When You Hear God Calling, Listen
Dress: Amazon // Coat: Express (old, similar here) // Shoes: Jenn Ardor // Earrings: Bauble Bar (love these) // Purse: Rebecca Minkoff
For the past year, I’ve struggled to feel spiritually challenged. For most of my life, I’ve constantly sought to expand my spiritual knowledge and push myself to educate myself about theology, religion, spiritual topics, and the bible. I’ve studied the Bible in depth for the past 30 years dissecting it, cross referencing, and getting involved in small group Bible studies to understand God better and what his word says. I’ve also studied a plethora of other spiritual practices and viewpoints including angel numbers, numerology, Buddhism the history behind the Islamic religion, and Catholicism practices. I wanted to truly understand the world’s viewpoints on faith, hope, righteousness, and what God had to say about them.
As this journey continued God placed me in a few situations that would require me to rise above what the world was doing and choose a higher way of living. All along the way asking for me to be brave. The path wasn’t easy. It involved me cutting out alcohol so I had acute clarity, giving up a whole industry for my career, revamping my entire life, working through trauma, healing my inner child, and shedding all things toxic. I’m not perfect, and still have to constantly seek him daily but I can firmly say that I know my creator, my purpose, and why I came to Earth.
You see God gives all of us unique gifts. Some are gifted with hospitality. Others are gifted with discipline. Some are gifted with discipleship and others with evangelism. Some are created simply to make the world a more beautiful place. I believe that God gifted me with a voice that wasn’t afraid to speak up about vulnerabilities, intense life struggles, truth, and what you might refer to as the “Salt of the Earth.” I was called to go through some of the hardest things a person can endure so that I could be a vessel of hope and light to those who are bleak and weary. Looking back on the struggles I had with alcoholism, adoption, being a military brat, failed marriages/relationships, domestic violence, abuse and so much more only paved a warrior’s path for me. The hardest lives can result in the most beautiful strength.
Over the weekend I shared with my fiance how I was feeling isolated in my spirituality. I was no longer challenged the way I had been before. He brought it to my attention that maybe the reason is because my calling is to start sharing the knowledge and wisdom I've learned throughout this life. That the challenge will be in pursuing ministry not being ministered to. At 4 am in yesterday morning, I prayed and God made it clear that this was the path. Over the next few months, I’ll be shifting the tone of the blog away from only sharing practical style and talking more and more about faith. I’m going to open up about some of life’s hardest topics and trust that God’s message will be conveyed to you clearly and truthfully so you have the encouragement to also rise above. I am so grateful to each one of you for following along with me on this journey.
With lots of love,
Crystal
