Thankful Thursday #230

"Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that His kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?" ~Romans 2:4

Today, I am thankful for...

1. Dr. Burkhart's encouragement, and his willingness to meet with me regularly, and him preparing and bringing several great book recommendations... all of which I fully intend to read, so yay!!

2.  Walk-breaks at work... I'm grateful to be at a job where that is allowed and modeled, and in a cooler fall season where it's becoming more enjoyable again!

3.  Good connections with clients lately... seeing them grow feels exciting, and I love being in a role that strengthens and encourages that!  Krystal had me lead our supervision group this week to practice Written Exposure Therapy, which I'm excited to try with clients moving forward!

4.  The arrival of September and cooler weather and a school break week all = lovely de-stressors for me! 

5.  This reminder.  I haven't been in the best headspace over the past month, but I prayed through a lot of shame last night.  Even as a "trained therapist" who is supposed to know all the best tools for this kind of stuff, I need God's help soooo continually with renewing my mindset and the way I see myself!  ...Fortunately, He is willing and ready to help us whenever we call on Him. ❤

6.  This #cakefail memory from Rachel's 30th birthday, which is honestly even funnier to me now that I understand what we were actually missing.  Perhaps God was behind the earl-grey-cake-with-lavender-icing mishap, because I wasn't about to try the Laurannae bakery based on that, and it's probably for the best that I didn't know about their exceptional brides cake when I lived closer to it! lol

7.  One year ago, I was seeking healing in therapy after a major shift I did not see coming.  That was a turning point where I held on to my own strength in a new way, recognizing bad patterns, carefully approaching important conversations, praying for wisdom and clarity, and allowing a relationship to be broken/remixed without it breaking me (not internalizing negative messages or personalizing the loss).  So today, I am grateful for personal growth, for all the "keep going" memes, and for T-Swift's reminder that we can "come back stronger than a '90s trend!" ;-)

Bonus:  I am thankful for The Gilded Age, which I'm currently binge-watching during this short school break!  Loving the Russell fam... "Defeat is not your color."  So good, and pretty perfect timing to get me even more excited about visiting NYC next weekend!! 

❤ ❤ ❤

Protego Maxima

Hello, and hope you're having a great weekend!  What a gift to have the day off work tomorrow and to have the coming week off from school - our last break week until Thanksgiving!

Saved this one because I can feel myself asking a lot of "what if" questions lately, and it was a timely reminder to push into a faith mindset!!  "Even if (insert worst case scenario here), God is still good and faithful, and I will still love and serve Him."

The Harry Potter marathon continues at Warren Theaters - I caught my top favorite movie last week (Order of the Phoenix), and the very close second late yesterday (Deathly Hallows, Part 2).  I was thrilled to be there clapping with everyone at the defeat of Voldemort just after midnight last night. lol  Every time I see this movie, I ADORE this scene (among many others).  I often picture this one when I am praying for God's protection in some area where I feel real fear or know the enemy is attacking - it's a fantastic visual for our role in praying for and applying God's protection.  Voldemort is readying his army to attack, so they mobilize the guardians of Hogwarts to defend it (us praying for angelic protection), then the professors and parents surround the school and individually use "Protego Maxima," the advanced Shield Charm for maximum protection, creating a large-scale defensive barrier/invisible bubble that surrounds the school and keeps their enemy out.  They acknowledge that they cannot hold him off forever, but initially, the shots of Voldemort and co. bounce off of the barrier they set and give everyone more time to prepare for battle.  It's SO. GOOD.

In other TV and movie-related news, I've started The Gilded Age on HBO Max.  Julian Fellowes is at it again with this show about New York in the late 1800s, and I'm here for it!  I love seeing the characters at landmarks that are actually familiar to me, like the Bethesda Fountain at Central Park.  And this caught my attention and led to a Google search, and it's real.  For a while, the arm and torch of the statue of liberty were displayed in NYC as they raised money to build the pedestal. lol

I know the green is iconic now, but this made me wish I could see the original true copper-colored version of the Statue of Liberty.  But alas, no color photographs of it exist (only colorized versions like the one below).  Personally, I would prefer that to the green, but no one asked me. lol

Fun news: Breese Campbell, my fav local-ish baker on Instagram -- (and no, I don't really know her in person, but she's Ashley's daughter, so I know she's awesome) -- she is now an employee of Laurannae, my newly-discovered favorite bakery!!

This Broken Arrow gem has THE. BEST. CUPCAKES. around.  Having sampled their top 7 flavors (Strawberries & Cream, Snickerdoodle, Brown Butter Vanilla, Blackout Chocolate, Bride's Cake, Cookie Dough, and Cookies & Cream), I can decidedly vouch for them all being delicious!!  (Mom, Dad, and Rach agree.) ❤  They do a fun sprinkle-infused icing with a colorful drip cake decor, so we wish we had known about this place before Kyndal's bday, buuut there's always next year! =)

Mom's home is already filling up with Christmas decor - seeing this red made me happy.  I'm just a fan of red in general, and this candy cane combo is classic Christmas cuteness and cheer!!

Love this reminder.  I tried exceptionally hard to regulate my emotions in certain friendships, but that won't solve things when the relationship itself is out of alignment with what we know to be right and healthy.  I've felt out of sync in certain areas lately, and I don't want to minimize that or just focus on trying to stay calm/regulated.  So my September focus will be pursuing mind, body, soul, and spirit alignment!

Happy last day of August, friends and fam.  Overall, it's been a good month!

Hope you enjoy your Labor Day break tomorrow,
and I hope September will be our best month of 2025 so far!

❤ ❤ ❤

Phoning It In #27

Pure-Bread Corgis. lol  Somewhere between T-Swift's coded sourdough talk (Super Bowl 60 Half-Time!?) and my consistent love of cute Corgi puppies, this is the kind of nonsense FB has decided to show me, and I'm totally here for it. lol

I wish I were making this per session! lol  No, but really, I'm doing better with counseling lately, and I'm more concerned with getting direct hours than making a living in that field right now.  It's become clear to me that this candidacy season is the most difficult part of the journey for all therapists, so that really helps normalize it!  I feel calmer about the whole timeline at this point, more okay with getting hours on the side rather than full-time, confident that the LPC path is part of my journey to being a CCU professor and maybe a Supervisor down the road... so I'm willing to stay the course whilst keeping my CR job with good pay and benefits!

Lynette and Harry accidentally matching last week. lol  They're cute and fun.  She was the first person to really befriend me at Evergreen, then I was in their Sunday School class for a while, and I'm grateful for that!

Jeffrey's 3rd trip to Vegas inspired a group text about the Glamour Shots spot... which he reminded me is at The Venetian Grand Canal Shoppes! 
P.S.  I miss Vegas.  We need to make that trip happen, Kristin!

Speaking of Kristin, here's a lovely pic of her fam in this new school season! ❤

Laughed out loud at this one... but also kinda loved the idea of  "A good mom" being the main thing I'm remembered for! =)

Watched this gem on Tubi last weekend... still so much fun!!
"Brrr, it's cold in here!!  There must be some Clovers in the atmosphere!"

I'm in a group text with my CCU roomies, two of whom have college daughters at the University of Arkansas.  There were multiple reports of active shooters on that campus, and for 2-3 hours on Monday afternoon, we were all praying for them and getting chaotic text updates as they tried to confirm that their daughters were safe, hearing varied news reports and updates.  Eventually, they learned it was a false report - thank God.  Mom said those have been happening a lot lately, and it causes real panic and trauma for a lot of students and their families, and I hate everything about that!  Since then, there has been another very real school shooting, followed by more social media debates about gun laws and the criminal mindset...  There's a lot of brokenness in the world, and sometimes I feel that very deeply.  Praying for God to empower wise leaders who will inspire a resurgence of character and integrity - and for myself and other believers in the church to be genuinely repentant and prayerful, because that is the actual key to God healing our nation (2 Chron. 7:14).  It's up to us - and our choices matter to God and others.

Yes to this.

Hoping to finish my homework early so I can go see Deathly Hallows in theaters this weekend. lol

Love this!  The best illustration I've found for this concept - Scriptural truth and scientific evidence are never in conflict; the only conflict arises through human error and misinterpretation.  (Reason #707 that I'm grateful to be at CCU, where this article about integrating Christianity was part of our first discussion post in my statistics class!)

Speaking of CCU, I think the leadership class has permanently upgraded my mental programming. Unlike math or other subjects I learn for the exam then quickly forget, this really matters to me, and it has updated the way I process life.  I mentioned that I'm watching a documentary on the 1990s Dallas Cowboys.   Not sure if I'll finish it, as there is really no one to root for.  It's a lot of big egos, bravado, and mindless partying... and the broken relationships, broken laws, and other consequences that come along with that.  They made a lot of money and won a few Super Bowls, but with a near-complete lack of integrity, wisdom, and accountability across the board.  It's more of a lesson in how *not* to lead and manage a team.  So I'll stick with Ted Lasso!

Cute. =)

Aunt Lindsey and Parker E. random fun collage from Google Photos! =)

Anxiety is not my major struggle, but I like the idea that my job as a counselor is to help clients shift their perspective and see their strengths more clearly.

I had two sessions after work yesterday, then I was up late with homework, but I got it done and submitted on time.  It's another very rainy morning here in Cleveland County.  I spent part of it on the phone with US Bank cancelling my SF card due to another fraudulent charge issue... ugh!  In spite of that, I'm grateful to be feeling more on top of things in most areas of life, and I'm confident/hopeful this will be a good day ahead! ❤

I love you and believe in you, and I hope you focus on your God-given resilience
and ability to grow more than your weaknesses today!

❤ ❤ ❤

NEW NEWS!!

Happy T-Swift Engagement Day!! ❤

I was so happy to open Instagram and see this during my lunch hour!

Hooray for Travis Michael Kelce and Taylor Alison Swift!!
87 + 13 = 100 ❤

I texted several people, including my Supervisor, who I learned was a Swiftie because she'd set a timer and stopped our group meeting last Monday to check Taylor's website and see what the countdown was leading to. lol

Jason is a funny one!  I finally listened to their whole podcast last week and thoroughly enjoyed it - (hence this post title - that's a regular segment on the New Heights podcast)!  I'm glad the whole Kelce fam seems to love and celebrate her!  (Also, please note the 777 comments at the time of my screenshot - random but fun!)

Sometimes I look at other Swifties and think I'm not really that big a fan, but then I spend 9 hours in theaters watching the Eras movie the week it comes out. lol  I really didn't love TTPD era, but they said her new album is "much more upbeat" aligned with her current season of life, so I expect to enjoy that, and I will gladly spend my lunch hour celebrating her exciting personal news! lol  So yeah, still in the #Swiftie club, and I'm ridiculously happy for them. ❤

Tiffany was on the list of Swifties I had to celebrate with! lol

I'm quickly reminded online that there will always be unhappy people who feel the need to reduce, minimize, and belittle people who are thriving. #villainmode #letthem  I hope their bitterness does minimal damage and that they eventually make better choices, and I hope to rise above that attitude in my own life and in my reactions to the good fortune of others. #celebrategoodnesseverywhere #personalcommandment5  I like that they are both fun-loving, kindhearted, well-rounded, highly successful people who are secure and okay with or without each other, but happier together!  She said Travis is a whole vibe, like a human exclamation point or "enhance color" button.  I love that!

GACC jumping in on the marketing train. lol

In other news, this perfectly sums up something I have struggled to articulate.  The need to teach my mind that growth is safe - that it's okay to struggle as you're learning new things, that it's good and right to push yourself and keep moving forward!  I'm working on that. ❤

This morning also included my second one-on-one Zoom meeting with Dr. Burkhart.  It went well, and I so deeply appreciate and value his insight!  I've wanted more of an ongoing mentor-style relationship there, and today, he sent me a reusable calendar link to set up future meetings whenever he has available time.  I promised not to overuse it, and he responded saying, "I truly enjoy investing in the people I see great potential in." which totally made my day, even before hearing T-Swift's big news!! =)

(MAC Res 3, July 2024)

Happy 9th Anniversary to Steve and Sarah today!

I'm catching up on things at work, and tonight is family dinner.

All in all, it's been a peaceful and joyful 8-26, a former grief anniversary that feels redemptive now.

❤ ❤ ❤

Diving Deeper

"Faith is predicated on trust, not understanding. You will never trust or obey a God that you don't think is FOR YOU.  Not ultimately.  Why would you maintain a Christian sexual ethic if you didn't believe God was good and He was for you?  Legalism never kept anyone in anything."  ~Christine Caine (this week's podcast)

Timely and true.  I am most susceptible to compromise or seeking comfort in the wrong places when I start to doubt God's heart toward me (our spiritual enemy's continual marketing campaign).  Does God care enough to come through, or am I basically alone and grasping to build something great on my own?

When our view of God is off, our obedience won't have deep roots.  And I think my view of His goodness has been too tied to my specific life plan(s).  It's good to set big goals and pursue them, but I have to acknowledge God's sovereign authority and trust His love and wisdom.

Ugh, it feels more complicated than it should.  The verse that helps me most right now is Hebrews 11:6: "It is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him."

I cannot bank my hopes on any specific answered prayer.  And I cannot be petty and frustrated with God when life doesn't pan out according to my dreams or my timeline.  (Easier to write than live out - it's been messy lately, but I want to honor God as I move forward.)

God is real, and He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.

We don't know exactly how or when the reward is coming.  But we can trust that He sees the things no one else does, and He. values. our. faithfulness.  That's the part I need to internalize more deeply.  Heart-level repentance and pursuing integrity, purity, obedience, and a clean conscience with a desire to honor God because we love Him... that doesn't go unnoticed or undervalued, and God is not indifferent or blasé about it.  God is trustworthy, and His heart is invested in this relationship.  So it's good and right for me to put my whole heart (mind, body, soul, and strength) into it, too - He will not waste my time or energy, even if the outcome is not what I have prayed for!

Every day, in a hundred little ways, He sets before us the choice between life and death.  Will we align ourselves with Jesus (being transformed) or conform to the surrounding culture?  Will we push our own agenda or trust God's character enough to surrender to His?  Will we choose the path of life in our thoughts, words, actions, and relationships?

God is good, and He is for you.
Be still today, and know that He exists.
And He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
❤ ❤ ❤

Prepared for Magic

Happy Sunday, friends and fam. ❤  

In spite of the disappointing medical delay, having this break week between CCU semesters has been really nice!  I am 100% caught up on my progress notes and treatment plans for the first time since I joined ITS.  Yay!  I scoped and filed 2 transcripts, started a new show about the 1990s Dallas Cowboys, took advantage of the extra writing time, and enjoyed a couple days off from the courthouse!  This weekend included a great convo with Katie and Jennifer at Lifegroup, a 7-mile walk/jog to officially kick off my 3 months of training for the Route 66 Relay, a relaxing bath, and watching my favorite HP movie at Warren Theater tonight!!

As per usual, the book is better and far more detailed, but the final battle scene in this movie is THE. BEST. depiction of spiritual warfare I've ever seen.  Truly, I adore it.  And I love everything about Harry leading the Dumbledore's Army group - I could easily work that into my presentation on heroes and guides and leadership.  Also love when Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore pops in as a surprise witness for the defense at Harry's trial (pictured) - yes, please.  When they bring movies like this back, it delights me that the 4Dx theater is packed out with true HP fans who are willing to pay good money to watch something they could've streamed for free...  We laugh at all the overt and subtle humor, cheer for APWBD, react with groans when Deloris Umbridge first appears, boo Lucius and Bellatrix, shake our heads at Cornelius Fudge, tear up for Sirius, and clap as if it's the first time we're seeing it when the movie ends.  All while enjoying our Butterbeer Icees topped with caramel and whipped cream - yum. =)  What a fantastic way to end the break!

And now, catching up on everything else...

"If you believe that nothing is working for you,
then you will notice all the signs
that nothing is working for you.
And if you believe things are moving in your favor,
then you will notice all the signs
that things are moving in your favor!"

~Jay Shetty

Dr. Mayfield and other CCU professors wrote a book for church leaders that releases this coming week! =)

Speaking of, I am signed up to co-author a chapter of a textbook written by CCU and Liberty University professors, so yay for adding that to the resume!

I'm seeing a lot of Jay Shetty on FB lately.  He talks about how praise and positive feedback from others are not enough to change how we feel about ourselves... he says the three keys to building real confidence are:

1)  Choosing discomfort
2)  Keeping promises to yourself

3)  Building competence 

In my experience, this holds true.  We have to choose to step into things that are hard and uncomfortable for us, to press through fear and honor our commitments, and to take action in order to become more competent and confident in anything new!  Then the positive feedback is just icing on the cake. ❤

Our current AppleTV+ users. =)

For real!

"Sometimes we cling to loyalty when liberation is needed... Sometimes, the most loyal thing you can do for your future is to stop being loyal to your past."  ~Jay Papasan (Full post HERE)

I totally feel this right now.

Lindsay and fam - I'm so rooting for them!

I'm determined to crack the code on resetting a new normal/ new identity that embraces healthy habits.

Breese Campbell's latest cake for their 3-year-old neighbor's bday. ❤

Feeling this.  Signed up for 6 months of WW starting tomorrow.

"Difficulty shrinks with action."  Absolutely!  A key phrase I want to remember for myself and my clients moving forward!

Hanging out with the Mini Miss K, 7 years back and today!

Tomorrow starts the Fall Semester that includes the very last math-based class I will ever have to take!!  I gave myself a legit break and didn't glance at the new courses this past week, so I'll be diving in full force tomorrow.  Quantitative Research and Qualitative Research will likely be less fun for me than the Leadership class, but I'll make the best of it.  We're moving into better weather and football season, which will lead straight into the holidays!  I've been in a self-indulgent stress-eating pattern with all the embryo adoption drama and disappointment, but I'm not staying there.  Frustration ignites the level-up, and I feel really good about tracking with WW and training to run the relay in November.

Wherever you find yourself today, I'm praying we embrace the daily grace and strength we need for the race God has marked out for us.

And that we believe with all our hearts the best is yet to come!

❤ ❤ ❤