A Thousand Gifts

Lately I have been reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It was a gift to me from a sweet Christian woman, who I am glad to call friend and mentor. If you haven't read this book, you really should look into it. It's a great read that will have you wanting to go back for more and you will want to pick up again and again from time to time. In this book, the author describes how we are to get by with the messiness of life and find true joy and peace in the Lord by counting our blessings, some of them perhaps in disguise. They can seem small to some, but these blessings are gifts from the Giver and helps us to realize that even in the so called mundane God can be seen. She started a practice of giving thanks by keeping a journal with 1,000 gifts such as laughter of her family around the dinner table. Even in the simple,small everyday things there is beauty....there is God.

I, myself, have started keeping my own journal titled "My Thousand Gifts" and a challenge statement that I will live fully right where I am. Because tomorrow isn't here yet and yesterday is gone. What will I do with today? What gifts will I see today? How can I find joy in even what seems like pain today? When people die, money is tight, jobs are lost, sicknesses occur, families break apart...where do we find joy? How can we see God's face in such tragedy and loss? But God is passing by even through the hard times and we can truly see Him if we seek Him with all of our heart. We have to choose joy, choose to be thankful...for only in that can we truly see God. One thing Ann Voskamp said in her book touched me deeply (ok so almost everything in that book touched me deeply, but here's one of the most recent): "This daily joy stuggle, above all, it is a Jacob-wrestle to see God in the faces we face." We bicker and fight, clash and wound, and yet we long and desire to see God in the faces we encounter in life. We wrestle with our flesh and spirit over joy. I pray that you can choose joy today and maybe if you have a chance jot down some of your own gifts. It's a truly freeing experience. God can be seen in everything. We just have to be looking.

Here are some of my gifts:
 
24) A girl grasping God's truth and living it
28) Dog's head in the lap
3) Barefeet dangling in water
5) Twirling barefoot in a skirt in sunny weather
16) The feel of familiar arms around me when I'm blue
27) His hand in mine (Him being Adam)

God bless you on your journey and may you choose joy everyday and to see the beauty of God in even the mundane and the messiness of life.