What If I Don’t Feel Very Thankful?

Friends, you may have heard the news about our next Online Bible Study, One Thousand Gifts with Ann Voskamp, and feel yourself holding back, maybe hesitating a little, because to be honest… you don’t feel very thankful.

I get it…

This may be a scraping season for you. It is for me, too. I’ve experienced trauma and grief this year like I didn’t know was possible. And, my heart needs this study. Maybe yours does, too.

One Thousand Gifts is especially for those of us who are tired, or hurting, or just don’t feel very grateful right now given our circumstances. We don’t want to miss what God has for us! This study is an invitation to look again, to open our eyes to see God’s goodness where we may not see it right now. It’s a beckoning to wake up, to be strengthened, enlivened, and to allow gratitude to grow even among thorns and thistles.

This is for us. The weary ones. It’s for beauty. It’s for faith. It’s for beginning again with the Lord.

Eucharisteo comes straight out of the Bible in Luke 22:19. It means to give thanks. It’s not circumstantial. It’s an act, a choice. A step forward.

All of us have days full of the jobs of life: chores, oil changes, lines at the DMV, nail-in-the-tire mornings on busy days, teacher meetings, difficult co-workers, late night budget talks (0 out of 10 would recommend), loud neighbors, errands to run, groceries to buy, that spill in the refrigerator to clean up, dinners to cook, piles of laundry, and dishes in the sink.

And, all of us have threads of loss and pain in our lives. A negative pregnancy test or heartbreaking miscarriage. That diagnosis that changed life forever. The suicide of a loved one. A tragic accident. A betrayal that rips our lives apart. Financial crash. Not being loved by those who were supposed to love us. In fact, being abused — by those very ones who were supposed to cherish and guard our innocence. Facing injustice, persecution, bullying, threats. Enduring the angst of depression and anxiety.

There are days when just taking a shower is a victory.

“How,” Ann wondered, “do we find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties? What does the Christ-life really look like when your days are gritty, long — and sometimes even dark? How is God even here?”

He is. He is here. Right here.

Can there be a good God? Yes. Is He worthy of praise, and worship, and arms raised while tears may fall? Yes.

When I first read Ann’s beautiful book, One Thousand Gifts, it rocked my soul. Was it that way for you, too? The book is celebrating its 10^th anniversary next year, has touched millions of lives, has been translated into dozens of languages, and launched a movement inspiring people around the world to count 1,000 gifts of their own and experience eucharisteo – life-filling gratitude – the practice of which is exercised in recording blessings, one by one.

Eucharisteo opens the eyes wider, the heart deeper. ~ Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts

“Eucharisteo — thanksgiving — always precedes a miracle.” ~ Ann

Do you need a miracle in your life? Do you need a rebirth of faith, of hope, of joy, of peace? Then, friends, we invite you to experience One Thousand Gifts all over again (or maybe for the first time), to journey through the counting #1000gifts. We are partnering with Ann, for the first time ever, to bring you the exclusive community online Bible study with five teaching videos from Ann on her farm. You don’t want to miss this.

We’re going to meet Ann’s dare to live fully right where we are. Worshipfully, awake, alive, and filled with hope and gratitude.

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Your Turn

I hope you will join us for the One Thousand Gifts OBS. It’s going to be a life-changer! Are you in? ~ Laurie McClure, Faith.Full

Join us for the study! Register today!