Krystal Johnson: Thrive in His Grace

Just Talkin About Jesus website

• Victory Over Depression and Anxiety: Krystal shares her journey of overcoming dark moments through God's guidance and introduces her book "You Were Made to Thrive."
• Recognizing God's Interventions: A discussion on how God is always working in the background and the importance of shifting our focus to see His interventions.
• Understanding God Beyond Circumstances: Krystal talks about how her view of God evolved by focusing on His nature rather than her unmet desires.
• The Power of Worship: A touching story about a young girl expressing her worship despite physical limitations, teaching us to be our authentic selves in God's presence.
• Thriving Amidst the Mess: Krystal reflects on how life's stinky situations can be fertile ground for growth and transformation, using a vivid metaphor of manure and potpourri.
• Comforting Others: Jan and Krystal discuss the importance of sharing our stories to offer comfort and hope to others going through similar struggles.

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Transcript

Jan: God was kind of leading me through those situations and finding victory over these depressive and anxious moments. I just felt like he was just saying, you need to share these, you need to share them. People need to hear how, you know, I've helped you overcome. And so one thing led to another. And so the book I'm writing is called you were made to thrive. And it's just all about how God has intervened in my practical life to just show me that he's the one that we can thrive in the world, tempts us and helps, tries to think that we can put our hope and faith and thriving in circumstances.

Jan: So when you say, you know, God has intervened, I mean, it seems like he's always intervening. It's like, I think God does intervene all the time, but somehow there's got to be a shift in our focus to recognize when he is, you know, because he's always working in the background.

KrystalA: Right? Right. Yeah, definitely. I think one of the biggest shifts for me was just understanding what I was thinking about God, like who he was. It was starting in what my thoughts were, what my thought life was and the circumstances in my life, like not being married when I want to be married or not having the job that I want, I was, I was looking at my circumstances and saying, God, you're not coming through because I'm not getting these things. And which made me limit who God was and it was a negative view.

Jan: Of who he is.

KrystalA: Yeah. So based on my circumstances, I limited God's power and who God is in my life. So when I recognized that, I stopped and I went to, to the word first to see, okay, who is God? And God is almighty. He is the one that gives us his best. If he made me and he is truly as loving and as holy and enjoys me and wants me to thrive in life, then I can then look at his truth and look at my circumstances and realize, okay, I can trust that I'm not supposed to be married right now, maybe have the job that I want because he's simply not giving it to me because that's not his best. Yeah. And so I think I make it harder on myself than it really needs to be because I want what I want. And I think we all do.

Jan: So we were talking about that, like with, with my sister in law Kay, and her illnesses and things that she's dealing with, but also with my first husband who had the brain tumor and was paralyzed. It's like I had somebody come to me and say, well, you just aren't praying hard enough. He'd be healed if you were praying harder. But if everything depends on how hard we pray, that turns God into a puppet. Right. We can just pull the strings and say it's about us and what we're doing to make him perform what we think are the desires of our heart.

KrystalA: Right? Yeah. Yeah. And I totally. I totally agree with that. I. When you said that, it made me think of when I was in my depression and all, I tried to pray and pray and pray, and nothing was working, quote unquote. I mean, you know, like, I. Not like we don't pray, but I just felt like there's a reason why God keeps us in the circumstances that we're in. And I believe it's to help us grow in our. And I believe that because we live in this world, there are a lot of other people that go through depression and anxiety, and how else are they going to overcome their anxiety and depression unless other people have gone through it? Yeah.

Jan: And you find out that there's. There's. It's a common thing to go through. You're not isolated in what you're feeling, you know? And that doesn't stop you from looking for a different job or for taking some action in things, you know? But if you've taken the action and still a no answer, then you'd rest and say, okay, you're enough, God. You know where I'm at. Show me how to be joyful in this situation. Circumstance. Right.

KrystalA: Yeah.

Jan: Yeah. So one of your chapters was about worship. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

KrystalA: Sure. So I was a caregiver for a girl who was about ten years old, and she. She's just a lovely girl. She has a disorder that inhibits her from speaking words, and so she expresses herself in other ways. She does have loud sounds. She clocks her hands when she is excited. She jumps up and down. And so when she is in the worship service, she connects with worship. Her dad was a worship leader, and so when she hears worship music, she gets super excited. And sometimes it sounds like a dog barking or just these sounds that are high pitch. And it can be very distracting because I go to a semi conservative church where you don't hear a lot of loud noises. And it made me feel uncomfortable at first around her because I didn't want other people to feel uncomfortable, so I would kind of, like, put my hand on her shoulder and, like, have her calm down. And then God really convicted me that crystal, she is connecting with me. She is. You're stopping her voice. You're stopping her expression of worship. So I stopped doing that and thought, you know, how can I not worry about what people think? And how can I deeply worship the Lord? And what if I started squawking, raising my hands and jumping up and down, like, what a beautiful expression that would be, if that's truly how God is to worship him, which, you know, some people do and other people are more introspective, and that's great. But she just really taught me to be my authentic self. And Jesus is more concerned with us, deeply connecting with him and our story and how exciting it is that he saved us from our sins and why shouldn't, why wouldn't we express that in an exuberant way? Then it made me think of sporting events. We get so excited and we don't care what other people thinking or how they're expressing it. And we're all like, we're on the same team. We're cheering, we're high, fighting strangers, even like, woohoo. Our team won. And then it made me think of the body of Christ, how we are a team and we are one in church, in how that expression of worship should be able to be flourished in whatever way that looks. So cheering or sitting and closing our eyes, you know, is what we should just foster, like, everyone being genuine in their worship. So.

Jan: Yeah, yeah. And I think it is a whole way that we need to rethink things, you know, that in this time of diversity and inclusion, but really is God. You know, you believe that God made you how you are and who you are, and he loves you that way. But we need to take that next step, too, and to love those around us and especially just to be able to look at someone, even in whatever form of worship they have, to look at them and to take on their joy as your own in how that they're worshiping.

KrystalA: Yeah.

Jan: You know, and to appreciate that and to just go, oh, gosh, look how they get to be in the presence of God as well. Yeah.

KrystalA: And how pleased by that.

Jan: Oh, yeah. How pleased you must be. Yes. Totally. That is neat. That's really rich. Yeah. What's another chapter, different idea that you had?

KrystalA: Oh, let's see. Well, there's another chapter. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to call it, but it has to do with **** and potpourri. Yeah. So basically thriving in the midst of the mess. So the concept that God gave me, which was very fun and exciting to kind of think through, was we can't really have the hope for flowers, the blooms the results of our life that we want. The abundant life without fertilizer. Plus, we have the **** unless we have the manure, unless we have the roots and the soil to cultivate. And I feel like the hard times and the pain in our life is that. Is that stinky? It can be that stinky **** that we. We want to run from. You know, we want to mask the smell of it. We want to just not allow it to be massaged into our lives. And so it's. It's taking our. Our situations and learning to not run, but to rest, to allow them to drop closer to the Lord. You can't have the potpourri without the ****.

Jan: I love that they go together. Yeah. Yeah. Boy. So true.

KrystalA: And there's purpose in the ****, right, right.

Jan: And honestly, when you are in those poopy times, when is the time that you're seeking God?

KrystalA: Yeah.

Jan: You know, those are the times when you're seeking him more than when everything's hunky dory and you're just living the dream.

KrystalA: Right, right.

Jan: Yeah, yeah. But I think he takes us and allows us to get to those low spots just so that we are looking up at him. Hey, remember me? I'm the guy, you know, I'm the.

KrystalA: Guy that's losing control.

Jan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, each thing that we go through, doesn't each one take you to a different level of your understanding of who God is?

KrystalA: Absolutely.

Jan: Yeah.

KrystalA: And that's what life's really all about, is to. Is to love God more deeply and see him in situations. That way we can love others and lead people to him, you know? Yeah. That really is what we're here to do. So.

Jan: Yeah, yeah. What's one scripture about comforting others? You know, you've gone through something and you're comforting others. Whatever. I mean, I think we are supposed to be sharing our stories because what God is working with us might be a good perspective for someone else who's going through the same thing and. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

KrystalA: So that chapter is what I'll be right writing probably next week. Yeah, it'll be fun.

Jan: I can't wait to read it.