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In Ecclesiastes 3:11, we read that God makes everything beautiful in its time. It is comforting to know that nothing is wasted in God's economy, but all of it will be used for our good and His glory. You're invited to join us for poignant conversations and compelling interviews centered on believing for His beauty in every season.
Everything Made Beautiful (01:01)
Well, hey, welcome to the show, everyone. I can't believe this is the last Monday of February. Where is time going? Goodness. But today I'm thrilled to sit down with a truly inspiring voice and my new friend, Krystal Ribble. Krystal is an accomplished author, producer and CEO of Told You So Media, where she serves as voice talent and writer across multiple podcasts, including Deposit Your Doubt, which explores questions of faith.
As a three-time author and recipient of an independent publisher association award for the best gift book, her works, The Church's Orphans, Dwell, and Love Me in the Waiting breathe new life into biblical narratives, inviting readers to see how these timeless stories speak powerfully to modern life. Her weekly writing and production work has been featured on TBN's Better Together show, reaching audiences worldwide five days a week.
and is currently showcased on the Esther Press blog. Through Told You So media, she also lends her voice and storytelling skills to various industries and corporations, highlighting the inspiring narratives unfolding within their organizations. With a Master of Arts in Christian Leadership from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School, Krystal brings both academic insight and practical wisdom to her work.
She resides just outside of Nashville in Brentwood, Tennessee with her husband, Jared, and their five boys. Krystal and I met as we were preparing for the Esther Press Conference last year, and I quickly knew she had so much to share and to offer us. So get ready to be encouraged and inspired as we uncover how embracing the waiting seasons can transform our faith and lead us to a deeper, more resilient trust in God. So without further ado,
My conversation with my friend, Krystal Ribble.
Shannon Scott (02:59)
Well, hello, Crystal. Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this interview and for being on the Everything Made Beautiful podcast. I'm so glad we're getting to do this.
Krystal Ribble (03:08)
Thank you for having me Shannon.
Shannon Scott (03:10)
going to be so good. I'm holding up your book so that people who are watching us on YouTube can see what they're looking for because they're going to want it after this conversation. This is Crystal's book. It's called Love Me in the Waiting. And I want you to hear this tagline because this is so good. Trusting God's purpose when you're longing for what's next. So Crystal and I, know, Crystal, I've already done your fancy bio on the intro, but
You and I met because we were both asked to help with an event for Esther Press, which is David Seacook's women's imprint. And then you did not get to do what we thought was going to happen with that event because surprise, another baby was coming into the world.
Krystal Ribble (03:55)
Another baby. Yeah.
Shannon Scott (03:58)
But I feel like we were kindreds in the first meeting we got to have about that event. And so I've so enjoyed getting to read your book, read your stuff. And I can't wait to have this conversation. But before we jump into the book content, tell us about your suite family. And tell us about that specific season of that suite.
Krystal Ribble (04:00)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon Scott (04:20)
most recent baby because that was an interesting text to get from you and I know you were as stunned as we all were. So talk to us about your sweet family.
Krystal Ribble (04:22)
Yeah.
yes.
I was definitely, yeah.
Yeah. So my husband and I live in Brentwood, Tennessee, and we have five boys. So that was the fifth boy that was being born when that situation was happening. And yeah, we were supposed to do an event April, like 12, was it 12 and 13. And then I discover after we planned that, that I was due April 17. And then the baby was going to come a month early. So.
Shannon Scott (04:41)
Yes.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Krystal Ribble (04:59)
I'm like, this is fine. I'll have the baby and then I'll be fine. But as life goes, he was in NICU for a long time because he was so early. And I showed up at the event, but I feel like I was quite a zombie version of myself.
Shannon Scott (05:03)
Mm-hmm.
No,
I was actually amazed at how well you were doing and how good you looked because after I had all three of my babies, people did not see me for a little bit because I did not wear the post pregnancy well, but you looked radiant as always. But tell us just about you and your husband, what you've done in ministry. I've said a little bit of it, but just your heart for ministry and how you guys have gotten to where you are. And then we'll dive into the book.
Krystal Ribble (05:20)
sweet.
Well, sweet.
Yeah. So my husband was the professional drummer for well over 20 years in the Christian music world. And I was, I got to travel with him for quite a bit of that time as a tour manager. So we spent a lot of time in the Christian music circles at that time traveling. And then, I've always been a writer. So I was always writing in some facet and I took a job as a college minister at a church here in Nashville.
and he got to partner with me in that ministry, which was really awesome. So I got to really flesh out a lot of the curriculum type of things that I wanted to write and the Bible studies. And so I started doing that and he partnered with me in that ministry. And we just had this massive heart for like not only the younger generations, like claiming their faith and stepping into that. But then also what that continues to look like moving forward. And so as we
Shannon Scott (06:12)
Mm. Yeah, so sweet.
Krystal Ribble (06:38)
became parents that began to evolve in me and I had more things that God was birthing inside of me, not just the children, but also messages. So it's kind of been a beautiful thing to kind of see happen.
Shannon Scott (06:50)
Yeah, it's so sweet. this is not your only book, but this book specifically and this topic specifically, I mean, you you and I both have spent lots of time with lots of women and lots of people and seasons of waiting are some of the most profound times when you go.
Krystal Ribble (06:54)
is not.
No.
Yes.
Shannon Scott (07:12)
Is everything I believe true? Is everything I've been told true? Is all this stuff that all these Bible verses I quote, are those true? Because waiting is so hard and we are a culture who has who has organized our lives so we don't have to wait. Like everything we do is instant access, instant gratification. When something is even sluggish, we're immediately impatient. And so
Krystal Ribble (07:14)
Yes.
Yes.
Shannon Scott (07:40)
seasons of waiting spiritually. Whoo! Those are difficult. So what made you go, I want to write this book and I want to talk about this because I know you well enough to know that you like me do not write out of something you've not experienced. So what led you to write this?
Krystal Ribble (07:59)
It started with, so my husband and I, we adopted our first child and prior to that, we lost three adoptions before we were able to bring him home. And each of those have their own story of loss and just how deep and long that time was. But I started realizing as I was watching everyone around me have children and
Shannon Scott (08:08)
Hmm.
Krystal Ribble (08:26)
Biologically, you're doing this and you have this nine month trajectory, right? It's like, can see the changes in your body happening. You know, like you prepare your home, you prepare this nursery and all of those things. My journey to becoming a mom was much longer than nine months, much, much longer. My body wasn't changing. My heart changed, but I didn't have these physical signs of what was happening and
Shannon Scott (08:32)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Krystal Ribble (08:55)
Even in our home, the signs weren't the same. I didn't have a baby shower because we were adopting kids that were older. And so there wasn't like these milestones that you usually give to someone that's going to bring a child into the world. But just like someone who's having a baby for the first time, I had nothing in my home to bring home a child. You know, like the first little girl that we were going to adopt, she was seven. I had nothing for a seven year old. You know, so I started realizing.
Wow, I don't really know how to tell people to show up for me and to love me during this time because this is so weird and it's just different than everyone else's timeline. And I actually don't know when the end of it is. And I don't even know if there, if no, there is no due date and even the dates they give you all of that moves, all of it changes for us. We lost three separate adoptions.
Shannon Scott (09:41)
Yeah, I don't have a due date.
Krystal Ribble (09:53)
And, and so it's like every dream you have, all the timelines you have, all of this stuff, it just, doesn't come to fruition. So during that time is really when this message started being birthed in me. Like how do I explain to other people how to love me when I'm waiting? So that that's where it started. But then over time, I started realizing, okay, there's a lot of different types of waiting in our, in our lives. Oftentimes we are waiting to hear the Lord in a particular way.
We have prayed for something that he's not answering or he's going to answer it, but not the way that you've prayed for it. And that, that has ended up being like the theme of mine and my husband's life. We have everything we have ever prayed for, but it did not come to us the way we prayed for it. And we have everything that we have ever prayed for, but it did not come to us the way we prayed for it. Every single thing, like being a mom that did not come to me the way I prayed for it.
Shannon Scott (10:39)
Ooh, say that one more time.
Hmm.
Krystal Ribble (10:53)
didn't happen how I thought. My husband didn't come to me the way that I thought. Like everything in our life is that way. And so I, that message just developed. was like, once God got me to see that, okay, waiting seasons are hard and I've put you, I've suspended you in one where there is no end. I'm not going to tell you when the end is. Now you can start to see this in a lot of different ways. You can see this for a lot of different people in a lot of different seasons of life.
So that's kind how it all came to be.
Shannon Scott (11:25)
Yeah. that's, that's good. I'm glad I have my pen because I print it out. I always print out all the quotes that I want to talk about because if I read them from the actual book, I'll have to wear glasses. But I print them in bigger font. I'm glad I have my pen so that I can write down what you just said. But I, I think when we talk about waiting, I'll say specifically about like adoption. Not a lot of
Krystal Ribble (11:34)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shannon Scott (11:54)
people take into account when someone is adopting that unlike I feel the baby kick or things are being bought off my registry or I know that come X season of the year, we're going to have a new little life with us and everything's going to change. Though those not only are not a guarantee, but more often there is a lot more no before there is yes. And so
Krystal Ribble (12:12)
Yes.
Yes.
Shannon Scott (12:24)
just considering that as we have friends and loved ones we know who are in a process of adoption as beautiful and exciting as the process of adoption is the realities of fault starts stops and starts losing adoptions and the grief associated with that like that is a lot of emotion to carry and manage the tension of and swing into and out of.
Krystal Ribble (12:28)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Yes.
Shannon Scott (12:52)
So I'm glad that you put some language around that for people. Because for those of us who've not adopted, I mean, I know so many people who have adopted, but we haven't quite had that level of conversation about it. So that's just good for me to make note of. If it's OK, I just I got five or six quotes that I would love to just talk about from your book. My dog is over here whining in case you're wondering what the sounds are.
Krystal Ribble (12:57)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shannon Scott (13:21)
that I got from your book that I'd love for you to just talk through. You write about how waiting is not a passive experience, which we might be tempted to think that it is, but it's filled with purpose. And you said, God will never waste a minute of your waiting. That seasons are designed to draw us closer to him and teach us valuable lessons that we may not fully grasp at the moment, but that we'll understand in hindsight. So just talk a little bit about
Krystal Ribble (13:49)
Mm-hmm.
Shannon Scott (13:50)
not one minute of waiting being wasted, which I 100 % agree with. Nothing is wasted in the economy of God. But talk a little bit about what that looks like when we're living it out.
Krystal Ribble (13:58)
Yeah.
I think so much of this topic is about shifting your perspective of what that time is doing. Because oftentimes if we are waiting on God to do something, waiting for something we've prayed for, waiting to move into a new season, whatever it is, we can think of this time as taking something from us instead of giving to us. And so the first thing I think that we have to do is just shift our perspective on it.
And if you can do that, then you can start looking for what is it that God must be doing right now. Now I can say, I understand, like everyone does hindsight is 2020. You get to the end of something and then you can oftentimes look back and you're like, okay, that makes sense to me. And I think in the economy of God that sometimes you look back and you fully understand what he did. Most of the time we probably don't, we see like a little gem of it, but we
Earth side, we may never understand fully what was going on because we don't have the whole picture he does. And so if you're able to, during the time that you're waiting for something, if you are able to start shifting it to, God's doing something right now, I may not know what it is. I may not be able to see what it is, but I know that there will be purpose in every moment of this. That's leading me somewhere. He wants me to go. And that's the thing is like, he's leading you somewhere. He wants you to go. This is not just.
pointless. This is he didn't just take you through this because he's like this is an experiment. Let's see how Shannon will react. No, he already knows.
Shannon Scott (15:35)
Yeah, I mean,
he already knows it's probably not going to be great.
Krystal Ribble (15:40)
He already knows how it's going to go and how you're going to react and what you're going to feel. So this is not an experiment. He's taking you somewhere on purpose. And I think we have to shift our perspective to understand that.
Shannon Scott (15:54)
the so much of it can feel wasted. There is great hope and encouragement in knowing even if it doesn't feel it, knowing that it is not wasted. One of the things I love about the book is that you pair each chapter with a biblical characters story, which I think is so important because
We know there are things in scripture for us to learn from obviously but there are so many examples of all the kinds of waiting that we experience already for us in scripture and lessons we can take from that and you said about it's people like Noah and Moses and Job who all went through waiting periods but you say we have more in common with our spiritual ancestors than we realize so talk to us a little bit about that.
Krystal Ribble (16:45)
Yeah, my, my MO, if that's how you would say it is when I am looking for something from the Lord, I always go back to scripture and I'm like, what did you do then? Because it is not that far off from what you're doing now. And so I want you to show this to me in a fresh way. And a lot of times people think going all the way back to Noah or all the way back to Moses, that that's really far and it is not applicable to what is going on today, but it really is.
Shannon Scott (16:54)
Yes.
Yeah.
Krystal Ribble (17:13)
It really,
really is. And so if you take Noah as an example, one of the things that God showed me in his story was the preservation that he gives us over our waiting seasons. And if you really go back and you read that story, you see that through all of the preparation, all of the things that he wanted Noah to do, the biggest thing that he was doing because he preferred Noah was that he was preserving him for the future. He wanted who Noah was.
Shannon Scott (17:40)
So good.
Krystal Ribble (17:42)
to come out on the other side of that storm. And so sometimes God will take us through a season of waiting or he will suspend us in time. And I think that's often what's hard for us as humans. Like if we feel like we're waiting and we're kind of suspended, we see everyone else like their life going on around us. And you think, I'm behind and I'm not ever gonna get there or God's answered that prayer for them, but he's not doing it for me.
Shannon Scott (18:01)
yeah, yeah.
Krystal Ribble (18:10)
That's our human perspective of things. But if you think about Noah's situation, it's like, okay, God was going to suspend him inside of this arc because he preserved who Noah was because he needed Noah on the other side of that storm. He needed who he was. Sometimes God's protecting you because he needs who you are on the other side of this. And so sometimes the purpose of that is that he's preserving you.
for a future. And again, that's shifting your perspective to be able to see it that way, to know he's saving me. Actually, I often say Noah did not wish that he was outside of the boat, but he didn't. And if you think about your circumstances that way, I would much rather be waiting with the Lord than somewhere without him, somewhere without his presence, without his purpose in my life. I'd rather be with him. And if that's the middle of the storm, that's where I want to be.
Shannon Scott (19:06)
Yeah, reminds me of Moses saying, wait, hold on just a second. If you're not going with us, we don't want to go wherever that is. We want to be where you are basically. I think sometimes that's such a profound insight because I think sometimes we go, I'm in a season of waiting. So there must be something about me that isn't measuring up.
Krystal Ribble (19:14)
Yeah, yes.
Shannon Scott (19:30)
or something that God needs me to be better at or more mature in and all those things can be at play but we rarely take the positive spin of it which is God is preserving me because of who he needs me to be on the other side of whatever this thing is that I'm waiting in or waiting to pass or waiting to go around and so that's a really good insight and I think
I think we always assume it's deficiency in us versus preservation by God.
Krystal Ribble (20:05)
Yes.
Yeah. And sometimes it is, sometimes it is the pruning. Like sometimes he is pruning something and he is needing something to change in your circumstances, your life, whatever it is. but I do think that if we start looking at things as what is this doing to actually save us and what is this doing to, to keep who we are to come out on the other side of this.
Shannon Scott (20:11)
Yeah, yes.
Krystal Ribble (20:32)
It really changes. changes how well you can navigate this season.
Shannon Scott (20:38)
and how well we wait. And the comparison trap is real. Looking at everybody else supposedly progressing or being successful or moving forward and it feels like we're circling the same cul-de-sac over and over and over. But preservation, man, that is good.
Krystal Ribble (20:44)
Yes.
Absolutely.
Shannon Scott (21:00)
a recurring theme throughout the book is that waiting can foster a deeper trust in God and that seasons of waiting, most often we come out on the other side with such a deeper and more intimate experience of God than we had before. You said, faith grows, our prayer life deepens, and trust in God becomes more than just a phrase we give a thumbs up.
So I'd love for you to talk about that and just even where that phrase ology came from because I was like, yeah, I resonate with that
Krystal Ribble (21:36)
Yeah, well, yeah, I think sometimes in our Christian ease, we can throw around like, trust God, you know, you just trust him and everything's fine and all this kind of stuff. And that is not the reality for most of us. Like if we're being honest.
Shannon Scott (21:44)
Yeah.
When I
hear people say things like that, think, there's someone who hasn't been through anything.
Krystal Ribble (21:58)
Right, right. Yes. Yeah. I mean, honestly, because like you said at the beginning, talking about how like a lot of this can shake your foundation to in my opinion, so many times when we go through these things, and this has been the case with me, that you start questioning who God is, you start questioning what he told you. Like, did I really hear your voice? Was that really a promise for me? Maybe you've changed your mind about me and stuff like that. And so
Shannon Scott (22:15)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah.
Krystal Ribble (22:27)
It starts to really shake the foundation of trust and it's not just trust God and everything's going to be rosy and everything's going to be fine. In my life, because I have a relationship with the Lord, when something is hard, then I go to prayer. I start asking him what's going on. What do you need from me? What am I needing to see? And I often will say like, God is a big boy. He can handle my fears. He can handle.
my true emotions about something and spoiler alert, you're not hiding it from him. He already knows what you're thinking. but in working that out and in speaking to him about it, I am, I am cultivating more and more intimacy with him. I am going deeper with him so that I can learn his heart more so that I know how to trust him more in those circumstances. I often equate this to my relationship with my husband. I know.
my husband's voice better than I know anyone's voice because I have spent countless hours talking to him, telling him things that maybe he didn't even want to hear, but I talked to him and he talks back to me. so we are, we continue to work on the intimacy and how well we know each other because of how many hours we've spent talking to each other. It is the same with the Lord. And so when things are hard, if you run to him,
Shannon Scott (23:28)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Krystal Ribble (23:53)
And you are talking to him. And if we look at those ancestors of our faith, that's what they did. They were in communication with him. Sometimes they had a line that no one else did. Obviously Noah heard something from him that no one else heard about this arc. And it's just this intimacy and this level that you don't really get anywhere else, but it's often, it often grows so much deeper through hard times and through things that you don't understand.
Shannon Scott (24:02)
Mm-hmm.
I love that you said newsflash God already knows it. It's not like we're hiding it from him. But I don't know if this is true of you because I don't remember enough about how you grew up necessarily. But I definitely as a people pleaser who had a big dose of legalism in my formative years and was taught about
Krystal Ribble (24:26)
Yeah.
you
Shannon Scott (24:46)
big authoritative powerful God, but not so much about intimate, kind, loving, know, wants a relationship with me God. I definitely have succumbed for much of my life to I have to get all cleaned up and get my head right and get my attitude in check. I can't go to God until I'm all cleaned up and I've got it together, which is of course a fallacy and is not true, but
Krystal Ribble (24:47)
Yes.
Yeah.
Shannon Scott (25:15)
I like that you articulated that the only way we develop intimacy is through communication and relationship and if we're not bringing our full selves to the Lord
It's not about whether or not he knows our full selves. It's are we bringing them as really an act of surrender on our part to go? I'm not trying to control the way I appear before you. I'm trusting you as a safe place to come authentically. So I'm glad you mentioned that because I struggle with performance and people pleasing in every aspect of my life, including spiritually, if I'm not really in tune with the spirit.
Krystal Ribble (25:43)
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think oftentimes we can approach our relationship with God that way. really, no matter what the background was, you know, cause we can think, we need to ask him something a certain way. our heart has to be a certain way. And it, and it does talk about like, Lord, forgiving me of all of my sins so that I can clear this line. Like all of that is true, but there is nothing about you that you can hide from him. And in fact, like,
Shannon Scott (26:02)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Krystal Ribble (26:24)
He created you and he loves every single inch of you. And he loves all of the things that make you you. And I think I had several experiences through probably like high school and college that made me realize in these moments that I did not love myself. He didn't leave me. He was still there. And I think that's what began to sow that like really, really firmly in my life was that you can show up in every way.
because he's there and he loves you in every way. And truthfully, Shannon, I would have to say the biggest lesson in that came from when, so in my husband's vows to me, I always had this belief that like when you marry the right person, this person is supposed to be as close as an earthly reflection of the father's love for you. I always had that belief. That was always what I prayed for. It's always what I hoped for.
Shannon Scott (27:08)
Mm.
Hmm.
Krystal Ribble (27:20)
And in my husband's vows to me, he said to me, you can show up every day, whatever version you are of yourself. And I will love you. am there. And I didn't know that day as a 26 year old, how much I would need that every single day of our marriage, but it was such a perfect picture of what I have experienced with the Lord. It doesn't matter, Crystal, what version of you, you show up.
Shannon Scott (27:30)
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
Krystal Ribble (27:50)
And I love you. And, and unlike my husband who might be surprised sometimes at the version that I show up as God is not surprised, you know, he's not surprised by that. And so I think that helps set the foundation for what we were just talking about is understanding that about the Lord.
Shannon Scott (27:51)
Yeah.
you said in seasons when I haven't loved myself he has never left me talk a little bit about what you mean when you say in seasons I haven't loved myself because I do think you know part of why I am tempted to approach God in a performance mentality is because I have learned over my life that performance is rewarded
Krystal Ribble (28:12)
Okay.
Yeah.
Yes.
Shannon Scott (28:36)
what I can do and accomplish is what people love. Who I am sometimes has not been what they've loved and so if I just take that and overlay it on my relationship with God then I would assume he would respond the same way. So when you said I in seasons I didn't love myself what do you mean?
Krystal Ribble (28:58)
So I had a few experiences, particularly one in college in a relationship that I shouldn't have been in, you know, but you're in that relationship for several years. And what started out as really, really good, you end up, you end up in a phase of, don't recognize myself. I don't know who I've become in this world. This person is putting things on me or he has.
Shannon Scott (29:05)
Hmm.
Krystal Ribble (29:25)
created this version of myself. He pulls out this version of myself that I don't recognize. And so I remember going through this season of identity crisis and seeing what I felt like was the worst of me. And I would respond to certain things or I would think certain things, especially when I got really, that was a season where I got really depressed and
I never was fully suicidal, but I definitely knew what it was to think so poorly of yourself and to question, you know, what contribution do I have here and stuff. And this was all from a relationship that had just beat me down, beat me down mentally and emotionally. And I remember there being a day where I'm kind of going through all of this, like picking through in my mind all.
these things I don't like about myself. And I think as women, it is so easy for us to look in the mirror and immediately see all the things we don't like and how often I can even recount those things like, I don't like this about me today, but like, whatever. thankfully I'm married to someone who tries to stop that and it's tracks a lot. He's like, we need to stop this. We need to change that narrative and all this stuff, because what I see is not what he sees. And quite often that is the case with everyone. What you were seeing, what you were feeling.
Shannon Scott (30:37)
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes.
Krystal Ribble (30:48)
The things that are so true to you in your mind are usually not true to anyone else that looks at you. You know, usually they do not see you that way. And so I had to kind of go through a season of, of really learning that. And when I was feeling at my worst, when I would call out to God, he answered me and he was there. And it was like, well, you don't think the same thing that I am thinking about myself. And,
Shannon Scott (31:15)
Yeah.
Krystal Ribble (31:18)
I will tell people a lot of times, I feel like I get asked a lot about like the voice of God. If I talk about hearing his voice, like what is his voice? And I have learned in my own experiences, I know his voice because I know what his voice is not. And when I was feeling depression and anxiety and all of these negative, terrible things that were continuing to pull me down and not towards him, that was not him. And so I experienced him as the complete opposite of those things.
Shannon Scott (31:23)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
That's good.
Krystal Ribble (31:48)
everything of God was everything that was going to lift Crystal up and have her keep looking up and looking forward and not looking down. And so that's kind of one of the experiences that helped me really learn that.
Shannon Scott (31:56)
Yeah.
Yeah, that's so good. for those of you listening and watching, take that to heart. If you are unsure what the voice of God is, you can be very sure what it's not, which is it is not condemnation. It is not shame. It is not something leading toward feelings of depression or anxiety. That is not your Father's voice. That's such helpful insight. Thank you for sharing that.
Krystal Ribble (32:21)
Yep, absolutely.
Yeah.
Shannon Scott (32:30)
talk about that the struggles we face during waiting are not just obstacles, which I think some of us think, well, this is an obstacle, but they're avenues for personal and spiritual growth. And so you said waiting teaches us to hope beyond the immediate. What does that mean?
Krystal Ribble (32:41)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. So I think the easiest thing for us when we're going through a waiting season is just looking at what's right now. And when we do that, when we're in a season where things are not what we want them to be, or they're not where we want them to be yet, then we just start looking for the end of this. I don't care what's happening right now. I don't care what God's doing right now. I just want the end to happen. And
I think sometimes we're looking to just get rid of this. This is the obstacle. Let's get away from it. Whatever. We don't, we don't think it's giving anything to us. We don't think it's doing anything productive, but I have realized in switching my perspective about it is instead of me looking for the end, if I can look for God in the midst of it, like where is he? And I'm just going to keep following that. Then that helps me stop looking at it.
Like these obstacles that are these hurdles that I'm just trying to jump. How many do I have to jump? How many, how many, how many, because that's not productive. What is productive is knowing that he's here with me and he's leading me somewhere. And that's how I need to be looking at this.
Shannon Scott (33:52)
Mm-hmm.
Mm hmm. I when we when I teach on seasons with women, I'm always cognizant of saying, if we spend all our time in it, for instance, in a winter season that feels like withdrawal and closure and death, if we spend all our time looking for how we get to spring, then we met we we often miss the gift that there can be in a season that seems uncomfortable or
Krystal Ribble (34:28)
Yes.
Shannon Scott (34:31)
you know, not fruitful or productive in any way, but because nothing is wasted in God's economy, like we said, there can be a gift in any season. In any season of waiting there are gifts to be found and so much of them are His presence. And so looking for Him in a season of waiting helps us be present in it, not always waiting for the end of it. So, so good. The last
thing that I wrote down was not so much a quote but more a concept that you talk about which I thought was so good. You underscore the importance of trusting in God's timing, which I know we kind of like you said giving a thumbs up to christianese about faith. I think we talk about God's timing a lot but I'm not sure if we really internalize what that means. But you said that even if his timing doesn't align with our own
Krystal Ribble (35:13)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Shannon Scott (35:25)
His plans are ultimately for our good and his glory, which is the thing that I trumpet at all times. So how can that perspective offer comfort to people who are grappling with impatience in a waiting season or even uncertainty about the future? Sometimes it's not just, me get to the next thing because I know what the next thing is. Sometimes it's, I'm in a waiting season and I have no idea how the future is even going to turn out.
How can understanding God's timing, His glory, and our good offer comfort in those seasons?
Krystal Ribble (36:01)
I think to kind of underscore a bit of what we've talked about in that his timing is so protective of us. And I've had to see that through some really hard things. And like, if we go back to the example of our adoptions, had any of those adoptions happened, we would not have our, our firstborn son that we have. So we never would have adopted him. And I can see God's
Shannon Scott (36:09)
Hmm.
Mm.
Krystal Ribble (36:29)
hand through his, his whole story, because even just his story is he had a lot of medical needs. He has a brain tumor. Like currently that's something that we're going through another waiting season where you don't know where the end is. And so, but had he not made it to Nashville of all places where the doctor that he needed in this whole world was here, like only God can orchestrate things like that. And, and had any of my prayers been answered, then
Shannon Scott (36:40)
Wow.
Yeah.
Krystal Ribble (36:58)
Aiden, my son, would not have made it to my home. And I would not have been able to be the vehicle to his healing, to the family that he needed, all of those things. And in my life, while that's a big story, it is a very small example of how many times God has done that, where you don't always know what he's protecting you from because it can still feel like he took something.
Shannon Scott (37:17)
Mm.
Krystal Ribble (37:26)
There are times if I'm being honest, it will always feel like those girls, they were all girls that we lost. It can feel like those girls were taken from me.
Shannon Scott (37:36)
That's
such a good point.
Krystal Ribble (37:38)
And, I still wrestle with that. I go through that and like, God, how do I reconcile this with who I know you to be? And that is so hard for me. It just shakes the foundation of the faith that you have. And so there are still times that that will creep up on me. It feels like this was taken from me, but look what God gave. And he gave that through this long season because he was doing other things. It was going to take time and.
you know, like Aiden would not have been ready for us to, come get him any moment, moment sooner than when we did. And his, with his brain tumor and the development of that and all that stuff, it was all perfectly timed. And I often will talk about our son's life in that he will have his own story to tell of what the Lord did for him. But what I see in his life is how specifically the Lord cares for us.
Like he cares down to the second. And when you, if you can trace his hand, if you can wait long enough to see what it is that he's doing through all of these times, you will see that that thread is all perfectly timed at every single moment in your life. Always, always. Like even if you cannot see that right now, I promise you, I promise you.
Shannon Scott (38:39)
That's so good.
Krystal Ribble (39:03)
That when you get to where you're going, you will understand perfectly why he timed it the way that he did. He does not have an oops. Like he doesn't just go, man, I missed that. I did not time that perfectly. And she fell off a cliff. Like that is not how he works. He knows exactly what's coming. He knows what is behind you. Recently, I was teaching on this subject and I was talking about football and how we in the stands.
Shannon Scott (39:19)
Mm-hmm.
Krystal Ribble (39:33)
We can be looking at a quarterback and be like, what, why did he throw the ball there? Did he not see that this guy was open all the way over here? Well, we have, we have this perspective, right? He is on the field and he has all of these people in front of him. And that is the life we live. We are on the field. There's a lot of things in front of us and we don't really know which way to go, but God's perspective. He can always see the play develop long before it happens. Always. And so I want to trust his vantage point over mine.
Shannon Scott (39:35)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Totally.
Mm, it's good.
Krystal Ribble (40:03)
And that
is something that we have to hold onto. We have to hold onto that hope. We have to hold onto that perspective in order to have the hope.
Shannon Scott (40:13)
So good. I'm you know, all of life is not a waiting season, obviously. So what advice do you have for people when a waiting season does reach a conclusion? Like, how do we ensure that what was learned or what was fought for and won in the waiting season kind of stays with us and informs how we enter
perhaps a season where it's like, okay, we're no longer waiting anymore, now it's go time. What does it look like when we're not in a waiting season to ensure that we carry that forward?
Krystal Ribble (40:47)
Yeah.
I think there's two ways to look at it. One is not ever forgetting what God did there. You if we look back at all of these stories of our ancestors, I'm sure that Noah did not forget what it was like to be in that boat. And I am sure that the history and the legacy that is left with his family all comes from what God did there and the preservation that he had there and Noah's obedience during that time. And so
Oftentimes we need to think about our situations as this is a part of the legacy that we leave for all the people coming behind us, not just your family, but anybody watching your story. There is, there's a legacy that you are leaving by how well you can wait and how well you navigated that season. and so that's one way to look at it. I think another way to look at this is,
Shannon Scott (41:36)
Mm-hmm.
Krystal Ribble (41:53)
Being able to have a perspective that you can see this in someone else. So in my circumstance with adoption, when we use that example, I then could see someone else and I could understand what they were going through. I understood what it was like to wait during that season. And so if you go through a particular season of waiting and you come out on the other side of that and you've navigated that you have the dust from it, all of the things you recognize it in someone else.
And so now you know how to show up for them. You know how to advocate for them. You know how to be there for them and love them during that time. And so I think those are, those are two perspectives coming out of something that are really good to have.
Shannon Scott (42:36)
Yeah, I love the double meaning in the title of your book of that is a phrase you can use when other people are saying, Hey, what can we do for you during this time? Well, you can love me in the waiting. But then also, it's what our Heavenly Father offers to us when we're waiting.
you know, my daughter, my child, you can love me in the waiting and develop a close and intimate relationship with me and understand more about how I work and how I operate and my character. You can dig deep into scripture. You can see the ways that I worked in the lives of my children all the way back to the beginning. And you can.
Krystal Ribble (43:02)
Yes.
Shannon Scott (43:19)
make note of the fact that I don't change and shift like shadows. I remain the same and my character can be trusted. So I love that. I'm I'm gonna put this information in the show notes but I'm gonna tell you guys again the title of Crystal's book is Love Me in the Waiting. Trusting God's purpose when you're longing for what's next. And so if you're like me I can imagine that you either
have just come out of a season of waiting, are sitting smack dab in it, or are seeing one coming on the horizon. And so I really encourage you to get Crystal's book, because I think it will serve you and will be, as we say often, a word in season for you. Crystal, I just want to thank you for stewarding this message so well. The thing I'm loving about this podcast is getting to have people.
share about what God has put in them, because it is such a communal benefit for us as believers to hear the journeys and the faith stories of other people. So thank you for sharing it with us. I'm so thankful.
Krystal Ribble (44:23)
Of course,
of course. Thank you for having a conversation with me about it.
Shannon Scott (44:27)
Of course, I knew I wanted to as soon as I picked up the book. So thank you for doing this. Now, I do have to ask you the question that I ask all my guests as the as the last question on the podcast, which, you know, this podcast is called Everything Made Beautiful because we believe that God is consistently and constantly in the process of redeeming all things. So even the things that for us are difficult and gross and we'd never choose.
God is even able to make those beautiful and that's a specific talent only he possesses. And so we just ask on kind of a light note, if you could design, architect your perfect beautiful day, what would it look like from start to finish? And there's no caveats and there's no restrictions, there's no allergies, there's no nothing in the perfect beautiful day. So what would that look like if you could design it?
Krystal Ribble (45:17)
Mm-hmm.
I think it would begin with waking up from a full night's sleep where no child needed me in the middle of the evening. Cause of my five kids, the youngest three are six months, three and five. And often one of them, you know, will have something nightmare have to pee something, you know, in the middle of the night. So I would love to wake up from not having that and
Shannon Scott (45:30)
Mm-hmm.
Bless you.
Mm hmm. Something.
Krystal Ribble (45:54)
Honestly, just being able to spend the day with my boys uninterrupted and my husband, having quality time with him, quality time with the boys and reading because I love to read. And I feel like as an author, I don't get to read as much as I want because I'm writing more than I'm reading. So I would love to be able to read and go on a walk, just like a peaceful walk around my neighborhood and then have dinner with my whole family around the table.
Shannon Scott (46:10)
Right.
Krystal Ribble (46:22)
and no one fight with each other. Like that would just be... Yeah.
Shannon Scott (46:25)
Yes. Yet you five
will really six boys in your home there there's bound to be some sort of tussle at some point.
Krystal Ribble (46:30)
Yes.
It's yeah, it's quite, I don't have the drama that maybe you would have with all the girls around, but it is kind of like, let's fight this out and let's be as physical as we can and I'm stronger than you and you know, all of those things. I'm greatly outnumbered.
Shannon Scott (46:39)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's that's
kind of cool, though. I was thinking, man, that must be I mean, you are I mean, you're the queen at that point. So everything.
Krystal Ribble (46:58)
Yes, it's true.
My husband does say that. He's like, you get to forever be the queen. And he's raising my boys to believe the same about me, which I love. And they always say a little boy loves his mama. So I'm happy to have five of those. Right. If someone has to, I guess I'll do it.
Shannon Scott (47:10)
Mmm.
Absolutely.
Yes, if someone has to do it, it should be you, right? Yes.
Well, Crystal, thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I'm excited for people to connect with you and to follow you and to learn more from what you have to share. And I will tag everything for people. But family, just want you to know Crystal has offered us a discount code for her book. So if you use the code EMB, as in everything made beautiful,
the link that I will put in the show notes you'll be able to get her book at a discount but I'll tell you what it is worth full price so go get it read it and be blessed by it so Crystal thank you and to everybody listening and watching I want to remind you be looking for the ways that God is making everything beautiful in your life including you and we will see you next time