say, but we're in the middle of the game, y'all will be all right till I get back. So think about it. When you were young and played outside, you played outside, you stayed outside till the streetlights came on. You were not allowed in the house. House unless you needed rehydration, unless you needed to cool off, unless you were in a space where you needed replenishment. Get your replenishment and then go back outside. Because here's what I want you to know. My summer memories of being a kid in Dallas and Oak Cliff are the best. The trees, the peach tree, the pear tree in the back, the acorns that would fall on the ground. The bugs, the doodlebugs, the lightbugs, the running of the, the riding of the bikes, the going into the creek when we weren't supposed to, pretending that we lived in the wilderness. All these things. Playing basketball on the back porch, ping pong in the garage. And we lived in the middle of the city, so this isn't even country living. This is what I tell my boys sometimes, like I'm about to— here, I let them play on their devices for the trip, but they're about to get confiscated. Goodness, we are sitting— we— our door opens up to a doggone lake. In order for you— for this to be an embedded part of your memory and an embedded part of your life, guess what you're going to have to do? Put the devices down and go outside. And you wonder what they're going to tell me? It's hot out there. And you know what I'm going to say? It's supposed to be. Sometimes the best memories of your life, the best circumstances of your life, the best seasons of your life, it's hot outside. I told you just a moment ago about my friend, I have a friend who lost her 25-year-old son. It's her oldest son. At the funeral, she has two other boys. The two other boys, during the moment where they came up with words, they had words, prepared words to share. So my friend and her husband came and stood with their two sons while they shared words. I would never wish the loss of their big brother on them. That would never be in my plan for them. And heaven only knows why it was in God's plan for their family. But as I stood up and listened to these boys talk, high schoolers, these prepared speeches, I was in awe.

In awe.

In awe to listen to their wisdom, in awe to listen to their compassion, in awe to listen to their insight, in awe to listen to how they quoted God's word, in awe to listen to their perspective, in awe to see to pause and cry in the middle of their speech, for one high school boy to dig his face, to bury his face in the chest of his father, for his father to hug him tight, for him to gather himself and then to keep speaking. And I would never wish this on their family, but let me tell you something, the heat rids it cleanses us of impurities. When you sweat, the bad stuff comes out. And what I could see in looking and listening to her boys was that the hardship of their family is producing in them refined gold. This is what happens when you don't run from the heat. The heat makes you sweat. The impurities will come out. And what's left is What's left is what should be in there. When you run from the heat, when you don't want to sweat, or when your sweat glands don't work, you want to know what happens? You're less pure. You have impurities and, and things that are on the inside of you that actually should be coming out. You want to know what the heat does? It forces pushes the stuff out that shouldn't be in. You want to know why we sweat? We sweat so that some of the things that are in your body have a way of escape. You only have a few holes. You have a mouth, you have a nose, you have ears, you have down under. And then guess what else you have? Your skin. Your skin is the largest organ of your body. And sweat is one of the ways— perspiration is one of the ways that your body regulates itself, not just with temperature, but with keeping things in, with the equilibrium of the fluids in your body. You know, this is one of the arguments for not using antiperspirant deodorant. Like y'all, I've used the Chrystal and other non-aluminum-filled perspirants because I'm crunchy. Y'all know that I homeschool my kids and all that stuff. So when you homeschool your kids, you learn about all these other things, bake bread, grow tomatoes, Towels, cloth diaper, you name it, I did it. But I started using that rock thing and I was like, okay, it's gonna— I was trying to understand because I would still feel myself a little wet and sticky, you know? And so the whole point of the rock, it's the Chrystal Hurst, is that what it does is it keeps you— it neutralizes the smell. Oh, oh, oh. Wow. This is coming to me right now. It neutralizes the smell, but it does not stop the perspiration. See, this is what the Holy Spirit will do for you. I love it when the unscripted works. This is what the Holy Spirit will do for you. You need to sweat. You need to get out there in your life and stop whining and complaining and being a sissy like Like, put your big girl panties on and do the thing. Like, I just, you know, I was thinking, I was talking to one of my girlfriends about her marriage and she was talking about, you know, grounds for separation and all that. And I don't know, I was like, go see your pastor, go see your counselor. But I was listening to her and I was thinking, if that's what separation is for, I should have been separated like 15 times. There is, there is the need for for us to know when it's time to quit, stop, or take a pause. No question. But y'all, if you run from the heat, number one, you, you, you don't learn how to operate in difficult circumstances, and difficult circumstances in your life will come. So when they come, the question is, will you be ready? Will you have practiced enough in certain summer seasons so that when it's ridiculously hot, you're not wilting and dying? Like some things, y'all, are hard. Like they're hard. Marriage is hard. Parenting is hard. Staying small. Don't know how to do that, but it's hard. I can tell you that. Being on a job and not getting mad when your boss is rude to you, like that's hard. That's why you need wise counsel in your life to know when to quit. What I am trying to tell you is. When it's hard, you are going to sweat. Sweating doesn't feel good. Being sticky doesn't feel good. I mean, you know, who wants to feel sticky? Who wants to know that the armpits of your clothes— you don't want everybody to see that. But sweating is actually good for you. What the Holy Spirit will do for you is keep that sweat from making you stick. It'll keep you from being foul. He will keep you from being from being altered in your mind, your spirit, or heart. He will keep you smelling sweet. He will keep you being righteous. He will keep you being kind. He will keep you from losing your mind. So when you see people and they've been through extraordinary circumstances, when they've been through extraordinary difficulty, and you look at them and you say, wow, it's amazing that you've been through that and look at what God has done in your life. You want to know why?

You know why?

Because they muscled up through the summer. They muscled up through the hard marriage. They muscled up through those seasons of parenting. They muscled up on that hard job. They muscled through the difficult degree. They muscled through the move. They muscled through the loss of the weight. They muscled through the learning of the scriptures. They muscled through it. And when the seasons were hot, they didn't bail and come in. So let me tell you one of the hardest things right now for me. It's not hard, but it is hard for me.

Me.

I turned 50. I had a dream of what I was going to do for my 50th birthday. Didn't materialize. I came up with a second dream. It's not going to materialize. I'm working on dream number 3. And on my birthday, actually on my birthday, there's one thing that I want to do. I don't know if I can do it. We're in a season right now with some things going on in our family that I need to be present for and disappearing and doing all the things. Things actually on my birthday. It may be like a regular day. But you know what I've decided? I started at the beginning of the year doing little things. I told my sister, I wanna go to a new restaurant every month. Take me somewhere. You don't have to pay. I just wanna go somewhere new. I wanted to do one thing, at least one thing by myself, at least once a month. And I've been doing that. That once a month thing in March was I went to Hawaii. I went I went to frickin' doggone it Hawaii by myself for a week. Where else have I been? I've done some things. I did not wait for my birthday to come, nor will I wait on my birthday to do it, or decide after my birthday that I can no longer do something. I've decided that I choose to celebrate 50, and I don't choose to allow my my celebration to be determined by what I do on that day. It would be easy for me because I'm a perfectionist and I like to do things the way I need to do them, the way I want to do them, to say on my birthday, "Well, if I don't do it on 7/7, that's depressing." It is depressing. It is. So I've had to say, "You know what? My date of birth doesn't define my celebration for my year of coming into the world." So instead of being limited by that day, I've expanded my view of even though there have been a series of things that make this year, this last few months hard, very, very, very hard. I'm telling y'all, I'm in the middle of an extremely hard season. I get to decide how I will muscle up. I get to go outside. I get to stay engaged. I get to keep playing. But I may ride my bike for some breeze. I may get under a tree for some shade. I may decide to come in every now and then just to recuperate, rehydrate, and go back out. I have to know what fills my cup so I can keep going. And then I have to decide, what am I gonna do this month, this year, to celebrate the existence of Chrystal Hurst? And then be okay with it being a little messy. Strong Girl Summers are messy. Perspiration is messy. Your hair don't do what it's supposed to do. And when you try to make your hair do what it's supposed to do, it itches. Listen, Listen, I need you to show up for your summer, especially if you are literally in the summer of your life. Especially stop letting the heat destroy or disturb the enjoyment that the summer should bring. Strong girl. In case you need someone to tell you that you're a strong girl, you've just been served. That's it. You've just been served. There's this picture I want to show you. See if I can drag it in here. This is me standing in Hawaii watching a storm come in. I could have said, "The storm is coming in and miss the sunset. But instead, I stood there, I looked at the sunset, And watch the storm came in, come in. I'm pausing, y'all. I see your comments telling me that it's freezing, but is the video freezing and you can still hear me, or the whole thing is messed up? Oh well, I'm gonna wrap it up since it's saying that I'm not here. But I'll finish this up. I went there and I watched the sun come in and the storm come in. I watched the sun go down and the storm come in. And here's what you need to know. Sometimes seasons are like that. In order for you to catch the sunset, you also have to catch the storm. Sometimes in order to catch the sunset, it. You also have to catch the storm. And sometimes it's a summer storm that you're catching. So since I'm freezing, I'm not going to keep going, but I think I've talked long enough anyway. Strong girl summer, y'all. It's up to you. Endure the heat. Let yourself sweat. Let them see you sweat if that's required of you. Let the Holy Spirit keep you from stinking. And then realize that it's up to you to enjoy the season, to know when to rest in the shade, to know when to come in for rehydration, but to know that these are the days that your life is made of. So anyway, y'all, you can hear me? Oh good, you're catching up. I'm telling you about Strong Girl Summer because this is what I'm I'm telling you about a strong girl summer, 'cause this is what I'm living. And people will tell me what they think I shouldn't, should not do. There are some things I'm doing that I shouldn't be doing, but people will try to tell me what I should and should not do because people are looking at me sweating and saying, girl, you're hot. You should go inside. But I'm the only one who knows if the sweat is representative of a problem or if it's representative of me fulfilling my purpose. Nobody knows that but me. There are people, wise people. My mom knows, right? My dad knows. But just because I sweat, that doesn't mean this summer season is not one that I show up too strong. So I'm telling you what I'm telling you right now is because I do understand that there will be seasons where you have to sweat. There was that commercial that says, or the marketing thing that said, "Never let them see you sweat." That's a lie. Let them see you sweat and then still show up. We are in a season right now where all of us girls have to be strong for a variety of reasons. Strong is not made all of a sudden. It's made day by day. So If you are feeling weak, your strong today is one minute longer in the sun today than yesterday. You don't have to do what I do. When I look at my husband and his stuff that he has going on right now, and I even remember my season where I was fresh out of the hospital and couldn't walk. I remember the doctor saying, little by little, you'll build back your strength. The first day is not gonna be like the 30th day, but on the first day, you still do have to take a step forward, 2, 3 steps if you can. Strong Girl Summer means today you take more steps than you did yesterday, then tomorrow you take more steps than you did today. I look back on my childhood with fondness. I remember those hot days. I remember feeling miserable, but I also can look back now and say this out loud. They were hot, but they didn't kill me. I sweat a lot, but I did not die. I was tired and out of breath sometimes playing outside, but I'm still here. And it was hot in that moment, But what it produced, one of the things that it produced was great memories. And it taught me, because I made it through that hot season, that when my kids are in the car and they tell me how hot it is, I look back at them and say, "You be alright. Wind down your window. Enjoy some of that hot air on your face." It gives me perspective, not only for me, but for my children too.

To.

Hot summers, they get rid of the impurities. They help you to stay healthy. And then they give you a memory of a time when you were strong. You learn in hot summers when you show up strong, the best that you can, what you can do when the heat gets turned up. And then later on in your life, when heat gets turned up again, You'll remember. I can make it through a hot summer. You'll remember. All right, y'all. I am here. I know that we lost some connection. My hope is that you caught the beginning of it. If you didn't, I want to remind you, if you're in the Inner Circle, move on over. And if you're not, July 1st, the doors open. If all you can do right now, because gas prices are stupid, is continue to show up for a podcast or an occasional live, then awesome. I'm glad you're here. But if you want to do the work for being intentional about your life, and you want to join a group of women who want to do the same, black and yellow, red and white, we're all in there. 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, we're all in there. Moms, single people, divorcees, young, old, career, homebodies, you name it, we're there. If you like, if you're like, you know what, I want to be intentional, I want to, I want to do the work, then come on in the room. For the month of July, August, and September, we will be doing a course, a 90-day course called Remembering You. For those of you all who have read She's Still There or have not read She's Still There, we will also have a book club going so you can read it with other women. And I've been told that that's a a book that is great for multi-reads. So we have all kind of fun things happening in there, and I'd love for you to join us. But I want you to remember that your Strong Girl Summer is not about you proving anything to anybody. It's you simply showing up for your life. And everything that we do here or in the Inner Circle is designed to help you do just that. All right, y'all.