Review: One Thousand Gifts {Giveaway}

Reading is one of my favorite things to do in my free time.  Free time, of course, being defined as the time that I could be doing laundry or cleaning but am not.  Anyway, I’ve read a lot of Christian books that have been inspiring, thought provoking, informative, and interesting.  The list of Christian books that have actually changed the way I live is much shorter, but Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts definitely makes the cut.

http://onethousandgifts.com/

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, chronicles Vaskamp’s, attempt to live a life characterized by thanksgiving, or (in the Greek) eucharisteo. She writes: 

The act of sacrificing thank offerings to God – even for the bread and cup of cost, for cancer and crucifixion – this prepares the way for God to show us His fullest salvation from bitter, angry, resentful lives and from all sin that estranges us from Him. At the Eucharist, Christ breaks His heart to heal ours – Christ, the complete accomplishment of our salvation. And the miracle of eucharisteo never ends: thanksgiving is what preceeds the miracle of that salvation being fully worked out in our lives. Thanksgiving – giving thanks in everything – is what prepares the way for salvation’s whole restoration. Our salvation in Christ is real, yet the completeness of that salvation is not fully realized in a life until the life realizes the need to give thanks. In everything?

Voskamp decides to embrace the challenge to live a more thankful life, and she starts a list to help her form a habit of thankfulness.  She focuses on the simple blessings of her life, trying to let go of the imperfections of her children and her housekeeping, or the worries of her farm.   Futhermore, Voskamp describes her journey toward giving thanks even for the hard things in life.

I like the way that Voskamp talks about the relationship between thankfulness and trust – that the more she recognizes God’s blessings in her life the more she is able to trust Him.  She writes: 

Anxiety has been my natural posture, my default stiffness… Always control – pseudopower from the pit.  How I refuse to relinquish worry, babe a mother won’t forsake, an identity.  Do I hold worry close as this ruse of control, this pretense that I’m the one who will determine the course of events as I stir and churn and ruminate?  Worry is the facade of taking action when prayer really is.  And stressed, this pitched word that punctuates every conversation, is it really my attempt to prove how indispensable I am?  Or is it more?  Maybe distinguishing my deep fears as stress seems braver somehow.

 Ann’s book encouraged me to take time to pause during the day and recognize God’s blessings.  My boys playing nicely together.  The tall flowers by my kitchen door.  A summer day without humidity.  It reminded me to serve my family as an act of worship to God, thanking God that I have a house to clean, clothes to wash, and beautiful children to teach.   It also challenged me to trust God to teach me through the hard things in life – to view them as part of His good plan for me.

I will say that Voskamp’s style of writing takes some getting used to.  She is very descriptive, and if you are someone like me who is used to reading very quickly, you will find it difficult.  I eventually realized it was actually good for me to slow down because it forced me to really think about what I was reading.  Just don’t say I didn’t tell you…  I would also mention that the first two chapters are not really representative of the rest of the book, describing in detail the death of her sister as a young child and the loss of her two young nephews.  They are important events in her life that set the stage for the rest of the book, but they are difficult to read about.

You may want to check out Christina’s post about creating a daily thankfulness calendar.  Ann’s website has a lot of great resources for keeping track of the blessings in your life.  Her blog is also well-written and inspiring.  I encourage you to check it out!  If you would like to win a free copy of One Thousand Gifts, please leave a comment below and we will pick a winner at random on 8/23/13.  Enjoy!

I was given a free copy of this book by the publisher to review and give away.  The opinions expressed are my own.