One Thousand Gifts #11-20

     I have been reading through One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Normally I can read through a book quickly but not so with this book. Every few pages I pause and reflect and then I think and pray. It is truly a life changing book. I have been so profoundly impacted that I cannot even properly write about it yet.

     I have read Ann's beautiful A Holy Experience blog for some time. It is the kind of blog that you read at 2 a.m. when you cannot sleep and your heart is weary with burdens. Or, when you have had a tough day filled with trials and your heart longs to meditate on what is beautiful in life. Ann is certainly a dear soul that writes of the Lord's beauty and grace unlike most others and after reading One Thousand Gifts I understand that this is because she has been acquainted with grief. She has known the darkness of anxiety and fear and through the Lord's grace and by His Spirit, she clings to life, love, and joy in the Lord with a spirit of humble gratitude.

The counting of all blessings is ultimately summed up in One. All gratitude is ultimately gratitude for Christ, all remembering is a remembrance of Him. For in Him all things were created, are sustained, have their being. Thus Christ is all there is to give thanks for; Christ is all there is to remember. To know how we can count on God, we count graces, but ultimately there is really only One.  ~Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts

I am giving thanks today and everyday for:

#11 - He who is the Resurrection and the Life

#12 - Newness of Life

#13 - Never-ending Grace

#14 - Perfect love that casts out all fear

#15 - Family gathering

#16- A church where to worship and praise

#17 - Hope for the future

#18 - New friendships; old friendships

#19 - Sunshine, blue skies, and glorious flowers

#20 - A gentle rain

Have you begun your own list of One Thousand Gifts yet?