Thankful Thursday #128

"Oh come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord; let us shout triumphantly to the Rock of our salvation! Let us come before His presence with a song of thanksgiving."  ~Psalm 95:1-2

Today, I am thankful for:

1.  To be honest, I'm feeling a little down today... bored and unseen and unsure how to create meaningful change in and through my life.  BUT in the midst of that, I am thankful that God sees me at all times -- my voice and my heart and my story all matter to Him.  My individual needs, desires, passions, and opinions matter to Him.  I'm thankful that I have the ability to hear from Him, to pray and to obey as He leads me.  And I'm choosing to believe there will be new opportunities and unforeseen possibilities ahead as I keep doing the right things little by little and learning and growing and walking with Him!

2.  My niece and nephews and sister all getting a break from this stressful summer with a lovely beach vacation this week, and thankful for the kind CHA family who joined them and helped to make that possible! #somanykids

*Also thankful for Bill and Jill, who invited the kids to come swim at their fabulous new pool... and Jill took some new family photos for them beforehand!

Prayers are appreciated for their hearts as they're navigating some hard things and big life changes at young ages.

❤❤❤❤

3.  On a much lighter note, I'm thankful for finally baking this layer cake successfully for the weekend with Kate & co.  It's really tasty and probably worth the effort, but it's crazy how sticky it can be... you definitely have to use parchment circles to have a chance of these layers coming out in one piece!  (*It's becoming a favorite dessert, and it's this exact recipe and the linked recipe for frosting, using buttermilk instead of regular on the cake, and using about 1/2 or 2/3rds of the amount of cocoa they call for in both... yum!!)

4.  Rachael Denhollander's audiobook!!  I'm a little over halfway through right now, but it is truly exceptional and important.  She is a strong Christian from a solid family, and I'm hoping that means her story will resonate and change some things within the church. Her description of what victims of sexual abuse endure and how casually the church has treated that topic is poignant and powerful.  It will make you righteously angry and help you understand how to be a better advocate for justice and for protecting victims, even in casual conversations.  I'm sure this was not easy to write, but it's helpful to read the full story of her sexual abuse, the conversations with her family (who believed her) and others in authority (who didn't believe her), how deeply it affected her and made it hard to trust others in interactions that would typically seem innocent, how she and her husband met and how she found the courage to tell him about it all, how healthy masculinity protects and heals, how toxic theology blames female victims, how she wrestled with her faith, etc.  I've been really impressed with her since I watched her victim impact statement at the Larry Nassar trial HERE, and I recommend watching that and reading this book!! ❤  Also, it's fun that her name is spelled the same way as my sister's - that's a far more rare spelling for that name.

5.  The Fulton family and their adorable newborn pictures of baby Kate... I know Sarah was stressed about that, but they turned out great! ❤

6.  That I'm feeling a bit better now just by writing this little gratitude list - never a bad idea when you're in a mood. lol  Thankful that we have the ability to choose our thoughts, and that if we wholeheartedly love God and love ourselves and love others sincerely, then our life is serving a great purpose regardless of our job or relationship status or current circumstances!

7.  Good friends and summer birthdays and good food... this was the 13th time I've celebrated Chet's birthday with our friend group, and I'm grateful for all those memories and years of friendship!