I Ascend: Please share with us, who is Ms. Crystal Aikin?

Crystal: I would say that, Crystal is still single. I do not have children at this time and I am a young lady, I am an inspirer, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, a niece, and someone that people can look to and see inspiration, look to and see similarities, look to and also see differences so that, there can be an example before them. But also someone they can say, I want to either do some things like or hey, listen, I didn’t know that, I could try that. You know, maybe they’re doing similar things and I can inspire for great or maybe they’re doing different things than I do and they could say, I want to know what she’s doing, so that, I can become better and so hopefully, I am that person. I hope to be a challenger and a cheerleader for some. I think we often try to keep cheerleaders in our lives all the time but sometimes, you need challengers and so hopefully, I am that for someone’s life as well, through the truth of that, so that’s that.

I Ascend: How many years have you been singing?

Crystal: Let me see, so are you trying to ask my age, undercover?

I Ascend: (chuckle) No, you know ladies don’t reveal age!

Crystal: So I would say I have been singing since I was a little girl. I was raised in the Church of God in Christ in Tacoma, Washington and in a great church called Old-timer Memorial. I started singing at a young age in the Sunshine Band, so I was probably five, six years old, six, seven years old. That is when our director at the time, Aunt Mel, said you just have the smile, and you have no fear of grabbing the microphone. My parents were great encouragers and saw a gift in me, but they weren’t necessarily singing or playing music at home. We play music, but I mean, they didn’t have that instrumentation, that musicality and so, I definitely know, this is God given, God called, God instrumented and so, I really consider it a privilege. It’s something when you see young people, young boys, girls, and they’re gifted and their parents have no musical acumen and you’re going where did they get that from, where you know, how can they hear with such clarity or you know, they have perfect pitch and their parents can’t sing a note, can’t play a note and so I definitely know that, it is God given, but I have been singing since a little girl, I sing in the Sunshine Band and gotten into the youth choir, sang in a couple of groups and then Sunday best just kind of showed up and

I Ascend: What has the process of becoming on this journey been like for you?

Crystal: The process of becoming an evolved woman of God, the process of becoming, you know, people can say, what, the National Recording Artist, the process of becoming Crystal is, at the age of 47, here in 2022, that process has been extremely interesting. It has been some highs, there have been some lows along the way, of course, losing the father who has been extremely instrumental in 2002 in my life. I am so grateful that, I was raised by two amazing parents and it didn’t mean that, we didn’t have ups and downs or that I didn’t have to be disciplined and walked along the way to get to where I am. But they definitely put some amazing principles within me and I’m so grateful. And I tell people that, even I had a loss of my father, I was so grateful that, for me, that God, in his passing, I was an adult. And so I got the opportunity, that he raised me and deposited so much into me that, hopefully, I am making him proud in his absence. Um, so my mom is amazing and so I was just with her this weekend, so I can say that, they’ve done an amazing job, I pray I’m still making them proud.

So I think, the process for me, it’s been ups and downs, the loss will cause and I tell people that for me, it actually pushed inspiration or, forced me to be motivated, if that makes sense. You know how, you’re laying back in the cup, because your parents are there, they’re gonna take care of you and then all of a sudden, the parent passes away, and then it kind of pushes you, it awakens something in you that was dormant and lying dormant. And so for me, the journey has been an uphill journey and I’ve been appreciating that and I’ve been in church, all of my life, I’m a registered nurse by trade. And so people know that when Sunday Best came upon in my scene, I was working in the ER, walking the floors of the hospital and then, Sunday Best came and I remember my father telling me, hey, listen, I need you to put 100% into your career, you know, your education, your career and this was prior to me starting nursing school and, you know, I was singing around, doing all of this and my dad was just not necessarily filling out, he felt like I was kind of waffling a little bit in who I needed to be, it wasn’t necessarily set. And so really, when he passed, it shook me, and I got it together. So it started nursing school, and I became a nurse, after he passed away, so he didn’t get to see me be a nurse. And so, but, I did what he said, I honed in on my craft and then Sunday Best came in and my career took off, and his words actually laid a prophetic foundation for my life.

I tell people, even though I’m almost 50, I told my mom, girl, you have an almost 50-year-old out of hand, what you gonna do what she said, Oh my God. And so, what I tell people, that the Bible is very true when it says to honor your parents, and I know we tend to, you know, we’re gonna do we want to do, but there’s something in honoring them, not only your days goin’ be long, but also, that there comes a point where you look back and you appreciate, you just appreciate things that they told you to do. And you’re able to basically, I want to do that, but I am so grateful for what they’ve taught me and so I obeyed my parents in my 30s, right, so, my late 20s, my early 30s. So it came later in life where I did another obedience, you know, as they say, follow through and God really allowed my dad’s words to come to flourishing. And then all of a sudden, I became a gospel, a name, a household name for people and so, I am so grateful that, that has run through. So the process of becoming is still evolving, right, because a vision upon vision is occurring, what my dad saw for my life has manifested and what I’m seeing for my life, I became a nurse, I’m a worship pastor. I’m also naturally, you know, singing and around the world. And so that process is still becoming, because I am really gifted in mission and called to inspire people’s lives to get better and that is for health and fitness but definitely for spiritual and emotional health, wellness and development. So I pray that I’m doing that for others.

I Ascend: What has been some of the hardships that you have faced in ascending to where you are currently?

Crystal: I would say for Crystal, some of the hardships have actually been within church and necessarily within family, I have worked in the church for a while and this may not be everybody’s testimony, but for some of us who have been doing church, working in church, impacted by leadership and or the community of church at a whole, that it can be, you know, we put our hope and our trust in God but we also do have some expectations in man, hoping that they’ll be what they need to be and so, sometimes along that journey, especially with the absence of my father, I found myself looking for things in man to kind of be the sharpener, or to deposit or to invest and so sometimes that’s been hard along the journey for me and it’s been disappointing. So I’m grateful to a friend of mine, a pastor friend of mine, Nat, he says, Crystal, listen, I want you to stop looking for it in leadership, and trust that, and I gotta be honest, I had to grieve expectation, the Bible says, Hope deferred maketh the heart sick and so what happens is when you’re hoping for much, in Proverbs, and it doesn’t seem like it’s making, it’s to fruition, or planting and so you’re just getting miserable, and you’re getting depressed, you’re having anguish, but once hope is found and the plan of life and so, I had to grieve what I was expecting, and letting God actually fill that gap. And so, there been some, of course, I’ve had losses, I just lost my best friend. Last year, we moved her to rest, and she was doing my booking and she was the person I talked to every day and so, I lost a cheerleader and a challenger again, all in one moment. And it wasn’t COVID, it was the Battle of cancer that took her and so but to be able to watch how she lived in her last days is definitely been inspiring to many that know her and as well to myself, an honor to be able to watch her and care for her as a nurse in her last days. It definitely sparked the mission and vision for who I am again, so not just spiritual, seeing people inspired spiritually, but also healthcare, because that’s a call for me as well. So, but the journey has been that, it’s been ups and downs and I can say in this season, right now, I am looking at myself in the mirror and questioning and COVID probably did this for many people, adjust their relationship with the Lord. And not only that, am I not only reading His word, am I applying his word, transporting in me, so that I can be the best of Crystal Aikin for the world.

And so you know, the Bible, in Proverbs, I was reading it and the Bible says this, that faith will actually show you the true character in the heart of man. And so I pray that although the expansion and the exposure has exposed, that what my parents put in me, and that I haven’t changed, as far as you know, becoming arrogant, for that I truly I’m still walking in humility, right now, the journey has caused me to stand me up in a place looking in the mirror, looking at myself, especially as we share and we inspire, we preach the word, so easy to preach the word to somebody and say, you need to do that, you need to grow, you need to get better, rather than letting the word first transform us and then we become. So that’s where the journey is, it’s been ups, it’s been downs, I can say that, I’m on a high trajectory, I’m excited, I’m growing and I’m not at my end. And let me be clear, even though my knees may ache every now and then, as I get I’m still moving, full time

I Ascend: Who served as your cushion and support team during these hard times?

Crystal: It has been a group of friends that I talk to pretty much daily and at least weekly, and of course, my mom was a part of that major support group. And I would hate to start calling names and you know, they know who they are, I have got Joy and Hannah and Mark and April, they know and they have definitely been triumph bent and challenging me in these moments, they’ve been there in the loss of my best friend, but they stepped in, to be strength along my challenges and transitions within the last couple of years. And so, I’m definitely grateful to them and my mother, she’s that girl, she’s amazing and so I told her I love her and so, I’m truly blessed to have great support and a great team around me.

I Ascend: What have these experiences taught you, the high and low, if any?

Crystal: I would say, taught me a couple of things. One thing is that I’m stronger than I think, I’m stronger than I believed right? The joy of the Lord is definitely my strength. I’ve learned that the sufferings of this present world they’re just not worthy, to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed. And the Bible also says that, many of the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers us from them all and I felt pain has come my way, disappointment has come my way, sometimes a lack of motivation, or even doubt has come my way. There have been moments actually a fear, you know, I was telling someone when the insurrection occurred, and I was sitting at home, I felt arrested a little bit with anxiety and fear, you know, racial tension, my neighborhood, you know, white people and so I myself, no husband, no spouse, to protect, can I walk outside, am I safe? And so, it’s been several things that have come my way but I will say that I found that, the joy of the Lord is truly my strength. As I study the word even more and as I live even more, that studying him and learning him and through experience, that becomes my strength. Bible says this, you will see that if you cannot face adversity, you will fail, if you don’t have the strength of the Lord, right and the strength of the knowledge and knowing him and knowing His Word. And so I pray that I’m going through adversity well, and that I’m not falling based upon knowing His Word that it’s renewing my mind. So I know that I’m stronger than I thought and I am able to get through transition and situations.

Another thing I will say this, is that I had to take them over, when I moved to the Alabama from Dallas, and the Lord took me through a devotion of forgiveness and anger. And you know, an anger doesn’t mean that you’re out, cussing and fussing people out you are holding in a bitterness within you that has contempt for people, it just, you mumble behind their back or you murmur or somebody brings their name up, and there’s just something in you, that kind of rumbles, but you may not say it in their presence, you feel it. And so, God took me through devotion of the anger that I was holding in me, to even not say what I should have said, or that someone mistreated me or even to address maybe, where I aired as well. And so I had to forgive and I pray that the opportunities come my way, that I get an opportunity to speak to people, that maybe I have offended, that they forgive me. And so, but God took me through that devotion, and the anger that released, the tears that I said, well, God, I thank You for this moment of healing. And so, in this, I’ve learned, in the highs and the lows I’ve learned that I’m strong, I’ve learned that, you have to deal with your heart issues, you will not be healthy if you do not deal with them and so I am walking as a healthier believer today, I am a strong believer today. And then, my third thing is becoming whole and whole is that it’s not just being so spiritually minded that you’re no earthly good, right. And so, I think we had you know, pandemic kind of awakened us to this religious behavior, but not tapping into maybe exercising and walking and eating healthy and you know, it’s good to read the word. The Bible says yes, exercise profits a little bit, there is profit. And so right now, I’m in a season of getting fit, getting healthy, as well as my mind, not only my body, my spirit and my emotions, so I’m stronger now, I know that I’m strong, and also that I’m healthy.

And then the last thing is, living a balanced and a holistic life and that’s how I want to minister. I want people to see holistic living, I was just talking to some other ministers, we were saying, that, some of the people that raised us, they probably died before the time, diabetes, heartbreaks, they didn’t have to, they were doing church, church, church church, weren’t eating healthy and weren’t attending to their body and all of that, and thinking that sickness is the doom or what’s supposed to happen as we age and it just doesn’t have to be right. And so I really would hope that, when people see me, that they see a holistic Minister, not just one that speaks again, but that lives the thing, and you see it in my natural man, as well as in my spiritual man.

I Ascend: How do you juggle your home lifetime with pursuing your craft?

Crystal: Well, my home lifetime is, you know, I tried to, I would say this. So how do I have fun as well as like playing on the road, I would like to get to bed. So I looked at my life, and I’ve traveled a lot of places, but I haven’t vacation. and I’ll say that, again, I’ve traveled a lot of places, but I haven’t vacation. So I’m making it a point this year to vacation, making it a point this year, to take some mental breaks, as well as just traveling to ministry locations. And so that’s a part of the balance of taking care of home, and taking care of my personal life, which is taking time for Crystal Akin, Crystal while I’m doing the business of Crystal Aikin right, and so that is what I’m doing now. And so you know, because the lack of Crystal Akin can keep me busy, I’m doing church, I’m working, I’m encouraging people, you know, doing nursing and health care somebody. And then on this side, I need to take vacation, I need to take a moment to pull away, tap out and say, so this is my weekend, I’m gone guys, my week, I’m gone. Don’t call, figure it out, I get you know, and move forward so that I can actually take mental breaks and help it. So, that is how we sustain people, you know, we have not seen a lot of healthy. I have talked to pastors in this season, especially with the pandemic, who didn’t take for granted what the season of the pandemic did for them as well. It gave them moments to take a break, be with their families, reinvest in some of their own visions and crafts and skill sets, they had kind of put to the side because all they were doing was pastoring, they were able to breathe. And so, I think we are re-engaging them, right, we are re-emerging back into churches, getting back to that normal, see again of regularity of church attendance, but walking with a new mentality that we still have to take time for ourselves, so I am taking vacations along with working.

I Ascend: Excellent, excellent. Congratulations on ascending and standing in your truth and pursuing your destiny. That’s something we want to always say to everyone we interview because it takes courage, it takes commitment to do and continue to press towards the mark of the high calling Christ Jesus. You know, and even though everyone may not see it from that perspective, because they have not yet found Christ, we hope that they do. But it is definitely something that is not an easy journey in this life to continue, to pursue something especially when you may not have the support team or the team that is necessary to get to the next place. So my next question for you is, what do you want people to remember most about you?

Crystal Aikin: I want them to remember my smile. Like oh, she was sad but I really want people, when I leave, when my time is done serving, working around, not here on this earth as well, I definitely hope that people will remember, yes, the smile, the hugs that are given, the smiles that are given, the words of encouragement that are given, the laughter that I shared with them. I hope that people will remember my effervescent spirit, but that they will also I remember the biggest thing about that, I’ve tried to maintain a genuine and genuineness about who Crystal is and then, I try to walk in authenticity. And I pray that people will remember that, through my touch, through the impact, whether it’s in my voice, whether it’s has been a personal actual meet and greet, friends, family, fans, I pray that they walk away with the spirit of authenticity. Of course, the Spirit of God brings that, but also just who Crystal has been, with the smile, the joy, the laughter, and I met a young lady, and she was smiling. I said, Oh, my God, is that what I look like, because people say, you smile, and you it can happen, you can really be a person that just wakes up and you just love, grateful for the day, and just smiling and you want to bring people joy. So I pray people will remember my effervescent nature, but that they will remember that I’ve touched them with inspiration and complete and being genuine. I pray that they’ll remember that with authenticity.

I Ascend: Awesome. What word of advice would you give to our readers, to have them, continue to ascend in pursuit of their dream, no matter where they are currently?

Crystal: I would inspire people who are getting this information and hearing me, is, again, is the biggest thing I’ve always said is to really walk into your originality and your authenticity. You know, I used to say this, there’s already one Kirk Franklin out there, he’s amazing, he’s dominating the airwaves, there’s already a there’s already a Miranda or Karen Clark, but we’re looking for you, so you have to be able to blaze your own trail and walk your own steps in this industry. And everybody’s steps are going to look different, mine started from Washington, and I sang on many stages there and then all of a sudden, the platform of Sunday Best, that may not be your road, somebody’s road may be a little different and so the best thing to do, is walk in authenticity.

And at this point, before you become a name, have your team, have the people around you that support you, don’t challenge and share your life. Because when you become a name, oftentimes, the motivation for why people get in your life changes but the people that knew you before you became the name, they’re there just to see you go and they don’t have an ulterior motive to join your team. And so, it definitely is to have a team, walk in your original authenticity and the gift that you’ve been created and not try to duplicate or beat somebody else and so that’s the two biggest things.

And then, the last thing I always say, but it’s really the first and foremost is, you have to stay connected to the Creator, to God and know exactly, and I know we say those things, Dr. Maynard, as if they are trivial and as if they you know, you got to pray, you need to read your word. Let me say this, as a person that prays and as a person that really does read their word, is that, it is more than a motion to carry a book and to tow it and not read it. The Bible says that, in it, you know that, you have life and we are living this life to ultimately gain the biggest reward and that is to see our Savior, Christ in peace, once we live this earth and so, I pray that you read it. And when you read it, you get joy and become inspired by the word of God, you gain confidence in the Word of God and then you can walk with the joy of the Lord, through the word of God. It is an amazing, it is the book for life, the book for living and so, I pray that people draw closer to Him. And then as they do that, they’ll find originality and nobody’s given you, listen, love your style of singing, love your style of preaching, love your style of writing and love your style and at the end, the vision He’s given you, may be different than someone that’s mentoring you, that may be different than your mentee, but that is unique and designed the best apart for you. And listen, if it’s not fun, maybe it’s not for you. So this journey is to be fun, it’s fit for fun, our journey is for fun, and not for fatigue, alright? So makes sure, you enjoy the journey as well and find those pockets for that. So again, stay original, have your team and at best, first and foremost, stay tapped into the most High

I Ascend: Awesome. Again, please share, some of the projects that you’re currently working on, whatever you have going on at this time, and then let us know how we can continue to follow you and stay abreast of the things that you’re doing.

Crystal: Awesome. So currently, I am in the process of writing my own book and getting that published, so I’m excited, really excited about that. I am currently serving the church, one that’s in Dallas and looking at doing another, I’m actually just, with the way pandemic is going, I have always been a nurse, I’ve always kept my licenses up, but I am just become recertified so that I can save a life, not just have the knowledge, right? So I’m looking at, we’re putting in a business plan, because I really have always desired to open a hospice facility and take care of people at the end of life, quality of care, giving them good quality of care as they’re getting out here, so that’s the second thing I know. I enjoy church work, but I really enjoy health care, as well.

So that’s that and so the way that you can reach me out, on IG is therealcrystalaikin, there is thee_crystalaikin, that’s not me, so if you see it, that’s fine. Go to therealcrystalaikin, that’s me, thee, it’s not me but I’m the. And then @Crystal Aikin, Facebook, it’s my name, and you’ll see me, there. So we’re looking this year, just had He can handle it, as a single that came out last year. We did a recording in 20 and towards the pandemic, I did a concert in Nashville and so, one of the singles that came out was, He can handle, we did that last year. It’s a great song to remind people that, He can, and He will handle it for you and He’s the greatest power. And then this year, I am, right now, me and Maurice, who does my booking, we are searching for producers to help with Crystal Aikin just not only finding the sound, but what’s going to be the best mix and relationship and skill set and all of that, so that we can put a dynamic album out so I’m ready. I’m in the throes of finding a team for writing music and so we are excited. I know people said we need new music, I’m doing this and it’s coming. And so I’m really excited about that. So thanks Dr. Maynard for just the opportunity to answer questions in for this way. So thank you again, and to all the listeners and fans and for those that support still pray for me, love you very much