{four favorites}

It's the weekend. And since my old "four favorites" hasn't made an appearance in a while, I decided - we're due. You know, tonight I witnessed the most incredible thunder and lightning show outside my house. Incredible to see our powerful God in creation. I looked up at the velvet black sky dotted with sparkling starlight and marveled, recalling to mind a worship song lyric: "You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name. You are amazing, God." Darling, if you are feeling discouraged today remember this - the One who directs the stars and planets, the One who orchestrates the thunder and lightning - He loves you. And He can do anything. {insert "wow"} Wherever you are today - think about that.

I'm thankful today for Jesus who loves me and you. This alone is enough to stir gratefulness and contentment in one's soul. Yet, He also chooses to shower upon our lives many a blessing. Those precious things we take for granted.

I am thankful today for 4 favorite little blessings....

one // fried pickles.
Didn't expect that one, did ya? But man, I don't know how I made it through 20+ years of life without ever tasting these little gems. (BTW, my fabulously funny friend has a blog called "Girls Love Fried Pickles" - how awesome is that?) I tried one for the first time recently and fell head over heels in love with fried pickles. What's next? Grits and okra. I'm a Cali girl, so you Southern sistahs - send me your recipes pleeeease and thank you... and bless your heart (don't you guys - sorry, y'all - say that down there?)

two // celebrating my grandma's birthday.
It's a yearly tradition (obvs) - my family spends my grandma's birthday doing something special. This year, we spent it beach-side in LA drinking cappuccinos and eating fancy cupcakes. It was fab. Like her.

three // favorite blog posts.
I love this blog world we live in. I love my sisters - scattered all across this blessed world - and I love reading their beautiful hearts and lives on their little corners of the Internet. I'm going to start sharing with you my reader, each week, a few of my favorite reads from the week. Starting now:

1} Rae, my precious-beyond-words soul sister in New York wrote beautiful words on How To Spend Your Weekend.

2} My dear friend Nicole wrote a wise post on Praying for Your Boyfriend. Single, dating, or married - I think her wisdom is applicable to us all.

3} Beka, my sweet friend, wrote about love & how she knew her hubby was "the one" - amazing.

four // craftastic art.
Yesterday, I pulled a couple tubes of paint out of my craft box and took brushes to canvas, creating a wall hanging in my new favorite print, chevron (I know, totally cliche but I don't care.) I've decided to make it into a prayer board. What's a prayer board, you ask? I'm going to share in a later post. But it is so helpful in being faithful to pray for others when we say we will. Excited to share soon.