Why Leanna Crawford Is Thankful for Every No God Ever Gave Her

July 07, 2026
00:00 18:59
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Leanna Crawford writes songs the way other people write journal entries — because she needs them first. Her sophomore album Thank God, releasing July 26, is the most personal thing she has made, built around gratitude for unanswered prayers, the freedom that comes from forgiveness, and the simple conviction that sitting at the feet of Jesus is better than any to-do list she could ever complete. She did not plan for it to be called Thank God. The songs told her that was the name.

Comparison, forgiveness, and what it means to trust God with the nos: Leanna shares the story behind Living Room Floor, inspired by Mary and Martha and her lifelong struggle to simply sit with Jesus instead of earning her way into His presence, and Ask Him Again, born from a week of vulnerability in a writing room when a co-writer showed her a daily reminder on her phone that said exactly what Leanna needed to hear. She also opens up about Revenge, a song she wrote after realizing she was holding unforgiveness in her heart for someone who probably did not even know it, and Her, the Proverbs-inspired anthem for young women she has been wanting to write for years that asks whether two girls can both be fully okay with the gifts God gave them.

Highlights

  • Why she did not plan to call the album Thank God and how the songs themselves decided the title
  • Living Room Floor, the Mary and Martha song she wrote because she is a Martha who desperately wants to be a Mary
  • Ask Him Again, the song born from a co-writer's daily phone reminder and Leanna's own season of unanswered prayer
  • How she cried to the demo of Ask Him Again over and over before the album was even finished
  • Revenge, the song about forgiveness she wrote after a phone conversation with a friend helped her realize she was still holding bitterness
  • Her, the comparison song for young women that she has wanted to write for years and has already made audiences cry before its release
  • The season when songwriting became impossible for her and how Still Waters was her first step back to loving it again
  • Indiana football, her husband Cody, and the Cinderella national championship run the whole country ended up cheering for

Resources / Links / CTA

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Meet Your Host
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and culture for more than two decades. His stories have appeared in the Knoxville News Sentinel, Christianity Today, Toronto Star and Baptist Press.

Michael enjoys popcorn, college football, history, hiking, growing tomatoes, and watching his children play sports. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, husband to his amazing wife, Julie, and the father of four super kids.
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