Our Guest: Crystal Sarmiento
Crystal Sarmiento is Certified Behavior Analyst and Consultant as well as a Business & Executive Coach, Speaker, Best Selling Author. She is Founder of The ARI Source and Becoming a Lioness. A brand that impacts women worldwide. Her book Becoming A Lioness was ranked #1 in Christian Leadership and won The Amazon Best Seller’s Award.
Recently featured as a top coach on Fox News, NBC and CBS. A Houston Native, currently residing in Manvel, TX . She is a dedicated wife and mother to a blended family of 5.
She founded Becoming a Lioness to help motivate, empower and impact women in the community tangibly – after 13 + years helping in various international organizations and ministries. Professionally known for being a powerhouse for over 23+ years in the corporate and business sectors, she made the decision to move from corporate America to corporate calling. Founding The ARI Source. A professional development consulting firm. She also served as councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem for The City of Manvel.
Key Thoughts and Scriptures:
- Left unchecked, fear and shame can keep us from embracing God’s purpose and derail the future He has for us.
- But God offers a different way to live.
Joshua 1:9 NIV Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
- Joshua’s courage wasn’t rooted in his own ability; it was rooted in God’s presence.
2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Psalm 34:4-5 NIV I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
- God doesn’t simply help us manage our fears, He delivers us from them.
Hebrews 12:2 NIV Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
- When we know who we are in Christ, fear loses its grip. Shame loses its voice, and we find the courage to walk confidently in God’s calling.
- Crisis leads us to Christ. For the Lord reveals His true nature and love for us in the thick of it.
- Oftentimes our decisions have a ripple effect.
- After her parents divorced, Crystal asked her mother, “Why did you leave me?” Her mother replied, “I left you with family. I didn’t have family.”
As a mixed-race child, Crystal struggled with an identity crisis, searching for where she truly belonged.
- Living in a tough area, she learned to advocate for herself.
- God is relentless in His pursuit of our heart.
- It doesn’t matter how hard our belief system is, temptation is very real.
- If we don’t safeguard and protect ourselves and our children, then you set them up for failure.
- When Crystal became a teen mom, she felt she had failed her father.
- As a daughter of Christ we often fail Him. We have all the intention in the world to honor Him. And yet we still fall short of the glory.
Romans 3:23 NIV For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- Both her mom and stepmom stepped in and showed her God’s grace.
- When her fiance died, Crystal was very angry at God.
- She had lost a love and her future.
- When did the Lord become real?
- Crystal’s godparents facilitated the Holy Spirit to come into her time of emotional eruption.
- They came in and got on the floor with her.
- Have you told the Lord what you’re feeling?
- This is when Jesus wants to be here. If you ask Him, He will answer you.
- Crystal felt her life problems were God’s fault.
- What are you afraid of? Tell the Lord, don’t tell us, tell Him.
- Do you think that your words are powerful enough to take Him off His throne? Or that your words are gonna make Him love you any less?
- What do you want the Lord to speak to you?
- Peace flooded her heart when she responded, “I just want to know I’m gonna be okay.”
The Lord met Crystal in her grief because she was so vulnerable, but also real and unfiltered.
- In the midst of her pain, He showed Himself.
- But it took agents of the Lord to help her get there.
- When we allow God into our crisis, He brings healing.
- After her experience, she hungered to know more about God.
- She then began to devour the Bible.
- Crystal discovered that the Word of God had all these answers that she was searching for.
- In that journey of discovering who He was, she was discovering who He created her to be.
- We all seek meaning to our lives.
- No matter how painful our beginning may be, God delights in meeting us in the middle of our brokenness.
Links:
Connect with Us:
Website: HerGodStory.org
Website: SomebodyCares.org,
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomebodyCaresAmerica/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/somebodycaresamerica
Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/SomebodyCares
Somebody Cares Prayer Line (855) 459-CARE (2273)
Want to help Widows and Orphans? Join our growing company of women meeting special needs of parentless children and nurturing their unique gifts so they can be ALL God has in mind for them! And help meet real needs of women who have given a lifetime of service to God! Support the Somebody Cares Widows and Orphan fund today!
Share this message with a friend and subscribe for weekly encouragement and inspiration!
You can also receive periodic ministry updates from Somebody Cares, and/or weekly Provoke-a-Thought emails, monthly teaching emails, or join our prayer team by signing up here!