Seed time!

This is Bonnie

She is amazing. She has been in our youth since she was 12 she is going to graduate here in just a few weeks. She has been praying for 2 things for the last year

1. That all of her college tuition would be paid for.

2. That she would get a paid for car by graduation.

She just recently found out that she would never have to pay college tuition to Oral Roberts University that all $75,000 was paid for!! We were so excited.

So I was worshiping the Lord the other day and was praying for Bonnie. I was thanking God that whoever was supposed to get her a car would be obedient and listen to the Lord.

I heard the Lord speak to me....

"You are supposed to get her the car."

I was shocked.....ME???

I said "Sure God, but you have to talk to my husband."

So Sunday afternoon after church we were all sitting around the kitchen table just talking. I made a comment about how proud I am of Bonnie. Bryan then asks "What is she going to do about not having a car when she goes to school?"

I told him "I don't know, but she is believing God for one."

He stops what he was doing looks at me and says "Let's buy her a car Crystal." I knew it was the Lord. He then tells me that the Lord told him just a few days before to buy Bonnie a car.

So tonight at youth group we gave Bonnie her first car. The look on her face as Bryan and I stood by each other and told her will forever be in my mind. I am so thankful that I got to be a vessel of God's blessings. I will never forget that moment.

The word says in Psalms that everything in the world is the Lords. Bryan and I take that literally. We see our check books not with our names on the top, but Jesus' name. You see when you start seeing everything you have as God's that he is the owner and you are just managing it for him then that is when amazing miracles start breaking forth in your life.

Think about it. If your checkbook is Jesus' then it can't ever be in the red. You can't be a blessing to people if you can't even pay your bills. Jesus wouldn't operate that way. Nor should we.

Just a few weeks ago my husband came to me and told me that the Lord had told him to give a guy in our church $50.00. He also told me that the Lord told him that if he gave that $50 that the Lord would bring it back to us 100 fold. 4 days later we got a call that we just got a unexpected $7,000 a year raise!!! Praise God! You see when you are that vessel of blessing to other people then blessings can't help, but flow back in!

Why am I telling you this? I am telling you to give. Give when the Holy Spirit prompts your heart, and see what God does. I promise He will never leave you disappointed. Let God blow your mind! He does mine everyday. You will find that giving truly is better than receiving!

Fight the good fight!

1 Timothy 1:18-19 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.

1 Timothy 6: 11-12 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses

Paul is trying to get something across to us in these two verses.....

FIGHT

Life is a fight. Fight for what God wants for you in your life and against what the enemy wants to do to keep you from God's plan.

This week has been a huge fight for me. I guess I have been fighting discouragement a lot this week. Sometimes it is really easy to look at what is going wrong and not what is going right.

Bryan (my hubby) has been youth pastoring for 9 years now. There has been a lot of kids come through our youth group in those 9 years. Each kid that we have had we have loved them like they were one of our own children. We pour into them the whole time they are in youth...then there comes a time where they have to choose what kind of life they are going to live.

For the first time ever we had youth tell us that they didn't want to go to camp this year. That really broke my heart. You see last year we had it prophesied that we would have a youth group of 1,200 youth. Since then our youth have over doubled in size. So when this happened it really broke my heart. On top of all that we have several youth that have just totally walked away from the Lord this year......This breaks both of our hearts.

So long story short we reached out to several youth that said they didn't want to go to camp 4 of them changed their mind and are now going to come. This made me so happy.

I then thought about this verse. You see we are supposed to fight. Paul tells us to never give up. Lay hold of the words that have been spoken. It is all about our faith at these points. We can't give up. The worst thing we can do is lay down and stop. Paul also says the there are ones that have given up and shipwrecked their faith. How true that is those people are all around us all of the time.

About two years ago the Lord had shown me that I had focused too much on the youth and people that walked away from God, and not focusing on the ones that have been changed.

You see I know that all of you are not youth pastor's. You have different problems. Maybe marriage, children, finances, depression, health or whatever it is that you are batteling. I just want to encourage you to FIGHT. Don't ever give up. Don't ever let the enemy make you think that you are not gaining ground. I love what it says in Ephesians "having done all else stand and stand therefore"

Girls you stand in the face of your problems and know that God is on your side you stand and stand tall and watch God do BIG things on your behalf. Don't ever let the enemy make you think what you are doing is for nothing.

You see I know the visions in my heart. I see my husband preaching to hundreds of youth although we only have around 25 right now. I see kids coming up and getting delivered from drugs when my husband prays for them. Even though right now some of our youth are addicted to drugs. I see myself preaching to hundreds of women...even though the biggest I have preached at is around 80 ladies thus far. You see you have to go with the what you see in your heart.

Because on the great side since I have been in ministry I have seen so many youth saved, radically delivered, lives healed, marriages totally restored. So the enemy still has a few. I am just believing God that those kids (who most aren't kids anymore) are going to come back as the protical son did.

Fight girls fight, with everything you have. Your miracle may be closer than you thought. Never give up!! When I look at these pictures I don't just see people I see people that God has changed their lives forever! I know that some of them I am still believing God that their lives will be changed. I just stand on the word & know that they too will be changed it is just a matter of time!

The next generation!

I am so excited about all the Lord is doing in my life. My heart is so full of joy. My Chik Team and I loaded up and went to High Point Church for Mrs. April Simon's Chik Nite. What a blessing that was! All I can say is wow wow and double wow! She is such an amazing woman of God and I am so thankful that I have the honor and privilege to know her! She is the one that we got the Chik Nite idea from!

April preached an amazing message and at the end she had all of the young teenage ladies come to the front for us women to see what we are needing to leave a legacy to. It was so powerful. I was weeping uncontrollably. I have such a soft place in my heart for this upcoming generation.



I have been preaching in the schools for the last 5 weeks. In that time I have seen about 15 plus salvations and tons of girls get delivered from depression, anger issues and self esteem problems. I have always known that this generation was desperate for help. After the last 5 weeks those girls so put a place in my heart. I had the amazing privilege of preaching to around 45 girls in those weeks. All of which God touched in a special way. The thing that grieves me is that there are still girls walking those halls that hate their life and hate who they are.

This generation is so hurting. More than ever they need us as women to rise up and be their spiritual mothers. Most of them have never had someone in their life that truly cares. My heart just aches for these teens today. I know that the Lord has called my husband and I to parent this generation spiritually.

I just want to challenge you ladies that read this blog......a challenge for you to leave a legacy. Reach out to a young person in your life. Make a difference in them. Be the best living example of Jesus that you can be.

Mrs. April Simons always says "Your life is telling a story make it one worth reading!"

Pour into them. Let them talk to you and you listen to their heart. Don't judge them of how they fix their hair what tattoos they have and how they dress. See the heart that is beneath all of that.....The heart that Jesus loves so much.....

You will see kids that are misunderstood

Kids that just want someone to care

Kids that go home and cut themselves because it takes away the pain

Girls that sleep with boys to try and fill a void in their heart

Kids that are being raised up in a fatherless generation

Kids that constantly have media images reminding them that they aren't good enough!

If all of us women would rise up and just take one or two young people and begin to pour into them we would change this generation in a short time. The most rewarding thing in life is knowing that you have changed some one's life. I have heard it said once the best thing we can do is to live a life that shows the love a Christ and then reproduce that in someone else. That is so powerful!

I guess I am blogging about this today because this is the first week for me not to go to the school and preach. Part of my heart is broken today with out my girls. I find myself weeping as I type this because I see their faces in my mind, and I wonder if they are ok.....I wonder how things are at their homes this week, if that father hurt them this week, if that mom yelled at her again, if that boy took advantage of her again. All I can do is pray for them and believe that the Holy Spirit is there comforting them through whatever they might be facing this week.