Crystal Stine - Holy Hustle: Embracing a Work-Hard, Rest-Well Life

Holy Hustle is about living life from a place of surrender instead of a place of striving. Its about realizing life is more about serving God and others than being served. Its realizing the dream God placed in your heart years ago has been given to you for a divine purpose. Holy Hustle helps us see that no matter what job we have, what title weve been given all our work can have a kingdom impact when we work and serve with surrendered hearts.

Angela Perritt, founder of LoveGodGreatly and coauthor of You Are Loved

This message is becoming my anthem as I grow a new ministry while I raise my children, love my husband, and serve my community, and Holy Hustle is an invitation to choose another way, a better way, to success. Crystal calls us to resist our urge to strive and replace it with a desire to do Gods good work, finding freedom to thrive no matter what that looks like for our unique story and season.

Jess Wolstenholm, coauthor of The Pregnancy Companion and The Baby Companion and founder of Gather & Grow.

Hustle has never been a problem for me. Its the holy (or resting) part that remains difficult. But over the last few years Ive been attempting what Crystal finally gave a perfect definition to: holy hustlethe God-intended balance between pursuing purposeful work and rejuvenating rest. Personally, I flew through this book, highlighting paragraphs on nearly every pageit was that good!

Rachel C. Swanson, bestselling author and speaker; accredited life coach

Holy Hustle is the road map for those of us whove heard the phrase work-life balance and thought it was a joke. Crystals wisdom is sincere and encouraging as she lays out an acheivable path to work hard, love others, and rest well.

Michelle Peterson, executive pastor of campuses, communication, and leadership development at Great Lakes Church, Wisconsin; bestselling author of #staymarried

Crystal Stine is a gift. I love her heart behind Holy Hustle . I so agree with Crystal as she explains that we give our best to the work the Lord has given us to do, and we marvel as He takes our flawed efforts and brings forth fruit that only He can. You will love this book!

Alli Worthington, author of Fierce Faith

From a young age, I considered slacker a far worse insult than workaholic . Believed that God condemned relaxation while condoning overwork. Considered work-life balance absurd fantasy and dismissed doing nothing as a contradiction in terms. Oh, to have met Crystal before midlife found me burned-out, bewildered, and bitter. Shes the perfect blend of reassuring friend and challenging mentor all-or-nothing gals like me need!

Through the pages of Holy Hustle, Crystal will equip you to strive less and serve more. Youll receive permissionand admonitionto do only what youre actually called to do. Learn how to exchange exhaustion for excitement, comparison for community. And youll finally find the unique balance of holy and hustle God created you for.

Cheri Gregory, coauthor of Overwhelmed and You Dont Have to Try So Hard

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the HCSB, Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. HCSB is a federally registered trademark of Holman Bible Publishers.

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Cover by Connie Gabbert Design + Illustration

Cover photos surachet khamsuk / Shutterstock

Holy Hustle

Copyright 2018 Crystal Stine

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97408

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-7296-3 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-7297-0 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

To Matt and Madi,

for always believing in me.

These words would not exist without

your encouragement, love, and prayers.

You are my greatest blessings

and the best parts of my story.

Contents

W hen Crystal invited me to write the foreword to this book, I was honored but wondered whether I was qualified to lend my voice to a message about the healthy balance of hustle and rest. At the time, I was months into a solid stretch of nonstop work trying to build my businessjuggling new product collections, client design projects, and writing requests, all of which required more time, resource, creativity, thought, and planning than I had anticipated.

In that intense season of deadlines, commitments, and projects, I left little margin in my life for the God-given gift of rest. I didnt feel I had much of a choice except to power through to get it all done. I knew God had given me a measure of grace to carry the heavy workload for a time, but I also recognized there was a responsibility on my part not to allow myself to be drawn into the trap of striving to work fast and furious in my own strength.

It didnt take but a few sentences into Holy Hustle to feel that this timely message was a breath of fresh air. I had experienced how easily we can find ourselves drawn into unsustainable and out-of-balance habits in order to accomplish what is before us to do. We may even try to excuse our decision to press through and keep up the pace in the name of faithfully serving in our calling, even though God has invited us to approach that holy calling in a better way. Knowing God promises to give rest and to provide for those He loves (Psalm 127:2), we have to be diligent to remain in that place of grace to do our best work as unto Him, and also to rest well in His grace, timing, and provision.

The message of Holy Hustle isnt that intense seasons of work are wrong or unnecessary. Rather, its that we need to be mindful to accept the grace and gift of rest alongside our faithful acts of work and service in the way God demonstrated and designed. When those things collide, thats what Holy Hustle looks like.