One Thousand Gifts Book Club (Part 3)

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." 

Philippians 4:4-6

Paul says everything. Not just the good things, not just the bad things. Not just the big things or even just the little things. He means even the mundane, seemingly insignificant things. In everything give thanks.

"And I see it now for what this really is, this dare to write down one thousand things I love. It really is a dare to name all the ways that God loves me. To move into His presence and listen to His love unending and know the grace uncontainable" (page 59). 

If you are reading Ann Voskamp's, One Thousand Gifts with me, then you know what she is referring to in the quote above — a challenge to write down 1000 gifts from the Lord. 
After reading Chapter 3, I wondered... Lord, what does this look like for me? Do you want me to write down 1000 things that I am thankful for? I want to change and I know it's going to take work. I want to be intentional, to live intentionally, to love intentionally. Like Erasmus said, "A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit." In your sovereignty, you have been pointing me there. To discipline. To change. To trust. To faith. To grace. Lord, show me what this looks like in our family. For me. I want to love Patrick better. I want to love my kids better. I want to be thankful for the whining and the messes. I want to teach my kids how to be thankful — and I need to model it for them. I want to love deeply. O, my word. That's it... LOVE. I have been thinking that I needed to serve more; to sacrifice more. But when really all along I have been needing to love from deep within. From a love that is not my own. From a place that only You can provide. The desire to serve my family will come from the wellspring of life and love from within. The head knowledge is making its way to my heart. "You brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me" (Psalm 18:19). You did that, God. You rescued me and You delight in me. It's hard to even write that honestly. And when I read to my children, it's still hard to believe that you love me with a "Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love" (The Jesus Storybook Bible). But I will stop striving to serve out of my own reserve and will power. I want to know and believe in the core of my being that You love me and You delight in me. I will rest in Your love. Your love is enough. "This is the vault of miracles. The only thing that can change us, the world, is this — all His love" (page 60).


I want to be obedient to the Lord's leading, and I want to remember what He has done in my life, so here is the beginning of my list... 


1. coffee creamer (seriously, that is the best I could come up with for # one?)
2. the kids' dirty hands and feet
3. Reed's cry ... loud and alive
5. sunset running after a long day
9. a sympathy card from a dear friend miles away
10. coffee reheat #3
14. friends who get you
16. soul-stirring music
18. a dishwasher full from family meals
22. running, diving hugs from my 17th month old


Have you started a list? What is number one?

~cheryl~

Also linked up with Women in the Word Wednesdays