Seeing the Gifts

Perspective is everything, and seeing is only for those who are willing to look.

And for a long time I didn’t really see the gifts that were from Him. In my self-centered world I focused on what wasn’t, and missed them before my very eyes…His generous gifts. Gifts from His heart to mine…the ones He had been giving all this time.

And last February that all changed. I was in the Ft. Lauderdale airport and received a text from a friend…

“You HAVE to get this book. Download it for your flight, RIGHT.NOW. You WON’T be sorry!”

And so I fumbled and searched on my newly acquired smart phone, hurriedly trying to download the e-book version before our 5-hour flight departed. And finally, after successfully loading it just before we boarded the plane, I settled into my seat, and eagerly began to read…

And nothing could have prepared me for what her words have done for me…to me. Yes, her words…but really His words…her the conduit from His heart to mine.

And I continued to read, and I couldn’t stop. Like air to my lungs, and food to my soul, I devoured the words…one page after the next. Profound prose and poetry combined, with soothing, yet piercing concepts…and I kept turning pages…reading, and re-reading some parts, again and again…ready for the laying down of ingratitude…longing for the transformation to begin, and immediately surrendering to the process.

The book One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp, has changed me. And I daily strive to continue the transforming…

To participate in His death, with my daily dying, and give thanks for ALL He gives.

To look for the gifts, give thanks, and unwrap His gift of joy.

To be fully present in the now, and live life slower…weighing each moment down with intention, pausing in the moments, because life is not an emergency.

To recognize that the darkness of suffering births new life in me…profoundly conforming my heart after His.

To acknowledge that ALL is Grace, and God is always good, and I am always loved.

To use God’s Word as my lens to see the world.

To really SEE, His perspective, and give thanks in the seeing.

To offer Eucharisteo as the act of staying IN His presence in each moment.

To trust Him by installing the planks of thanks, and look in the rearview mirror and remember how His bridges have held. Always remembering what He has done for me.

To bow low and bend to get His best gifts, stooping lower each time.

To die to self hour by hour, striving to follow in the footsteps of my Savior, and refusing to kill joy.

To remember how I’m blessed, and to look for ways to intentionally become the blessing…searching for the divine appointments He will faithfully provide.

To abide and commune and read and pray, with Him, each day.

And since reading her words, and in the reading of them again and again, I have not been the same. I strive to practice Eucharisteo, giving thanks in each moment, searching and yearning to find His gifts. And it has become a daily hunt that has transformed me from the inside out. This change of perspective, changing me, and the process itself birthing joy…a joy unspeakable!

And Eucharisteo really does always precede the miracle.

And in the learning to see, I have had challenges. Moments that are hard…growing pains and resistance to maturing…temptations to refuse the gifts and wallow in my flesh…and in many moments I have failed. And after my internal-adult-temper-tantrum is finished, He woos, and whispers, and lovingly redirects. And I fall to the bowed-low posture that failure brings, and I surrender my ingratitude again. And He forgives. And I start anew, EVERY.TIME. searching and counting them again, and experiencing the joy.

I have shared this with other women, and they too have been transformed. And the community and group is growing, people around the world counting gifts and choosing joy.

And Ann, I know you love Him SO, and ALL is Grace, and this book ALL because of Him, and through Him and to Him…and my heart screams THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Thank you for obeying His call, for typing in the fringe hours…faithfully typing out each word for the pages we would all turn, for loving Him so deeply and modeling what it is to commune and abide with Him…our sweet Savior. You SHINE Him and reflect Him and because of your choice to listen and obey, I am forever changed.

And today I have counted my thousandth gift, as I’ve been numbering them one at a time…and I will be forever counting ALL He gives.  My heart is so full, and my perspective changed, and this practice of Eucharisteo becoming a way of life for me…

Counting One Thousand Gifts {#989-1000}…and counting…

#989 Grace moments undeserved

#990 Chances to practice humility

#991 Strength to hold my tongue

#992 Moments stolen away with Him

#993 Last minute dinner with dear friends

#994 Pumpkin candles burning

#995 Children’s laughter and giggles

#996 Surrendering all

#997 The sound of water falling

#998 At the cross…at the cross…where I first saw the light

#999 Early morning embraces

#1000 Finishing the Bible in 90 Days with Momstoolbox

 

 What are you giving thanks for this day?

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