Podcast: Play in new window
Unaware of the changes that were taking place in how I saw my world and how I valued the gift of me, I went from being the girl who pretty much got everything right to the girl who got a lot of it wrong. I lost sight of my value and replaced intentional living according to my worth with intentional living trying to earn and keep acceptance.
The girl, once bold and daring learned to carry shame. She exchanged her gift of empathy for tough skin. She went from believing that God would use her greatly to wondering if he could use her at all.
Today I share a bit of my own story as a backdrop for why I wrote She’s Still There and why the message matters so personally to me. My hope is that every person would know and believe that they are a uniquely created soul and be willing to join in the rescue effort for the girl that they once knew, never had the opportunity to get acquainted with, or the girl they hope God can unearth.
Each and every day we get to choose. We can live, accepting the status quo and settling for life with a deep ache for something more. Or we can choose to trust God to bring out the best in us and to help us discover or rediscover the best of the girl inside.
Today I invite you to choose.
Highlight from Today’s Episode:
- The problem with drift
- How drift begins and continues
- How and why you should stop the drift
Quick Links
==> Click to Tweet
- I don’t want to make the same mistake in another form in another season.
- You have an opportunity each and every day to choose to change.
- Lost doesn’t equal lifeless, there is always hope.
==> Resources from Today’s Show
- Pre-Order She’s Still There now! Goodies disappear on August 7th!
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==> General Links
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Let’s Talk!
After you’ve listened to the podcast, I’d love to continue the conversation. Be sure and leave a comment!
- Have you ever experienced a drift in your life? Tell me about it.
- What dream from childhood is yet unfulfilled?
- What childhood hurt has helped make you a better person?
- Pain is information. What pain are you experiencing in your life right now and what is that pain telling you?
Connect with me…
How to Listen to The Podcast
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You have been so great to join me on the journey here on the blog, I hope you jump right in do the same on the podcast!
I’m literally in the middle of a drift right now. This very hour, this very minute. Listening to you, I don’t want to make that hard right or left turn…I can see consequences on both sides that I don’t want and can’t bring on my family. But man, that Hershey bar looks sooo good. I need strength to stay on the right path, keep driving straight…but I’m struggling. Please pray for me. Pray I make the right decisions. Pray I realize and make the correct choices so I don’t have to deal with drifting and what comes from that. Pray I care enough to do what’s right for God and for myself and my people. Pray I don’t choose to drift totally.
Thank you for this today. God brought this to me right when I needed it!
Thank you for transparency, your story is encouraging!
Amen! She is still there. You story tugs at my heart. My story, yet different is very similar to yours. The story is a little different but the emotions are the same. Praise God for healing. Praise God for being the lifter up of our heads. Praise God for you Chrystal who he uses to encourage me to keep on keeping on.
Yes, she’s still there! My story is not your story and your story is not my story yet they are the same. Grateful that both our stories are HIS stories. Praying for you and how God is going to use your story to tell others His.
I learned of you just recently through the devotions I receive through Christianity Today and the timing is providential. Each of the women in my family, my two sisters, my mom and myself are all struggling with issues very specific and sensitive to the woman’s heart and we ALL need this right now. Thank you for your ministry, for your willingness to be bold and transparent for Christ. Please pray for our hearts as we seek The Lord and what His best is for each of us individually as His daughters. God Bless you!
Your heart for others shines so brightly in this podcast. You made me cry with this one!
Thanks for listening!
Thank you for writing ‘She’s Still There’, Chrystal, and for your openness in sharing your story with many people. I can see your heart for sharing the message.
I started to see drifting in a whole new light. Whenever I choose to take the focus off God and turn my attention to the left or right, even in the slightest degree, it causes some form of drift. If not corrected, I will soon find myself so far off course.
Thanks for getting my wheels spinning in my head <3
PS: I love your podcasts!!!!
Thanks for the encouragement.
Thank you. So encouraging and uplifting. I listen to your podcast at work all the time. And this one has me in awe thinking. What happened to my girl. Definitely getting the book and listening to God directions. I’m forgiven for my mistakes and I have something inside of me that needs to be released. Thank you so much. May God continue to use you to help others
I cried listening to the podcast and could relate to a lot of what you shared. I’m in a really low place do to some recent decisions I made. I feel so lost and at times feel like I don’t see a good future for me.
These feelings and emotions sometimes lead me to horrible thoughts and not wanting to go on with life.
Your podcast has given me hope and encouragement to want to go on. It’s honestly a daily fight with my thoughts because I don’t see how my situation will get better. I know God loves me and has promised me a future, but I feel like I’ve messed up His plans/future for my life.
Thank you again for sharing your story and writing this book. I hope to get it soon.
I don’t remember HER because I had to grow up fast and play the role of an adult as a child. I never got the chance to tap into the inner girl in me. Then I as a teenager I entered into a relationship with a guy who eventually became my husband. And even then I still did not get the chance to learn about HER. Divorced and one child later, I am 38 and just now, within the past few years, starting to learn about HER. As you can see from the tiny bit of my story, that the drift for me starting early on. The pain of never really having a childhood helped me to be the mom that I am today. I make sure that my son not only has a childhood, but that we create lasting memories together for him to replay at any time, at any moment, whenever, wherever, forever.
Finally got the courage to finish this letter to the girl I want to continue to rescue, ME. Your vulnerability and courage to share this story will save so many girls from continuing to drift. If not this side of earth, in heavens you will get to hear their testimonies. Thank you for reminding us, it’s not too late. His plans for our lives are good, very good. And I am going to choose to hold close His promises over my life. Thank you for your obedience in writing this book ?
Gorgeous! Thank you for being real in sharing your story. It gives me hope to know that He’s still got me and insight into understanding myself better.
Blessings!
Kimberly
This really blessed me tonight. So many parallels to my life. Thank you for sharing your story. Beautiful words of truth. I pray for boldness to share my story one day.
My drift came in the midst of ministry. I had always had a strong desire for marriage and family; I also had always had a pull toward ministry. In this particular season, I had the privilege to serve full time. I was quickly coming to the end of a tough year and the commitment to serve in this place. In that year, an engagement was broken and my heart ached. This disappointment was the tip of the iceberg. It was being sexually assaulted by one the of pastors on staff that made be walk away from God, from ministry, and question all that I had ever known to be true of God. I made a series of horrible choices searching for love and a sense of safety that brought only hurt and shame. However, it was only then that God was able to show me the truth of His character in the reflections of Him that I saw in the lives of some amazing women. He has redeem it all. I now work for a sexual assault response program. My prayers are still for the privilege of ministry, marriage, and family. If God’s plans are a different path, He is still good.
Thank for sharing your story Sarah.
Thank you for leading me here this morning, Chrystal. I choose to join hands with Him and believe in the girl He created me to be. Thank you for your obedience in sharing your story and helping me to own mine.