One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp Published by Thorndike Press on July 5, 2012
Pages: 333
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
A CBA Bestseller A New York Times Bestseller Just like you, Ann Voskamp hungers to live her one life well. But what does that look like when your days are gritty, long -- and sometimes even dark? Here, Ann invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative spiritual discipline of chronicling God's gifts. In expressing gratitude for the life we already have, we discover the life we've always wanted... a life we can take, give thanks for, and break for others.
My Review
Have you ever read a book that has had such an impact on you that you can’t seem to stop thinking about it? I recently had that experience with a book I stumbled upon by almost complete accident. Almost a complete accident..let me explain:
You see I recently watched the livestream of If Gathering 2020 and was simply blown away by the speakers that were selected to participate this year. I went to work on Monday morning after a weekend-long online gathering of Christian female speakers feeling more Jesus-driven than ever. I was bursting to tell someone…anyone who might share in my enthusiasm. I was telling a coworker about some of the speakers that spoke to me you know the kind of speaking that hits you deep in your soul. The kind of speaking that makes you want to stop, take notice, and change things up in your life…almost like a wake-up, a slap across the face, a desperate need, and a longing you didn’t know you had. Anyway, I was telling my work friend about this woman named Ann Voskamp and her talk on the Waymaker that just left me speechless. Her passion for the message she was giving just really stood out to me (she wasn’t the only one who struck me during the If Gathering 2020) and struck home. My friend asked me if I had ever read anything by her and of course I hadn’t because I didn’t even realize she was an author. It didn’t take me long to get to my library and download her audiobook called One Thousand Gifts.
I simply loved this book and I love that she was the person who narrated it. Her voice, pace, and emotion made this book come to life for me. One Thousand Gifts makes me want to become a better person, a better woman, a better wife, a better mother, and a better Christian. I want to experience the joy that she speaks about in her book. I want to live Eucharisteo a lifestyle of thanksgiving. Ann explains that this is the central symbol of Christianity. Thanksgiving. It is the crux of Christianity: to remember and give thanks.
Tonight as my son and husband play a video game together on their computers I decided to pick up my bible and do a bit of reading. As I was reading I happened to stumble across something that made me think about Eucharisteo in Colossians 3. I was reading from the (in)courage devotional bible (CSV) when I came to verse 17 which says And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. I couldn’t believe it this is what I understood Ann to be talking about in her book..to give thanks through everything the good and the bad. I went a bit further to chapter 4 verse 2 where it says to devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. Again the same idea is spoken, God breathed, and written by Paul.
I never knew I wanted it until I read her book but I do I really do want it. Eucharisteo…a lifestyle of thanksgiving.