Personal Testimonies – Page 3

25Sep 2020 by Krystal 12 Comments

Want EASY? Not Happenin’!

Personal Testimonies, Teaching Your Children

Every month I pray and reflect on what my next blog could be. The idea came to me today while pondering the unrest, division, and uncertainty surrounding the world and our own nation. EASY. We could say this year has been everything BUT easy. The coronavirus began its deadly, silent and invisible spread which crippled us from almost every form of normalcy. I remember my brother warning me, "It's getting really weird. They're closing it all down, even the restaurants and the gyms." This is easy...pumpkin rolls that you buy pre-made and just heat up the dough! YUMMY fall treat Yeah, we have ALL experienced UNeasiness and HARDship. It was last week when I saw a man wheeling his handicapped son into the supermarket. It was the same man and…

31Jul 2020 by Krystal 8 Comments

Where is Your Identity?

Faith, Personal Testimonies

Yesterday was another birthday for me! I got up early and went on a jog. I felt my body responding, finally, after nine months of not being able to run. The thought came into my mind: I'm feeling more like "myself." Just as quickly as that thought entered, I realized being a runner was part of how I defined ME and my identity. Me at 38! I then began to reflect on the local woman in Buffalo who was struck at full speed by a police SUV months ago, and is currently a quadriplegic. I pondered the person she was and contemplated the contrast with the circumstances and physical limitations she is now enduring. In extreme cases, such as hers, when your "identity" seems to be stripped away, what is…

22Jun 2020 by Krystal 4 Comments

Writing from Weakness

Faith, Personal Testimonies, Teaching Your Children

I write from weakness. My book and my blogs were and are birthed out of my own life filled with joys amidst lifes' hardships and unanswered questions. Nonetheless, the finished product of my writing can misleadingly seem like “I have it all together." Truth be told: I am an imperfect mom with imperfect children. The difference, the game-changer: having a PERFECT and HOLY God who LIVES in me! This means if I can give him my “pen” (or my keyboard), and my thoughts, He can bring godly insight and eternal blessings of encouragement from me, a broken vessel that HE provides HOPE and HEALING to. I chose this random picture of me because one of my kids snapped it without me knowing...not a glamorous picture but it shows imperfect ME.…

04Apr 2020 by Krystal 10 Comments

Last Flight

Faith, Personal Testimonies

My heart is now broken. Why did it take so long for me to GRIEVE for humanity? I was numb when the coronavirus spread through China, intrigued and concerned when it made its way here, and now that the death toll will be “good” if it hits 100,000-200,000 cases in our country: devastated and emotionally overwhelmed. It finally HIT HOME in more ways than one. The numbers are daunting and chilling. The president of the United States reported that we will be saving at least a million lives potentially if we continue the measures in place. There is no doubt that COVID-19 is a pandemic of epic proportions. Paradise Park in Cuenca, Ecuador Though the coronavirus was on the news, it had not yet made its way around the world.…

01Feb 2020 by Krystal 9 Comments

Blessed Assurance

Faith, Personal Testimonies

The day of the accident she came. Out of nowhere her arms enveloped my weak and broken body when I couldn’t move. Reassurance had arrived, love from God above. The kids were okay, I couldn’t believe it, but there I was lying in the street. I cried out, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, help me!” She echoed every one of my pleas with her own calming voice. The noise of the ambulance, the crowd, the stares, nothing mattered in the next few moments apart from her embrace: her face behind me, her arms around me. My sweat was no deterrent to the many motherly kisses she planted on my head. “I have to go now,” she said, “I am picking someone up. He is with you.” I had to get a glimpse…

04Jan 2020 by Krystal 9 Comments

Your “Unwritten” Goals…

Faith, Personal Testimonies, Teaching Your Children

2019 has come and gone, but its memory in my heart and life will always live on. It began with a warm Ecuadorian family celebration to ring in the new year, each one of us sharing our hopes and aspirations. I had written down a few goals for the year, including teaching myself how to play piano by ear and writing a new book. In another sense this would be a year in which physical suffering would remind me of my weakness and frailty to accomplish anything on my own. It started in the spring as I was planting seeds with my children: I hit our metal mailbox and had to get stitches on my head. That didn’t stop me, and summer was a pleasant time of family bonding, active…

27Oct 2019 by Krystal 8 Comments

Being a Receiver~ Would You Catch that Ball?

Faith, Personal Testimonies

a few days before surgery with my dear husband The day of my ankle surgery last month my husband and I got there before 6 a.m., early as recommended. We checked in and took our seats in a waiting room full of people. I was in a wheelchair and across the way an older woman, let's call her "Elaine," was using a walker. We exchanged a few words with her and then, very promptly, a door opened at the far corner of the room; my name was called along with hers. Two hospital personnel accompanied us, initially focusing on holding the door for me because of my condition with two ankle injuries in a wheelchair. However, the attention quickly shifted to Elaine who had arrived alone. "Is anyone here to…

24Sep 2019 by Krystal 11 Comments

The Gift of Immobility

Faith, Personal Testimonies

Thirteen days have passed since the accident, since I was crossing an intersection with my four children and was hit by a car. It was a sunny afternoon and we were on our way to the library. The plan was to return books and spend a few hours reading and then picking out some new selections. In the middle of the crosswalk that would all change for us. The moment before it occurred was peculiar, helplessly watching a car coming towards us and yet inwardly anticipating a miracle. The miracle came, though the driver never slammed on the brakes. My older boys had made it safely across seconds earlier on a bike and a scooter; I was thrown into the middle of the street and the stroller I was pushing,…

01Jun 2019 by Krystal 7 Comments

An Act of Love

Faith, Personal Testimonies

Love from an aunt It was already 7:00pm as I was heading into Dollar General with my four kids all geared up with swimsuits to have an evening in the pool at grandma and grandpa's house. The next day was a garage sale at our house, and I was in need of poster board and some duct tape for signs. My children followed me around the store for the items on my list, and then they spotted the swim gear! So they each got a pair of goggles, I grabbed a few extra items including laundry detergent, and we headed for the check-out. Being a regular customer at this particular location, I greeted the cashier by name while he was asking my children questions about where they were going to swim.…

22Feb 2019 by Krystal 4 Comments

A Testimony of God’s Provision

Faith, Personal Testimonies

Jorge & I -2018 The story I am about to share is our own. My husband Jorge is from Ecuador, South America, and we met while I taught English there for a year. He arrived to the United States in October of 2007 on a fiancé visa, and we were married that December. From then on we began our journey together. Jorge had a secure and well-paying job in Ecuador as a computer engineer in one of the biggest phone companies. At the time I remember being so in love that I didn’t seem to worry at all about how life in the United States would be for him; I simply trusted that God would provide. The beginning months of his stay here were filled with learning English, a language he…

Category: Personal Testimonies