Dr Crystal Odom shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Crystal, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
When I listen to music I lose track of time and find myself again. Music is one of the very few things in life that helps me manage my mood and find myself in the past, present, or future. In essence , music allows me to express myself-period.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
As Founder/CEO of Chainbreakers Conferences’, I partner with churches, organizations and individuals to impact the nations for Jesus Christ. Being once bound by many ‘chains’ my story is just like many of those who I serve. Being homeless, experiencing levels of poverty, pain, depression, loss of loved ones, job loss, outgrowing people, discrimination, racial injustice and more has taught me that there is a system to navigating pain and moving into success. Once I learned the secrets for my own life I then began to share them with others. Some of the tools I use to share are panel hosting conferences, discussions, music, teaching, online classes, Christian Television and more. My belief is when we decide to go through the steps of development, transition and finally transformation, it’s because we have finally decided that wisdom awaits us on the other side of our pain. My belief is pain is not punishment, pain is for success. We partner with the thought that pain has an assignment and it’s to produce freedom. When your pain has produced freedom then your life cannot be sabotaged. This is why we hold conferences from state to state because we understand freedom belongs everywhere.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
Romans 7:6 – ‘But the Law no longer rules over us. We are like dead people, and it cannot have any power over us. Now we can serve God in a new way by obeying his Spirit, and not in the old way by obeying the written Law.’ ~Contemporary English Version
When my spirit is reborn, thriving and strong I’m able to live my life out under a new law. I’m no longer powerless and obligated to live under the habits, mental state, thought patterns, desires, curses, weaknesses, contracts, covenants and altars that I inherited from birth. So mistakes have a purpose. Bad things happening to me have a purpose. So the girl I used to be when I used to ask,’…why me God?’, she was only with me until I found out that things are not happening to me but for me. I found that pain is not punishment but for me to gain the wisdom to succeed.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Sometimes the pain of building what God said and developing who God says you are is one of the most challenging pains you can ever face. There were times I felt like Noah. God was telling me to build an ark but everyone else was building a motorcycle. Everyone else was building a luxury car or a hotel. Every once in a while they would come back to look and see how far I was and mock me because of my ancient blueprint. They would take and ride around my ark popping wheelies on their motorcycle. They would laugh at my progress asking why it is taking so long. One day in prayer God began to speak to me about this process and it helped me heal in so many areas. To help you understand here’s a quote by Kurt Vonnegut. “Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, ‘It might have been.” Don’t miss your opportunity. Don’t miss your moment. There is nothing praise worthy about unfulfilled potential. One thing you cannot do is out work me. I will never regret building. No matter how long it takes I will build. But to me the worst thing in life is not failure but what could have been if you stayed the course. Healing is in the revealing. In essence my defining wound was being misunderstood while building. I healed this wound by knowing what it feels like to regret not trying in addition seeing the progress as I kept going.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I’m committed to teaching others how to heal Gods way. God made us so to me this makes the most sense. So I’ve vowed to take Chainbreakers Conference worldwide no matter how long it takes. Although it takes time, staffing, resources, partnerships and money, I believe everyone has pain and pain has purpose. I believe everyone deserves to be free. Freedom comes at a costs. We all deal with pain. But the question is how do you view yourself in the pain? This is what makes the difference in navigating your life while walking in pain. I know and live the truth that pain is not punishment. I learned through experience pain is for success. All successful people have things in common. One of those things is navigating pain.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. When do you feel most at peace?
That’s a loaded question for me. I feel the most peace when I live in the present. I feel the most peace when I am empowering others. I feel the most peace when I know I’ve pleased God. I feel the most peace now that I have accepted myself and love everything about how God made me. I feel the most peace when my choice is to choose what God would choose for me in this life He has assigned and designed for me to live. I feel the most peace knowing that I was born to succeed in life by design.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.apostlecrystalsherie.com
Image Credits
Ena L Robinson
Crystal S Odom
Kiara G Allen
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
