Trusting in His faithfulness (Testimony 4)

It’s the eve of my birthday, I am looking all pretty at work and my day started off amazing as I spent time in worship this morning and I truly was looking forward to a blessed day.

Then,

The realities of not having my vehicle began to bombard me.

If I don’t think about it, go about my merry way taking public transportation and just focus on my daily blessings then I am fine.

But,

Then you realize you paid for a vehicle, sitting patiently waiting on God to “come through” and release the vehicle but every time I check on the progress then I sink deeper into depression and confusion because I don’t know what’s happening.

I know God doesn’t punish His children, He disciplines them. So am I being disciplined for something that I am not aware of? Is there some lesson I must learn that I am not grasping? These questions and pleas cripple me whenever I think about them.

I know Satan doesn’t want the vehicle and he’s simply after my faith but I must admit every now and then, this faith gets a bit shaky when it comes to this situation.

Honestly, my only comfort in this season is that GOD IS GOD.. GOD IS FAITHFUL.. GOD IS IN CONTROL.. Despite how disappointed I am with everything that is going on.

So, I daily decide to STAND on who GOD IS…  and on HIS PROMISES (He has plans to prosper not to harm me (Jeremiah 29:11), He will never leave me nor forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6), If God is with me who can be against me (Romans 8:31) and All things will work together for my good because I love God (Romans 8:28).

I write this blog because this is a form of worship for me. Writing allows me to be vulnerable with God which is my healing bread.

This is not just for me, this is for someone who reads this blog to know and be reminded that anything you are going through is not beyond God’s ability to restore. He doesn’t necessarily work with our expectations or timetable despite how long the fulfillment of his promises might seem to us. He is still faithful. And that alone is enough to give Him thanks and praise for. 

So, happy almost birthday to me.. I am truly smiling because Satan has lost again. How I felt when I started writing this blog is certainly not how I feel now.

I have peace.. I have joy.. I have Jesus and that’s enough:-) 

                

  Happy 'almost' birthday to me:-)

God loves you and I love you too!! 

Crystal 

Reclaiming Excellence for the Kingdom

One of my biggest pet peeves is to see things done in a sloppy and unpresentable manner. It's so important as Christians (children of A King), that we realize we aren't just representing ourselves but more importantly we're representing the God that we declare we serve. 

This blog is not a criticism of Christians but I'm hoping to challenge you to do everything in the Kingdom with excellence. 

I've heard many Christians say our career or job is not important. They tend to believe that doing "church" duties are the only things that matter to God but I beg to differ.

Colossians 3:23-24 Amplified Bible (AMP)

^“Whatever you do [whatever your task may be], work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [greatest] reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you [actually] serve.”

This Scripture is telling us wherever we are now is a part of God's purpose for us and He must be glorified and whatever we do, we must do it well.

So let me ask, are you truly walking in excellence? 

I want you to really ponder this question. I've attended too many events held by Christians that are poorly planned and executed. Striving for excellence starts with a mindset and this will alter our behavior.

In my years before Christ being a party girl, I attended many events and it's a bit embarrassing because they invest time, money and resources to ensure these events are done in excellence.  Now, we know the excuse that Christians don't have money like that and I wonder why.. hmmm...but let me not even comment today (that's for an upcoming blog). 

However, as I said I want this blog to challenge us to start thinking and acting in excellence. 

What is excellence?  Simply put, it is high quality, superiority, greatness and extreme value. 

These are all the things God has called us to be excellent in: our jobs, careers, education, church, school, recreation, business, events and in our overall lifestyle. 

Many religious folks may quote John 17:16 that says "Be ye separated from the world". To which I totally agree. We cannot operate like the world because we're called to a higher standard because our GOD owns all things.  So we should not “fit” into their mold. We cannot allow the world to dim our lights; we must be the catalyst in everything we do. 

Think about Daniel and Joseph, these men were greatly admired because of the spirit of excellence which they portrayed. Also, Solomon, look at how he built the temple with great precision and caliber. These men of God were able to represent Jehovah with distinctionJ

Come on friends, we have to truly do better because we cannot represent the King we say we serve when we do things with mediocrity and lackluster. 

I leave these two Scriptures with you:

1 Corinthians 10:31 – “So then, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of [our great] God.”

Matthew 5:16 – “ Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”

Hope I've challenged you to start thinking higher about how we represent ourselves but even more importantly how we represent our God (King). 

Excellence is a virtue and we should pursue it at all times.

Look at next week as I discuss 6 Steps to Achieve Excellence. 

God loves you and I love you too.

To God be the glory
Crystal Daye

Just a few things:

1) I'm so proud myself.. I officially launched my rebranded website yesterday. Please check it out and sign up on my mailing list - www.crystaldaye.com

2) My first book launches on Amazon on August 18th titled: "Living A Royal Reality" - look out for more details on the launch and book tour coming up.

3) Remember, I sell t-shirts various styles and colours on sale for Ja. $1,200 You can order yours at email: crystalsdaye@gmail.com telephone #(876) 540-4863 

Dealing with Insecurities and becoming confident

Do you know that we can miss out on God’s best for our lives because of insecurity or lack of confidence?

In my own life, I have struggle so many times with feelings of insecurity that has crippled me from walking into my God-given destiny.  Many of these feelings of insecurity were seeds planted by others who kept telling me that I can’t do this or I’m not pretty enough or I’m not qualified enough or I’m too poor and I allowed these feelings to outweigh the Truth of God’s Word that ‘I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me’ (Philippians 4:13).

I met many people who struggle with these feelings also. The root of insecurity is fear. Fear of not becoming successful, fear of what others might think or say and fear of being rejected. If we allow fear to stop us, we are falling into Satan’s plans. We know his plan is to rob our purpose, steal our joy and kill our destiny. So we cannot accept this.

In order for us to overcome these feelings of insecurity and walk in confidence; we must increase our faith. Faith is the antidote of fear. So when we increase our faith, fear will decrease.

How do we increase our faith?

Well, Romans 10:17 says ‘faith comes from hearing’.

So we must reflect, listen and believe what God says about us.

As many of you know, my new book launches this month. To be honest, I got up this morning feeling so overwhelmed with nervousness and insecurity. I heard a voice saying, ‘nobody will buy your book’, ‘they won’t like your book’, ‘when people read those things about you, you will lose their respect’... I had to intentional start speaking against those lies… I started to play some worship music and reflect on God’s love. 1 John 4:18 states that “God’s perfect love casts out all fear”.

Confidence is built from the inside and radiates on the outside. So the more, I began to believe in God’s love, my faith increased and the fears begun to decrease.

Whatever God has called us to do, it will require us to be confident. I know it’s not easy but it is possible to live a fulfilled life and accomplish your dreams.

The confidence we need is far bigger than “self-confidence” because that has limited potential. We need “God-confidence” as this gives us limitless possibilities.

In my new book,  ‘Living A Royal Reality’, I have a chapter on Confidence and I share strategies on increasing your confidence that has been working for me. So as soon as the book release, grab your copy:-) 

I want you to believe that God has so much He wants to do in you, through you and with you. Start feeding yourself more faith-filled messages and reflect on His Word to help to conquer these feelings of insecurities.

God loves you and I love you too!

God bless you.

To God to be Glory**** 

Crystal  

Trusting His Faithfulness (Testimony 3)

I keep hearing that the darkest hour is before dawn.

I keep hearing that my breakthrough is almost here.

I started to feel optimistic .. 
I felt like God is coming through any moment now..
I started smiling more.. 
I started praying more

In all the optimism, I even went ahead of myself and gave a praise report at church that I'm finally getting a relieve from the attacks plus my vehicle is finally coming through and ... I did this in expectancy!!

But in the expectancy.. The unexpected happened** deep breath

This morning... I got an email with an even more disappointing news... 

NO!! Not another setback.. Not another disappointment... What about my breakthrough?? ...arghhh!! 

Confession-- I wanted to through myself a pity-party. I wanted to just scream. I wanted to throw in the towel this time. I wanted to start crying again. 

1 minute passed... I whispered .. 'Crystal you're a big girl.. Trust in God's faithfulness'.

I decided not to think about it because I have a major conference in 4 days.. I have an international visitor coming to speak... I have almost 200 women coming to this event and I've been so excited to worship and fellowship with them. 

I decided to not think about my car-less issues, my money-less issues, my work issues or whatever other issues I'm currently being bombarded by. 

I WILL focus on Kingdom business...Because I know only the things I do for the Kingdom is eternal and all other 'issues' are temporary. 

Disappointed... Yes! 
Stressed... Nope!! 

I truly made a CHOICE to trust that GOD knows what He is doing. I know a delay is not necessarily a denial and even a denial will work out for my good (Romans 8:28). 

I know that there MUST be someone going through a similar season of dryness, disappointment or delay. So, I wrote this blog to encourage you to know GOD is STILL on the job.

Push pass those feelings. Don't stop moving forward. Don't lose heart. Continue to hold on to God's promises. Continue walking by faith. TRUST IN HIS FAITHFULNESS!

** I'm certainly reminding myself of this over and over and over again!!

Listen this song .. Hope you're encouraged by it:-)

God loves you and I love you too!! 

Hope you have a blessed week.. 

To God to be Glory**** 

Crystal  

Trusting His Faithfulness (Testimony 2)

What do you do when you believe you've heard the voice of God and stepped out on faith but nothing seem to be working out?

What do you do when your faith starts to get shaky?

What do you do when the voice of doubt starts getting louder than the voice of hope? 

What do you after waiting so long and God doesn't seem like He's coming through? 

These are the questions bombarding me at this moment.

I thought it would be nice to upgrade my car. It wasn't even a thought.. it was a wish.. a wish I had no intention to act upon. 

Then March 2016, I heard sell your car and upgrade. Of course, I didn't pay it any mind because that would be crazy of me to do since I have no money. 

I mentioned it to a few people and of course, they confirmed I would be very crazy to sell my car without proper budgeting. 

Days passed and I heard the voice again.. 'Sell the car now!' 

This time I was sure it was God, so I called a friend and say I know God is telling me to sell the car, actually He said 'bless someone with it' so I should under charge for it. It made no sense to me, but I asked her to pray with me and I felt peace.

Same day the car was sold. 

No advertising. No hesitation. 

I got a call from my friend that God says she must buy the car. I was so shocked but I felt peace so within 2 days transaction took place. 

I knew someone who have been telling me to use my concession from the government to import a car. This was a cheaper route and it seemed like value for money. So I made the deposit. 

I had no idea how the balance would pay or anything. But I trusted since God started a work..He will complete it (Philippians 1:6)

Many of times God will ask us to do something which makes no sense to us or makes no sense in reality, God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac after Abraham waited so long for that promised child, in the natural it made no sense but God was testing his obedience and at the same time strengthening Abraham's faith. In order to build our trust in God we must be prepared to obey his "don't make any sense to us instructions" - Pastor Ryan Mark

It's been over 3 months... No car, No travelling allowance, No concession, No money to pay the balance... while the car sits on the wharf waiting.. while I sit in faith waiting....

Some days are better than some. There are days when I feel empowered that He will come through. Other days (which are more often)... I pray, cry and ask God if I missed Him this time. 

But you know what.. John 10:27 says 'My sheep knows my voice' and I KNOW I WAS BEING OBEDIENT.... 

So daily: 

- I choose to believe God's Word that 'ALL things will work together for good' (Romans 8:28)

- I choose to trust in God with ALL my heart and not lean on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5)

- I choose to continue walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)

- I choose to Be still and wait on God patiently, no matter how hard it is (Psalm 37:7)

- I choose to believe NO good thing He will withhold from me (Psalms 84:11)

I know God's timing is not my timing. I know there are many lessons to learn from this experience. But I know for sure that GOD cannot lie so as hard as this is.. I'm choosing to believe in His Word above my feelings~

So, this is not a pity blog to get people to sorry for me, of course you can pray for me (more prayer more power).. But it is an encouragement for someone that is also in the 'waiting' process that wants to give up too... Believe with ALL YOUR HEART THAT GOD IS WITH YOU... He truly is.. 

Let us CHOOSE to continue pressing and trusting that the answers to our prayers are ALMOST HERE!!

GOD IS FAITHFUL! 

It's Already Done

God loves you and I love you too!! 

Hope you have a blessed week.. 

God bless you.

To God to be Glory**** 

Crystal  

Trusting His Faithfulness (Testimony 1)

Many times we see people on social media and believe that they share everything going on in their lives, if they post a lot. I can say for me, that is certainly not the case. People wouldn't understand the constant spiritual attacks I go through; the many battles that overwhelm me (financially and emotionally) but I choose daily to press on. 

Daily, I choose to believe God’s Word that in my weakness, He is made strong (2 Corinthians 12:9).

I know my life is not about me, so even when I feel down, I try to take my eyes off what’s going on in my life and find a way to encourage and serve others and that truly gives me joy.

However, I believe God wants me to share this wilderness season that I’m in. It took a lot of strength to be obedient in this area. I don’t believe I’m a private person because I do share a lot with my friends but I don’t share certain areas of my life publicly. For some reason, this season of my life was meant to be shared with you. 

So in the words of Sarah Jakes – “We share our testimonies not so our lives can be picked apart but so someone does not have to face what we barely survived.”

If you’ve been following my posts and blogs this year, then you will recognize I’ve got a lot going on. I’m always a busy person because I truly believe the ‘devil finds work for idle hands’ so being productive in the Kingdom keeps me accountable, focused and purposeful. The challenge with working for the Kingdom is that you make the devil maddd so he constantly tries to attack so you can get discouraged, worried, fearful, guilty, condemned, hopeless and eventually give up! Unfortunately for Satan, I’m not the type to 'throw in the towel' easily so my attacks always intensify.

As led, I will share a few things and my true feelings even as I go through this process and tests. Again, this must be GOD because I truly want to erase these words and not share “my business” with so many people but Lord, let your will be done.

In a brief summary, let me share some of the things that have been going down since 2016: 

1) God directed me to leave my church home. After 7 years, I was told that in this season He wants me to worship somewhere else. It was truly a hard decision because I truly love love my church family but I knew it was God so I had to be obedient. 

2) My 2nd father, Robert Byers died. Now, if you know me, you know I have two fathers (extremely blessed aye!!) But YES.. we were very close and I miss him every day. I didn't post a lot about this because when I'm sad I tend to withdraw and try processing things by myself but this has been very hard honestly.

3) I'll be giving up She's Royal Movement after the conference... Yes.. God made me a steward over this ministry and the worldwide impact has truly wowed me. But it's not mine.. It's GOD's! And He gives and He takes away (Job 1:21).

4) I continue to lose friends... After being stripped last year from some friendships, I realize God is taking me higher and I have to acknowledge that some people are just for a season. 

5) God instructed me to sell my car.. yupp.. From early March I've been taking the bus.. This is another story by itself.

6) Financially things are very tight.. and I no longer have my 'rich' daddy to help me out and I was doing a part time gig doing social media marketing and I no longer have that contract; plus since I don't have a vehicle I've lost a major portion of travelling allowance. So in less than three months, basically I've lost almost $45,000 (USD$450) in income BUT GOD!! 

These are a few things going on.. along with trying to publish my book which is due in August 2016.. I have a major conference coming up in less than a month (July 1-2) expecting 250 women, God has directed me to start my own business and I work a full-time job and I'm a full-time mother. 

The amazing thing with ALL of the many things going on, I'm so much at peace and I have so much joy.. I know this must be GOD!! I will admit I do cry very often.. not because I'm sad, stressed or depressed because I'm not!! I find myself crying because of His awesomeness, His sovereignty and His unconditional love that He continues to pour out on me. Despite all that is going on I've been so so blessed, its mind blowing how faithful GOD is! 

Again, I don't know why I'm supposed to be sharing ALL of this. I don't know who God wants to show His faithfulness to through my story but I'm simply a vessel.. a 'chosen vessel' . God has taught me that I don't have any business.. I've died and it is Christ who lives through me… So it's His business! 

I will be sharing one by one about each situation and the different effects, lessons and blessings they've been having on me, as I’m led. 

I want you to know GOD loves you so much and He will never leave you or forsake you.. Trust in Him with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will direct your path (Proverbs 3:5-6) 

God loves you and I love you too!! 

Hope you have a blessed weekend... 

God bless you.

To God to be Glory**** 

Crystal  

Transformational Thursday!

Testimony from fellow Royalty and Founder of She's Royal Movement... Hope you will be blessed:-) 

Transformation Thursday.... I've always been a straight forward person.. I don't pretend to be somebody I'm not and I try to be transparent and real about my Christian journey.

Been baptized for 6 years but saved for over 2 year. I didn't get it right the 1st time. I refused to let go off the person I was and pursue God. Part of me wanted to but I was fearful that my life would become boring and I would lose my friends so I tried to do both. Prayed, attend church and share devotions to be a Christian yet party, drink and have sex to fit in the world... But I was so convicted! All of a sudden all the worldly things became boring and I just started to feel so bad every time I found myself living this double life. So, I had to surrender.. Give my whole being to God! Honestly, it was the best decision I ever made...#noregrets

I was a party girl, like seriously every weekend I'm out clubbing, at dances and sessions but in Christ I found a new way to have fun. My life is certainly not boring. Whatever I do now glorifies God and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

Many times when people give their lives to the Lord they all of a sudden becomes uptight and boring but this doesn't equal holiness. Because many times they are suffering with other hidden sins but try to cover up to look perfect. When we come to Christ we don't become perfect or holy overnight. It's all a process!! Daily dying of self and following the Cross.

So, today if you are a considering to give your life to the Lord but you are worried that you might backslide you think you need to clean up your life first.. LIES from the pit of hell and I cast down those thoughts in the name of Jesus. In your own strength you can't but through Christ you can do ALL things. So don't think. Just do it!!

If you have backslidden and you think you have gone too far so you can't return... LIES from the pit of hell and I bind up those thoughts in the name of Jesus. The Lord says even if you made your bed in hell, He will be there and I guarantee He won't love you less. So go back to God.. He's waiting in open arms. 

#Christian #chosenvessel #transformationthursday #Godloveyouenuh #TBT #noregrets #bestdecisionever #salvation