Thursday Things #96

Good words, four book suggestions, two songs and a little nerdiness.

Welcome! Every other Thursday, I share a handful of things I'm loving, reading, watching, listening to or just discovered. In other words, what I'd text you about if I had your number or mention if we met up for coffee! I'm glad you're here. :)

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Hi friends,

You know what would have a 100% chance of coming up if we were actually meeting for coffee in the blessed indoors where there is AC?

The heat.

The blazing hot 100 degrees at 10am heat.

Hello, August. You’ve made yourself known.

ANYWAY. I’ll spare you the lament for now because we have legitimately three more months of this before Alabama begins to cool off, but dear Lord be a strong wind and may fall come quickly.

A distraction of non-burning-up things:

Through the wild of July…

Every slide of this post from Morgan Harper Nichols… (Click here or on the image below, then swipe to see the rest).

Let’s keep finding the flowers.

Well. Time for a new goal?

So, this happened last week.

Apparently I have read Some Things this year? Lol.

Last year y’all overwhelmingly voted yes to an end of year round-up of the books I gave 5 stars . . . if you’re interested, I’m happy to share again this year! (Thoughts? Do we care? Is that boring? Sooooo 2022? 😉) For now, since one of the top three most frequently asked questions in my DMs is about book suggestions, I thought I’d quickly mention four of my most recent reads in a variety of genres—hopefully there’s one here you’ll be intrigued by!

I’m unashamedly not a “you get 5 stars, and you get 5 stars, and we all get 5 stars!!!!!” person. Because is anything 5 stars if everything is 5 stars?

These, though, received 4s or 5s from me:

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan (historical fiction)

Go as a River by Shelley Read (novel)

A Confident Heart by Renee Swope (nonfiction)

One extra:

Educated by Tara Westover (memoir)

I’m breaking my own rule and recommending a book before I’ve read to the very end. I’ll finish it tonight and feel close enough to the last page to mention it here… 4 or 5 stars, I don’t know yet. But it won’t be below 4.

What’s your most recent 4 or 5 star read? What’s next on your TBR list? Any suggestions on what I should move to the top of mine? (I just picked up 4 books from the library today but after those, I’m not sure what will be next.)

As I joke to my in-person friends, “The people need to know… and I am the people.”

“Shine through the shadows.”

Over the last few months, these two songs have become a regular part of Sunday mornings at my church. We don’t sing them (one, or both) every single week, but at least once a month the first notes play and a smile spreads.

I hope they arrive like a fresh wind—or like you can deeply exhale, resting in the beauty and truth. Whichever you need this evening.

Tiqqun and tiqvah.

Live footage of me reacting to YOU reacting to tiqqun / tiqvah / the goodness promised in “the sea will be no more” —>

Thanks for nerding out with me. 🤓 🤯 😍

An excerpt from my new (in)courage article:

God, there’s no end in sight, in more ways than one, and I’m here again asking You to do what You’ve done before. From where I stand, there is literally no way. But if You parted the waters then, You could part the metaphorical ones now. Please, God. Please do. Please be exactly who You are. Make a way. Still the chaos. Push the waves back. Clear a path through the seemingly endless blue. You’re the only One who can and it looks straight-up impossible, like there’s no chance in the actual world. But You’ve done it before. Would You do it again?⁣

I could tell you that He did, that I woke the next day and everything had changed, but that would be a lie.⁣ From my vantage point, it’s all still blue, blue, blue waters swirling and stretching as far as the eye can see.⁣

But this morning, as I read Matthew 8, a smile began to tug at my lips as I remembered once again the lesson I learned in a college classroom.

Good News: One Day, the Sea Will Be No More

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Okay, the stack of library books is calling my name.

Don’t forget to leave your 📚 suggestions below! Also happily accepting any and all Surviving The Heat ideas and cold treats. ;)