Thanksgiving in the In-Between

Season 1 | Episode 5

What if gratitude didn't require pretending everything is fine? Rachel Walters explores the tension of giving thanks while still grieving, still longing, and still waiting for prayers that haven't been answered—and introduces the Christian framework of the already and not yet as a way to live honestly in the in-between.

Drawing from profound personal loss, a life-threatening illness, and years of infertility, Rachel shares how gratitude became complicated long before it became healing. Through Scripture, the concept of liminality, and her own slow shift from forced thankfulness to genuine gratitude, she shows how faith can hold complaint and thanksgiving, hope and sorrow, fullness and emptiness at the same time.

Rachel also offers practical ways to navigate difficult holidays: expanding your definition of gifts, setting boundaries around painful traditions and conversations, honoring empty chairs, and noticing grace without minimizing grief. Because you don't have to choose between gratitude and longing. You can give thanks for what is already here while still aching for what is not yet.