(IN 2012 OR ANY YEAR!)
To continue my ideas on being grateful my friend Jean suggested I read One Thousand Gifts. She loved it. I bought it. For me I had a rough time with the beginning of it. I was saying yeah, yeah what is this about. I thought to myself I've already doing this grateful journal for 20 years what could I learn?
It totally got me in the end.Now I'm going to be a better and more specific 'thanker' to the Lord. You have to be thankful in every situation GOOD OR BAD and find (verb) something to be in thankful for in all situations not just the good ones.
The book I am talking about is called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.
EUCHARISTEO - giving thanks for grace. (Give is a verb - it is something we do.)
"One act of thanksgiving, when things go wrong with us, is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclinations." Saint John of Avila
Did you know that God is joyful? Some how I learned or grew up feeling that God was sad. I felt that He was punitive in the old testament and had a sad life in the new testament. Now I'm thinking this - Now that His journey is over - God has to be joyful. "God is the happiest of all. Joy is God's life." We are supposed to live like him and be joyful in spite of our troubles. Isn't that a deep thought and a hard one to wrap your mind around?
Here are some quotes from her book.
"The art of deep seeing makes gratitude possible."
"Transforming ugly into beauty with thanks. "
"Feel thanks and it is absolutely impossible to feel angry."
"Gratitude lays out the planks of trust. I can walk the planks-from know to unknown-and know:He holds. I could walk unafraid."
"You can be the joy."
"The secret to a child's language if laughter, their domain of delight, is perspective."
"The joy of small that makes life large."
"Can we really expect joy all the time? I know it well after a day smattered with rowdiness and worn a bit ragged with bickering, that I may feel disappointment and the despair may flood high, but to give thanks is an action and rejoice is a verb and these are not mere pulsing emotions. While I may not always feel joy, God asks me to give thanks in all things, because He knows that the feeling of joy begins in the action of thanksgiving."
"Only self can kill joy."
"I can be the joy." We can be the joy.
"Count one thousand gifts, bless the Holy One one hundred times a day, commune with His presence filling the laundry room, the kitchen the hospital, the graveyard the highways and byways and work ways and all the blazing star ways, His presence is filling me."
"THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO FULLY LIVE!"
I saw this on AsTheCrackerHeadCrumbles today and it is a GOD WINK to me.
The Answer
Sandra Mack
Running flowing Living
Water
God’s refreshment
for our soul
Giving us the true
direction
To our Heavenly
goal
Jesus holds the cup
towards us
Then you and I must
make the choice
Do we heed the
world around us
Or listen to His
voice
Do not strive for
man’s false praises
Or wallow in the
lies you hear
Just accept God’s Living
Water
Accept the answer
to your fearHumor for the day:
See the positive spin????
Thought for the day:
47 comments:
This book inspired me...I am reading it for the 3rd time.
hi sandie,
sounds like a great read...i am now adding it to my "to read" list.
delightful post as usual!
have a great day!
I will check this book out....I love your posts....long or short they are always great! Thanks for being my friend!
Don't apologize. You've shared your heart and given us much to ponder. Thank you
thank YOU again for the message.
Awh, nice post Chatty dear! Life always has to have turns or we wouldn't know the straight.
You seem to constantly be a surprise, that is very good in reading blogs. Love fresh air and new ideas. Thanks. I would say, just an opinion, that you have been more thankful and giving than most. a good thing.
Love from North Carolina
Sherry& jack
I love the 1000 gifts and I read her blog too. Each month she gives out a printable gifts calendar and has lots of words of advice. 31 days of JOY is the theme for October. Here is the link if you'd like to check it out http://www.aholyexperience.com/ We can never be thankful enough for everything in our lives.
amen sister
I think I need to read this book!
Wonderful post, Sandie! I'm going to have to find this book.
Wonderful message! Sounds like a book everyone should read!
I tried reading that book and it was so hard to get into that I never did finish it. If you're saying that it's worth it to stick through the beginning, I will give it another try and stick with it to the end.
Hi Sandie, That sounds like a marvelous book. There truly are alot of things to be thankful for... Sometimes we just have to look harder for them!!!!! BUT--they are there!!!!!
I love thinking about God being JOYFUL.... But--I do know that when we humans make bad choices, it does make God SAD.... I try to make God proud of me!!!
Hugs,
Betsy
P.S. HOPE my name thing works okay now.
Great post my friend and so inspiring =)
Enjoy your day and the weekend !
Big mega hugs xx
I've been reading Ann's blog for the last three years. She always gives her readers something to really chew on. I am finding you do the same. Enjoyed this, Sandie!
Blessings~
this is my last comment for the day. I am ordering that book. I think that is a key to happiness in this life...gratitude.
Thank you for sharing your heart. Giving thanks is God's will for us. So you have hit the Mother Lode, as they say. :-)
Another beautiful share, Sandie. You are fabulous ...
Have a great weekend ~
TTFN ~
Hugs,
Marydon
As someone who has suffered from depression for decades, joy is a very hard concept for me. It's not that I can't have joy, temporarily, but the moment the stimuli is removed, the joy fades. However, I do find myself very thankful every day, for survival.
I'm the same as Kathy aka Nana...
"I tried reading that book and it was so hard to get into that I never did finish it."
Love the little image on your sidebar that says "Begin each day with a grateful heart."
Blessings to you dear friend.
God's living water. I love this.
xoxo
I have that book too, and it was and is a huge inspiration for me. I actually won it on a blog giveaway.
And I was thankful!
This is just what I needed to read today!
You always share the best things with your readers! Sounds like a book I need to look up! Thanks!
it all sounds good to me.
Sounds like a good book to have around and read bits and pieces here and there now and then.
I like your humor. My sister (she came to visit last week but didn't stop at our house--instead she came three times towards our house from her daughters house to visit the new mom and her great great granddaughter) always says if there are two lines always go left because more people go right than left.
I.e. the left line is faster.
..
I love God and talk with Him all the time. My favorite thing is giving Him thanks! I still need to read the book which is right here in front of me. I haven't done any journaling.
There are days when I start to think I have little to be grateful for, but amazingly enough I can always find something if I look a little closer.
It's kind of like noticing people that have more than you instead of seeing all the people that have so much less.
No matter how bad things can get, Sandie, there is always at least something for which to be thankful.
Sometimes, I just say "my eyesight" or "being able to walk when I get out of bed in the morning."
The more we thank, the more we find things to be thankful for.
Hope you have a good evening. Susan
Thank you for all the inspiration. I love the quote if Nothing goes right try going left. My husband always says if something is put in your path to delay you or cause you to take a differnt path its the hand of God directing your life. Stop fighting and go with the flow!
That is the most amazing book. I can't tell you how much it helped me through some pretty dark days this past winter. The author writes in a way that might make it difficult for some to "get into." She uses long, lyrical sentences. She is very descriptive. She causes us to rejoice in the small and large things in life. She helps us to see grace all around us. She has written a classic.
I got to get that book, sounds interesting Sandie. I do believe God is joyful and I do believe we can be joyful in all things, no matter how tough they are. I really need to do that gratitude journal........
betty
I would love to read the book. My favorite song is... Give Thanks with a grateful heart...give thanks to the Holy One ...Give Thanks... because He has given Jesus Christ His son. Are you sure you do not have a part 3 to share :)
Fantastic Sandie! Have a great weekend!
Sounds like a book I should read.
I wish I had time to read but I don't. I've been trying to read a little WV History type book for a few months and can't seem to find time to finish it.
Great post!I read the book last spring...it is very powerful. She has a blog, too. She writes so beautifully and she thinks deep thoughts. You might want to check it out.
Sounds like a super book. Very uplifting post, my friend!
Thank you my honest friend. I'm sticking with this one for quite awhile.(new banner) I may go to a springy color in the spring but for now I like the tone it sets. Finally I found a easy, simple font that still has a message.
And ...yes you just cut it up into about hand size pieces, boil it and eat the portion in a bowl with milk poured over the hot pumpkin and sprinkle with cinnamon. You only boil about 4-6 chunky pieces at once and keep the rest in the fridge til the next time. You don't peel it. Just boil and it all gets soft to eat. The skin in the best!
Great post, Sandie!
Right or left...it's a choice we ALL make every day....and Garfield knows.
As for "Feel thanks and it is absolutely impossible to feel angry."....I'm thankful for being angry sometimes ---feeling angry and telling one that I AM angry helps the healing process. Holding anger inside is not good either" MHO
Thank you so very much for publishing Sandra's new poem. She has informed me that her son will have a new site up and running for her soon, and I will put up the link to it as soon as she gives it to me.
Sandie, I need to get that book.
It's funny. One of the things I remember when I was young was leanring the Presbyterian Cathecism, and one of the first questions, based on the Westminster Confession of Fatih and the Bible, is "What is the chief end of man?" And the answer is, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever."
Somewhere along the way, I got it into my head that God was punitive. It wasn't from my early teaching or my parents. My own father was very loving. But I got that notion for years.
Then, after seeking Him with all my heart, and a search through different churches, that early teaching from my youth struck me like a lightening bolt. We are created to glorify God and to "ENJOY" Him forever. He wants us to be joyful. He came to give us life and life more abundantly. He saved us from the curse of the law. So I set my face in that direction. I'm learning again to enjoy God. I loved going into His house as the scriptures said when I was a child, and I love being in His company as an adult. He is GOOD. He is KIND. He is WORTHY.
Amen and have a good day...
XO,
Sheila
Dear Sandie, Thank you for this post. I will check out the book. Blessings dear. Catherine xo
You always find the coolest things to share with us!
love
tweedles
I have not read that book but you are intriguing me! I love a good read! Have you ever read the Pilgrims Progress? I have a book shelf filled with great Christian reads. I am always looking for something else to share. Thanks you are such a gem!
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