1,000 Gifts > Chapter 1

This post is part of my Book Club Series

which was started by {this} and {this} lovely lady

To start from the beginning click {here}

Last year before I ever picked up Ann Voskamp's book I heard great things from friends who were reading through the book - but one comment has stuck with me.
A friend told me:

"I didn't really connect with the writing style of the first couple of chapters. It felt disjointed and messy, but I decided to keep reading - and it definitely got better. I'm glad I stuck through the mess. This book really helped me!" (my paraphrase because this was from a conversation about a year ago)

This thought came back to me as I re-read chapter one. It is messy. Life searching for God's grace is messy and disjointed and painful.

But it is also good.

And that's what I'm seeking right now > God's Goodness.

SoundBytes:

"Doubting God's goodness, distrusting His intent..." (pg14)

I think the key word here is DISTRUSTING - we doubt when we do not trust.

"I open a Bible, and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced." (pg 17)

Truth - the cornerstone of trust in God is found in Scripture. I've been struggling this week to remain in that trust and so I've been very intentional in spending time seeking God's voice and His truth to fill my thoughts and bring me back into that place of Thankful - Grace Filled - living.

"Farmers, we think we control so much, do so much right to make a crop. And when you are farming you are faced with it every day. You control so little." (pg18)
"There's a reason I am not writing the story and God is. He knows how it all works out, where it leads, what it all means. {...} Maybe, I guess, it's accepting there are things we simply don't understand. But He does." (pg21)

It's not just farmers folks! I am so guilty of this and moment by moment God is reminding me that He is actually the one in control. And RESTING in the fact that I don't understand - I don't have to understand - because he does!

Truth to Write on Your Heart:

God says to fight the lies of Satan by standing in his truth - no better way to do that then memorize the truths he's laid barefaced before us. So each week I'll pull out a verse Ann talks about and work on memorizing it.

Gratitude Everyday:

Last year after reading this book I counted 1,000 gifts in my prayer journal. I "finished" my list in September and have continued to make lists in that journal without numbering, but for my birthday, my brother and sister-in-law got me a grateful journal. I end every day filling up the lines with gifts small and large that God has given me - these are some of the things that made the list this week.

• chocolate, tea and a chick flick
• SKYPE and talking to time travelers (my friend Lindsey lives in China, so when we talk, she's a morning ahead of me)
• Phone Conversations with college besties
• prayer meetings - church family
• AVACADOS!
• Mid-week Girl's Night
• Chinese take-out and friends who watch ridiculous reality TV Shows
• Being a regular at a coffee shop
• Serve Sundays - physically being the church (and 34 loads of laundry at the laundry mat)
• Dream Sessions in REI
• My Church Family