Crystal Paine Show

Having open hands and an open heart is one part of A Surrendered Yes: 52 Devotions to Let Go and Live Free , the new book by Rebekah Lyons . A Surrendered Yes is also about living in the now. On today’s episode of The Crystal Paine Show, Rebekah and I talk about what it was like for her to have a child diagnosed with Down syndrome, what living a surrendered life looks like, and how God doesn’t cal...

If you follow me on Instagram , or Facebook, we already announced the big news, but on the podcast today, we get to tell the story behind the news. Listen in to hear all the details on our unexpected adoption story + we share what is saving our lives, books we're reading, and more!  In This Episode [00:37] - Welcome to The Crystal Paine Show today we are sharing some pretty big news. [01:21] -...

It was an honor to have Max Lucado in studio recently to talk about his new book, You Were Made For This Moment: Courage for Today and Hope for Tomorrow. We begin the conversation with me sharing about how his children's book, You Are Special, deeply impacted my life. And then Max shared the really amazing story behind the book which you don't want to miss! He also shared how he got starte...

Do you know what your love languages are? Do you know what the love languages are of those close to you? Understanding how people give and receive love can make such a difference in our relationships. In this podcast, Jesse and I talk about what we've learned about love languages over the almost 19 years of marriage + what we learned recently in revisiting this through a Love Languages quiz we...

"Worship suffocates worry.” This powerful quote by Katie Reid has been challenging me ever since I read it in her book, Made Like Martha: Good News for the Woman Who Gets Things Done . When I’m feeling worry creeping in, when I’m starting to stress over the what if’s or unknowns, I want to choose worship instead. This might mean turning on worship music and singing along (there’s something abo...

Do you feel like your days are filled with stress? In this episode of the podcast, I talk with Ruth Chou Simons  all about living a grace-filled life in a stress-filled world.   Ruth Chou Simons is a best-selling author and founder of GraceLaced . She has been married to her husband Troy for 23 years and they have been involved in the local ministry most of their lives. Ruth and Troy have 6 sons a...

Do you feel like your prayers are being ignored? This is something that has been on our hearts to share and a story that God is currently writing for us... of a decade of having a dream and a hope and not seeing prayers answers. But in hindsight, God was answering those prayers -- just not in the way we ever could have thought or dreamed! And His story is so much better! In those 10 years, God tau...

I am thrilled to have Alison Lumbatis on the podcast today to talk about one of the most important things you can do every morning to change your day -- and your life! What's that? Get dressed. I know it sounds simple and you might even be rolling your eyes right now, but I can guarantee you that it makes a huge difference. Don't just take my word for it, though! Listen to this week's...

I've been talking with and hearing from so many people who are tired, weary, and just wanting to shut down. If you can relate to this, you will definitely want to listen to this week's podcast episode! I'm talking with Lisa Whittle, the author of the brand-new book: The Hard Good: Showing Up for God to Work in You When You Want to Shut Down . Lisa answers honestly the questions I ask a...

Our topic today – our takes on courtship and dating - might be considered a bit controversial by some! You may recall an early episode of the podcast in which we talked about our own history involving this topic, and if you did hear that episode, then you may also remember that we have a pretty unique story of how Jesse and I ended up in a relationship together and how we had strict courtship rule...

Longtime listeners or new listeners who have gone back and listened to our older episodes may recall  one of our early episodes  in which we had Jeannie Cunnion on the show as a special guest to talk about how to be a happier mom! Well, Jeannie is back again this week to discuss her  new book  — how it came to be, what it means to rely on the Holy Spirit, and how that can change your life. Jeannie...

It has been a while since we have done this, but we are bringing it back – that is, answering your burning questions! We tackle a variety of your questions today including how Jesse felt leaving his job as an attorney,  which of us handles the bills and budgeting, how arguing between us pretty much always indicates a deeper issue, and our personalities. We also reflect on how our personalities and...

Covid... that was the last thing I expected she would test positive for when our doctor sent us to the hospital when Kierstyn was really, really sick a few weeks ago. She had come down with a fever and a really bad case of what we thought were hives all of a sudden on Saturday night. We called the after-hours nurse and she had us go in and get it checked out at the walk-in clinic that night. They...

Although we've never actually had twins – neither biologically nor via fostering – we have had two babies for most of the past year and a half, so we thought that we would share some of our best advice and tips on either having twins or fostering twins! The biggest thing we've learned is that it takes time (our experience has been 4-6 weeks) to establish a comfortable rhythm and routine, s...

A few years ago, we went through a season with a lot of evening activities. During that season, we decided to switch from family dinners to family breakfasts. We would all eat a hot breakfast (usually eggs and bacon, maybe toast or pancakes, too) and spend some time reading the Bible and talking together. We were homeschooling at the time and didn't have any specific time we needed to get out...

Some of you may recall the podcast episode that we did last year during lockdown about some of our craziest travel stories. Well, we're coming back at you with another round of that, sharing another crazy vacation story! This one happened on our recent trip to Kansas. We usually have good success booking hotels at the last-minute online. But well, things didn't go so well this time. In fac...

“I love having teenagers!” I said this to a young mom recently who told me how she gets so discouraged with people telling her, “Just enjoy these years when they are young because it’s not going to be fun when they are teens.” She sighed and said to me, “I wish people would stop declaring such negativity over my kids’ futures!” I couldn’t “Amen” her statement fast enough! And I loved getting to sh...

Feeling overwhelmed by email? In this episode, I share some of my best tips and practices for taming the email monster -- strategies I've learned from processing millions of emails and messages over the years (I get hundreds of emails/messages every day, so I've had to learn to be efficient!) In addition to talking about email, Jesse and I chat about Kathrynne's new job, I share a real...

If you were to drop by our home on any given day right now, you’d likely find that there are dishes in the sink, crumbs on the counter, and baby toys on the floor. My bed is probably unmade. I might not be out of my PJs yet. And it may smell like a very recent poopy diaper. I’ll be holding a baby or running after a toddler. I will invariably need to leave the room multiple times to change a diaper...

What’s holding you back from living out your calling or doing that thing you have always dreamed of doing? Could it be lies you are believing that are holding you back from facing your fears? Maybe you feel like that dream of yours is just too big or too out-of-reach or too impossible? If so, I think you'll be really encouraged by this week's episode of the Crystal Paine Show. I sit down a...

Just for fun, Jesse and I took the popular Share Your Assumptions About Me Instagram story idea and turned it into a podcast episode. We asked for people to share their assumptions about us and then we chose a number of them to respond/react to. We addressed assumptions that Jesse gets nervous coming on the podcast, that we never yell or fight, that we don't have a pet, that we eat a lot of ic...

So often, when I share about something we're doing -- sticking with a $70 grocery budget, staying out of debt, choosing to save up and pay cash for something, fostering, etc., people will immediately write in and let me know why they can't do what we're doing. Here's the thing: I don't share what I do online expecting that everyone is going to do exactly what we're doing. F...

It has been just over a year since we brought home Champ, our first long-term placement in our foster care journey. It's been a year of learning, growing, and riding a rollercoaster of emotions. In this episode of the podcast, Jesse and I sit down and recount some of the most unexpected lessons -- the grief of goodbye, walking through deep sadness with our kids, what we've learned through...

For years, I let the belief that I was shy and introverted hold me back. While on the outside, I might have seemed like I was outgoing in some situations, I was constantly second-guessing and psycho-analyzing everything I did… "Do they like me? Did I disappoint them? Should I have been more outgoing or less outgoing? Are they distancing themself from me? Did I do something?" It was not unt...

When Jesse and I were talking about what topic to tackle for this week's episode, I said something to the affect of, "Well, I've gone on almost 60 other podcasts, radio shows, and TV shows talking about Love-Cen t ered Parenting , but I've yet to really dive into the topic on my own podcast. Maybe that would be a good topic for this week's episode?? If you've been consideri...