Priscilla Shirer sits down with Dr. Tony Evans, Chrystal Evans Hurst, Jonathan Evans, and Anthony Evans on TBN’s Praise. Listen in as Priscilla Shirer and her family share testimonies of God’s divine disruption in the midst of family loss and grief.
he did not know
that all of that training that seemed
unnecessary and seemed mundane and just
like he was actually accomplishing
nothing
in that mundane training was actually
everything that he needed to be prepared
for the fight he was learning he was
becoming masterful at the craft it just
didn’t look like it in the moment
[Music]
a couple of years ago now 2018
is that correct 2018 where
our cousin she was one of our close she
was really more like a sibling than a
cousin
but winter unexpectedly
just her heart just gave out so she was
38 years old
and
literally she was fine one day and the
next day her heart stopped and so that
started a string of losses
over the next
two years every four to six months
another family member passed away
and the reason why we’re acknowledging
um dad’s loss in this is because every
single person was directly connected to
daddy
so and obviously to all of us but really
directly to dad so he lost his niece
that was winter
and then shortly thereafter your brother
passed away
then your sister passed away then your
sister’s wife passed away so all our
aunts and uncles on that side of the
family
and
and then we had another cousin pass away
and then to daddy your dad
in the same month as mom
and then shockingly as well actually an
eighth person passed away because then
my mother-in-law eight months after mom
my mother-in-law passed away who was
very close to all of us as well
um so we had eight losses in the course
of two years just back-to-back losses so
it has been
quite a journey emotionally yeah it’s
been it’s been a lot and a lot of people
you know
don’t up until mommy maybe they didn’t
really know all of that right because
winter exactly winter and mommy but
didn’t really know about all of that
and wouldn’t really think about it
because of how daddy operates yeah he
continues to preach he continues to keep
rolling he continues to build he
continues to encourage
and all of those different things
so how do you uh one of my thoughts is
as your son is man this guy keeps going
yeah even while it seems like things are
falling around him yeah
and so how do you
keep that up do that how are you able to
to be that faithful in a season
like that
well i mean it it starts with your view
of god if if god is sovereign if god is
in control
if you’re going to trust him if you
believe that there is life to come
and if we’re still here and therefore
have a job to do
then while we should
while we should
be struggling with loss
we should be struggling hopefully and
not hopelessly that’s two different
perspectives and struggle
and so when the hope is there then you
keep going even if you’re going slower
than you used to even if you’re going
with sadness or tears or
struggles or uh you know sleepless
nights you still
you still go because god is still true
to his word he’s true to his promises
he’s true to his provisions and he’s
true to our our future so
so and there’s still people other people
are grieving too yeah so you know during
this season of covert and race and
politics and economics and
all the global crisis we’re facing we’re
not the only ones grieving so they need
they need they need ministry too so you
got to keep ministering to our local
flock first of all at old cliff but then
nationally through the urban alternative
we we we wanted to
to let what god was doing with us and
through us and in our pain be a ministry
to others as well as we walk this
journey together because everybody is
going to walk this journey at some point
in their lives and speaking of
continuing to do ministry that is
why we are all sitting here together is
because we we collectively made a
decision to
try to figure out a way to use what
we’ve been facing and how we’ve dealt
with it to to minister to to people so
we did something very unique um
we we have a it’s a it’s a book but it’s
like this it’s the conversation it’s a
family conversation we all have
different crazy different personalities
i’m the hyper emotional one uh crystal
is
the she’s the smart
like logical she’s
really super smart so right here you may
think she’s being quiet but she’s
formulating things that she’s going to
say in a minute that are going to change
your life no pressure
priscilla’s missed personality as you’ve
seen and very opposed to the smart one
absolutely i mean she’s also smart and
dynamic but she’s growing up she got in
trouble for talking a lot but now it
god’s used all things for good you know
what i mean he’s worked out i showed you
god is the miracle worker
yes because
that’s this personality and then
jonathan’s the the athlete the the
self-proclaimed favorite um but that’s
true but no he makes a decision and then
he goes after it but we get to talk
about how from all these different
personality types how we held on to
to to faith in these moments so i i want
to know just just a kind of a blanket
statement a blanket question for
everybody is how specifically
given all the things that we face
collectively and things you’ve faced in
your life as an individual how have you
what are some practical steps you’ve
taken to hold on to faith when life was
shaking
you up chrissy
i think
when we talk about
you dad and how you
have continued to do ministry i think
that that is a big part of it um
us as children watching you
us as children our whole lives watching
you and mommy
because the truth be told
while this is definitely
a major major loss for our family
there have been
lots of things over the years that have
happened that have been hard that you
all have had to walk through and what
we’ve seen you do and seeing you do
consistently
and faithfully
is stay the course
we didn’t just see you and mom do that
we saw our grandparents do that on both
sides
so there’s this legacy of
faithfulness that has been
deposited in us generationally as a
legacy we are not
when people ask me how i’m doing
or they ask any of us how we’re doing i
think to say that we’re able to do that
because of our wiring
that’s just a small part of
the the design is also something that
has been gifted
to us and granted to us and blessed us
by generational faithfulness
and so while it’s hard it’s not hard
while it has been uphill
it’s been at a pace that’s been doable
and i think at the end of the day
what we have done individually
and what i have done individually
is
you know the bible says we look to jesus
who is the author of the finisher of our
faith
and if i can take a little liberty with
that you know i look to dad you know i
look at mom i look at her example and i
say okay if they can do it i can do it
you know
and i think that um the good thing is
when i share that and say okay it’s
because of family and because of legacy
because of support and because i can go
to daddy and say
okay dad this is hard like i have these
questions
and i have that relationship with my dad
to do that
the the good news is for somebody who
listens and says but that’s not my story
well then dad always tells the story of
course of his dad who didn’t have that
that wasn’t his so any of us get to
start anywhere and if you don’t have a
dad to look at like i’ve been able to
look at my dad or look at our aunt you
know auntie or look at her siblings or
look at each other
for support you do have somebody to look
at you know someone who is the author
and the finisher of your faith so
my ability to keep it going is not
because i got some juice to keep it
going it’s because there is faithfulness
to stand on from legacy that i’ve
inherited that ultimately traces its way
back to jesus christ
that’s correct but that faithfulness
that we’ve watched him
you know
live out
has come through like this setup is not
a representation of what we’ve been
through right okay this this is this is
nice what we went through with crocodile
tears yeah we went through was the
lowest of the low
when daddy told us the news and ran to
the other side of the room and was
bawling crying and and then anthony and
priscilla chased after him and they were
bawling crying and then
i felt like somebody rubbed icy hot all
over my body and didn’t even know what
to do i mean you’re talking about
going all the way to the low of the low
and
in crystal talking about those examples
that obviously being the lowest in my in
my view
but
them holding on to faith
through the lowest of the low like
people need to know that the evans
family ain’t sitting up here this this
is nice
that’s not what it looked like
um this is this is you know a year and a
half later or however long we’re able to
take use that time um it could know i
wrestled with god big time yeah i was
like man we prayed
your word says this that i was you know
based on the scriptures good dad always
taught take the scripture and throw it
back into god’s face because god is is
you know what i’m saying obligated to
his word his word is obligated to him so
we did all of that um where two or three
gather we had the whole world praying we
had so we did it
by the book
and we had an expectation
um that god is going to come through
and
it felt like he didn’t it felt like
we’re just we were just like
yeah like we got it there’s a lot of
people feel like that a lot of people
are like yeah
you know so
you know is he god or not yeah you know
what i mean and um and so people need to
realize that that’s what it really
looked like it didn’t look like this and
so when we’re watching mom and dad hold
on to faith through those times
it was some hard times that looked like
hard times
that that we had to go through and so
yeah there’s definitely been a wrestle
yeah well the the book is called divine
disruption um
and i’ve
having trying really hard you have to
try really hard for me an emotional
person if you’re anything like
me i know i’m hoping a lot of the
viewers are like me because it’s
sometimes the lonely world out here in
this family but everybody’s so so strong
but
it’s called divine disruption so i i
want to know
finding god in disruptions what do you
need to do
to change to get your perspective to
where
you can see god pass because disruption
is such a it’s such a thing for an
emotional person like me
how do you see god when when there’s so
much disturbance how do you get that
that that clear daddy or priscilla or
anybody but i well you know what
there are many times in the bible where
people are struggling with god yes
rebecca wants to know why how long job’s
big question is why did the righteous
suffer
you know so
it is
fake news to assume
that to be committed to christ means
that you will not suffer
in this world you will have tribulations
john
16 33 says
but then he says be of good cheer i have
overcome the world so the circumstances
are never to have the final say-so
although they are real that you have to
deal with so the question is how do you
deal with them well a lot of times what
people do
is they want to find god in the midst of
it when they haven’t built a
relationship with god before it came
and it’s hard to pour a foundation in
the storm you you that’s a hard thing to
do
the idea is to increasingly build
your confidence in a sovereign god god
has two wills he has a
unconditional will a conditional will
his unconditional will means he’s going
to do it whether you like it or not
because he’s decided to do it his
conditional will means he’s going to do
it if you meet the conditions
well obviously it was god’s
unconditional will to take mom home at
70 years old
when he did because
we met the conditions and he still did
it so that’s his unconditional will but
if you only believe god has a
conditional will
then you’re going to be disappointed
when you when you’ve met the conditions
and the opposite thing happens but when
you know he has unconditional will that
his sovereign plan overrides
our desires
for his glory and our good and maybe
what god wanted to do was to use our
loss
which was in his will to help others in
their loss
and their grief and their hurt and their
struggle
because god never wastes
bad times on us
he uses them for good times for others
and just to your point dad about
building your confidence and your
relationship with the lord before the
storm comes i think one of the
um
ways that people can do that i know it’s
been helpful for me i didn’t even
realize i was doing it but actually
writing down and keeping a track record
of when you see the fingerprints of god
in your life
i look back now and realize i was
probably just keeping a little journal
i’m not one of those people that
journals like every day or you know even
every you know religiously every week or
anything like that but just when
something happens that i see the
fingerprints of god opening a door or
closing a door that in hindsight i
realize was his best plan for me
or i see something happening where it’s
just what some would consider ordinary
but there’s the traces of god’s
handiwork just moving things around i
write that down because you won’t
remember what happened a decade ago
but when you open up this little book
you’ve scribbled some notes about what
god has done and then you look back and
you begin to actually see how things
that seemed disconnected at the time or
just seemed like it wasn’t going your
way how you’re working god work watching
god work that out then it helps to build
your confidence when you’re going
through something now because you
realize wait a minute if he sustained me
in my 20s and my 30s and even in my
teenage years when i look back and see
little things i wrote down and i go oh
my gosh the lord was
the lord was moving even then to derail
me into into a particular direction
that track record becomes a booster for
you
in the current things that you’re facing
in your life so i’ve even done that with
my sons i’ve kept a little journal for
each of the boys i bought a little
journal when i started when my oldest
was five i went to ross dress for less
in the back corner there they’ve got
these little journals for 5.99 and i’ve
had the same ones for i guess now 15
years and every now and then when i just
see
just a little hint
in a question they’ve asked or a
conversation we’ve had or some way i can
see god working and moving and something
he’s lined up for them
i write it down because i want to be
able to give it to them and say look
if if he did this for you then when you
hit the bumps of life which we all are
then you can trust him because he’s
already proven to you that he’s going to
be faithful yeah and jonathan you
mentioned wrestling with god which we
all watched you do firsthand because you
are the athlete of the family like you
you do this and then you end up here you
work out and you end up doing but like
that’s just kind of how your mind works
but as we talk about as as we’ve heard
these things that were said i remember i
think in chapter nine of the book you
basically talk about getting the place
where you realized that god’s answer was
yes or yes and you had to get yourself
there can you can you elaborate on that
when it comes to yeah absolutely uh just
thinking about you know what dad is
saying in his conditional and
unconditional will like we met the
conditions
so i’m like uh i’m just waiting i did it
the whole time i’m hopeful yeah the
whole time yeah we all work and i’m
watching mommy kind of decline but i’m
like uh it’s okay because he’s gonna
it’s gonna be a greater you know what i
mean like yeah so i’ve done that in my
mind and and the
the effort that we had put forward just
calling on the name of the lord and and
i felt like this was a great opportunity
for him
for god i put it on him god this is a
great opportunity for you now now you
need to take advantage of this one this
is a that’s right everybody’s watching
yeah um and so
i kind of got to a place where i really
felt was hopeful about it and when he
basically said no
that’s how i received it initially
that we did all of this
and you just didn’t come through right
um you didn’t make a way out of out of
nowhere you know you didn’t do those
things
but then god you know in my quiet time
in silence silence and solitude i got
clarity and just spending time with god
and he just said you know you don’t
understand my victory you’re complaining
because you don’t really understand what
jesus christ has done it was hard for
you to watch your mother die but how
much harder was it to me to watch my son
die so your mother can actually live and
when i thought about the life that has
been given
in his unconditional will that his
unconditional will even meeting his
conditions
was better than what i prayed for trying
to meet his conditional will
you asked for healing she’s got it
you asked her to be with family she’s
got it you asked her to be well taken
care of she’s got it you don’t
understand i’ve given you everything you
asked for on a higher level than you
asked for it and you don’t understand it
because you’re a kid
you’re not
you know i’m saying the same thing with
my kids they just don’t get it
until they get to a point of maturity
where they’re able to say oh dad his
will is just best
and um and now we can do what my mom
always said with my mom like she’s not
yours
we can do what our mom always said your
greatest ministry will come right out of
your greatest misery
and um and keep on going you know one of
the ways me and daddy encourage each
other you know through football
is you know in in football every player
has to retire
it happens every time and the players
that are still on the field are sad you
know because that’s the that’s their guy
right
but all you can do is put your head down
and keep playing until you retire too
because you want to hear the coach say
the same thing to you that he said to
him well done you played hard here’s
your gold jacket
yeah enjoy retirement and that’s what
mommy’s doing she retired she’s enjoying
that retirement in his rest and we’re
going to put our heads down we’ll keep
playing hard that’s great all the way to
the finish yeah there are so many things
that we
had had to to learn i mean i didn’t
realize i think daddy told me this he
thought that when we were going through
this
and and mommy thought this too she would
look at me and be like are you okay but
it wasn’t a normal are you okay it was
kind of like
uh this is the kid that could fall apart
with this much weight on him emotionally
that it was that kind of are you okay
and i
all the things that we’ve talked about
all the lessons that i learned along the
way even in the hard moments of my life
i didn’t realize were training me for
this moment in the book um i can’t
remember what what chapter but we tell
the story of of the karate kid which i
won’t tell the whole thing now priscilla
tells it a lot um do you want to just
hit on that real quick i mean well just
that there was a lot of training i mean
the karate kid you know the the one with
daniel’s son and mr means
the original the original one not the
stuff
although that was good too yes but the
original one you know
danielson wants training
and in karate so he goes to mr miyagi
and mr miyagi basically has him managing
his house cleaning cars painting fences
sanding the floor
and he just daniel becomes extremely
frustrated he’s like you this is not
what i’m fighting for yeah i came here
to train to be able to be excellent at
the craft of karate and so mr miyagi
sees his frustration and he starts
throwing punches
and daniel without thinking about it
begins to block all of these punches and
kicks that are coming his direction he
did not know that all of that training
that seemed unnecessary and seemed
mundane and just like he was actually
accomplishing nothing
in that mundane training was actually
everything that he needed to be prepared
for the fight he was learning he was
becoming masterful at the craft it just
didn’t look like it in the moment
even as a worship leader and traveling
around and all of us in our different we
collectively do things a lot together
but for me
even as a worship leader and stuff i
didn’t know and being in full-time
ministry i didn’t know that i was
capable of that fight of the fight we
have gone through
collectively i did not know i was
capable of that and the the punches that
got the blocks that came out of me
naturally i was like oh i really do
believe this i really
i didn’t know that i believed it this
deep mm-hmm so a lot of my faith through
that time came through from you
which you never knew it wild yeah
because you heard you were coming to me
and say
i mean you were settled in i’m not even
worried about it
it’s i already know it’s going to work
out and you would say do you think it’s
weird that i’m so hopeful
and i would say no i’m right there with
you i mean that’s what we were so so the
greater the disappointment you know that
we felt but that’s
that’s the training that you had because
i believed i guess i believed kind of
along the lines of what you’re saying
like mommy even though i don’t want to
see her in pain i don’t ever want to
experience that on any level i don’t
want anybody to ever have to experience
watching a family member
go through that but i think i just knew
i cognitively and in my heart knew like
this is our faith will play itself out
that’s the bottom line and you were
right
yeah it’s it’s so wild to me um i didn’t
a chapter was it chapter 15 we talk
about well crystal mostly talks about
doing the right thing along the way as
you are
um all the things we talked about you’re
understanding that god is divine our god
is um has a conditional unconditional
will you’re learning about what it means
to really be hopeful but
what about the day-to-day like what do i
do next the right thing along the way
even when you’re hurting can you speak
to that
yeah you know
i think um
[Music]
i was literally
just recently talking to my daughter
who’s 30 years old and whatever she was
asking me um my answer as i answered her
you know i heard mommy’s voice
because it was
the same thing you know it’s it’s a new
problem to her but it’s not to me but
one of the things we know mommy would
say all the time is this too shall pass
when you have
a history
with god and you know that the thing
that seems the most difficult for you in
a moment
that you’ll get past it so one way or
another you’ll you’ll get past it you’ll
learn from it you’ll grow from it you’ll
experience god in a new way
um
that is
often just the next right thing you
don’t have
you don’t and i keep talking about our
history but i even remember our
grandmother saying because you know
daddy’s a doctorate of theology and our
uncle was a doctor of sociology he had a
doctor of sociology and i said
did people ask you how did you do that
like how did you
have these kids that were so highly
educated and she said i just kept doing
the next right thing to have children
who were law-abiding citizens and were
good people like i wasn’t trying to
achieve that right and i think when
people would ask mommy and daddy about
us how do you do that like how do you
get four kids who are all still involved
in your church or involved in ministry
what they were doing was the next right
thing and for mommy that was fixing
dinner
and making goulash and putting cheese on
we don’t know what it was but it tasted
good because cheese was on it
and and the and the idea that
this was not necessarily the specific
thing i don’t think you could correct me
that you had in mind
it was just that we would love god
love each other
and be faithful
so i think the next right thing is look
at where you are
and what i was saying to my daughter
today is often we’re looking at the big
thing and thinking how do we get through
the big thing
moses asked god the same question when
god stopped by the burning bush and said
all right so it’s time i need you to
tell pharaoh to let my people go
and moses is like how am i going to do
that
and god said what do you have in your
hand
so we’re often looking purpose and
calling and what am i supposed to do and
how’s god going to get me through this
and we walked with mommy through that
season one day at a time
getting her what she wanted to drink
trying to make her comfortable
being there for each other
and so the next right thing is not the
next right big thing
it’s usually the next right small thing
and because it’s the next right small
thing it’s usually something that’s
obvious to you to do right and it’s easy
it’s right there
so i think if i could say anything to
encourage everybody from my experience
it’s
stop trying to get over the mountain
and just make sure you don’t stumble on
that one rock that’s in front of you and
just keep going forward that’s great
that’s amazing yeah that’s amazing
you’re a beast she is i was actually
about to say that and i thought maybe i
shouldn’t say you’re a beast
and yes for those of you watching who
are thinking are they saying daddy and
mommy
we still call our parents daddy daddy
just so you know that’s
i’m that’s yeah i’m proud of that yes
the daddy you mentioned daddy you
mentioned
disruption
and i i always get weird when i’m
quoting you because you’re tony evans
and i’m tony evans jr and it feels weird
because you’re such an amazing
communicator a beast because you’re such
a beast
divine reset a lot of times i mean sorry
divine disruption
disruptions in our life are god’s
god is wanting to reset us and uses the
disruption to do that can you talk about
what that that means
god creates or allows confusion chaos
trouble
because he’s trying to
get things that
are either out of order back in order or
to take us to a new level hebrews
chapter 12
talks about god shaking things
in the physical because he wants to do
something in the spiritual so when there
is disturbance in the five senses of our
lives
in the environment of our lives and the
chaos of the culture
it is because he is shaking things to
remake something
in its proper order things have gotten
either out of order or there is a new
purpose that he is moving to
and so he will he will allow pharaoh to
get tougher
so that you can leave egypt
and not get comfortable there so he will
create so i i just want to encourage
people if you’re going through
pain struggle grief disappointment
while those feelings are real and you
don’t deny them
also ask god what new thing
what new experience i love job 42 he’s
come through great loss
i mean in 24 hours this whole world
falls apart
his business his family his workers his
children his health everything falls
apart and he never even found out why
the book never tells job about the
conversation between god and satan but
in chapter 42 he makes a powerful
statement he says
i’ve heard about you with the hearing of
the ear i’ve been to bible study been to
church been the small group all that
been to sunday school
but now i have seen you with my own eyes
so ask god when your world falls apart
to make himself visible to you in a new
way and he wants to do it
because of what he allowed to disrupt
your ease
and your comfortable situation right
then
can we can we just go around and i would
love to hear and i don’t i’ve never
asked this either in what way
specifically and as it relates to each
of you has this disruption reset
you like what is a re what is something
that has been reset and i’ll just say
for me
um
the the the purpose behind what i do has
changed drastically
it’s changed drastically um the most
important thing to me has always been
family but now that’s on some other
level uh the most one of the second
things has been ministry but now it’s
it’s very purposeful and intentional and
if i’m going to
miss something family-wise to do
ministry i won’t do that anymore like
that that is something that reset in me
and uh it’s
helped open my eyes to what i
really have and appreciating that and
not the rat race of trying to get more
and and be more and be you know the the
bigger thing um what what about
what about you um
i would say
you all know i love kanika yes
uh which is my wife yes sweet sister
but you know she’ll tell you i don’t
even i don’t know if it’s the way that
i’ve grieved
uh
but she’ll tell you i mean my
appreciation for her tangibly has
skyrocketed
[Music]
um because she’s living her mother’s
life basically another version of the
same basically and um
one one of the things that broke my
heart
for daddy
is the plans that he had for him and
mommy at 70. yeah
is he talked about having these plans to
travel do you know kind of tone down in
the ministry and ramp up with just him
and mommy just kind of riding off into
the sunset type of idea
and when mommy died at 70
um
that just spoke volumes to me about time
and people
and treasures
and plans
and just life
and so with my
wife and children
i don’t really live on it i’ll do it
later mentality
i’ll live on i’m gonna do it right now
mentality and not take any of that for
granted yeah
i would agree i think that’s it’s along
the same lines that mom said to us
incessantly mom said to us y’all need to
stop and smell the roses that’s what she
would say that was her
sort of encouragement to us and
challenge to us
mom did that very intentionally she
enjoyed her life she would intentionally
tack on extra time to ministry trips for
the two of you to enjoy each other
sometimes we didn’t know where she was
at we didn’t know where she was she
should go on a cruise
yeah the dallas theological seminary
would take these ministry cruises and
she would just hop on and enjoy seeing
the world and also the foot the
footsteps of paul or whatever
and so she did that very intentionally
and i remember her saying you know if
she could go back and do her life again
she would have started that mindset
sooner that even as you’re going
throughout raising kids and working and
whatever she would have stopped to smell
the roses sooner enjoy your life
um
and so you all did that you know she was
always posting pictures hashtagging it
two peas in a pod the two of you
enjoying your life together and so
that’s kind of stuck with me what do i
need to do even as we are continuing in
ministry and raising our boys and all of
that but how can we just pause
and intentionally just enjoy the ride
and there’s nothing non-spiritual about
that exactly people yeah people think
exhaustion is a badge of honor like
they’re just especially working in no
christendom sometimes yeah no but
ecclesiastes is clear he’s like enjoy
your life it’s all vanity you know it’s
just like
you know and so that’s a part of the
christian living that we often toss to
the side for christian living that’s
right you can be diligent and faithful
and consistent and all those things and
still
have rest have a sense of sabbath about
your life and enjoy the ride
crystal yeah i think um what i’ve heard
over and over again
um
and i said this to at her funeral too
is just
mommy was very good about intentionally
seeing people because she was decide
decisively
moving slower
um she took time to remember things to
talk to people so i think
in the spirit of being intentional and
slowing down
both from my family to just
making time to make sure that the people
around me not just that i have time to
enjoy my life which is a part of that
but also having the bandwidth working on
that to have the bandwidth to be present
um
for
you know the people that god brings
across my path that i don’t expect or i
wasn’t planning on that day
to make room for that too yeah you know
speaking about
mommy always just gets me i just i feel
her all the time just the the
just the love of our mother and i
remember
i think it was me and priscilla were
standing over her bed we were all in and
out of the house so much and those uh
period but in the last few months we
were just all there and
our mother’s concern was
for
you like our mother’s concern was what
about the people who are praying like
when she felt like her health was going
a different direction she was like but
all these people are praying what about
the people who are about their faith
what about their faith what about their
faith what are they gonna like
she was concerned about you and that’s
just tears about that worried that the
body of christ would would stumble in
their faith potentially if the lord
didn’t answer prayers
because so many people were praying that
way and as i sit here
i’m very like man
this is a message from our mom for you
yeah of what it looks like to hold on to
faith it wasn’t
when she when when i just think about
her saying what about those people
well mom we are here to talk to those
people
the people you were so worried about the
people who wanted to make sure were okay
we’re here to share what it looks like
to hold on to faith and it hurts and it
doesn’t feel good
but there is something to be said about
hurting
but knowing that you’re anchored at the
same time mm-hmm and that is what it is
and i know that crystal mentioned that
everybody may not have a family like
this
but you
you get to start you get to start that
story
you have you have a choice to start that
story you have a choice to have chosen
family around you which sometimes in
some cases it’s like this is my family
but i just i love that we are sitting
here
and i just see her tears and what about
them and we are getting to address those
people yeah that’s great
on behalf of our mom who wants you to
hold on to faith
when life is breaking your heart
um
and in just a few minutes we’re gonna
we’re gonna close we’re so grateful that
we got to spend this time and daddy you
kind of already did it but
just i want you one more time because
you have so much to say this is one of
the
the he has a well of knowledge like a
deep
i’ve never even seen the bottom of that
well i don’t know where it is you know
but
can you look into that camera
and just give
just give the viewers just one more what
does it look like
what do they need to do for a heart
that’s breaking i know that there’s
somebody there’s a bunch of people on
the other side of this screen with tears
running down their face
please look at them and talk to them
about what else they could do to hold on
to faith in this moment
well one of the things your mom said um
as she was getting sick and sicker
she said don’t let my illness
deter you
from god’s word
and proclaiming it what
she was telling me was
hold on to god’s word and his truth
in spite of the circumstances that you
see us going through
so i just want to challenge everybody
who’s struggling who’s hurting
who’s going through difficult times
you tether yourself to god’s word you
memorize it you quote it you think about
it you have people telling it to you his
promises his encouragement you
you read you read that upper room
discourse where he’s encouraging his
disciples on his way to the cross
because he kept giving them hope
the holy spirit if you’ve accepted
christ into your life the holy spirit is
there and he’s called the comforter he’s
the paraclete he is the one
who helps you to make it through
during tough times
so allow the holy spirit by requesting
it that you don’t have to go through all
commotions you say lord god holy spirit
because he’s the one that jesus left
here
to represent him inside your heart holy
spirit comfort me because you are the
comforter
encourage me by the word the word is the
truth the holy spirit is the experience
of the truth so he takes the truth of
god and makes it light up in your soul
so ask him to light your soul up to dry
your eyes to comfort your heart to
settle your fears
and he will do it because you’ve come to
the lord through his method based on his
word to get it done
that may not mean your circumstance will
change today or tomorrow
but it means that you will change in
your circumstance and when you change
you’re managing what used to be managing
you