Counting One Thousand Gifts

One of the books that most impacted me last year was One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. She has an incredible way of putting words together that lift your spirit and point you straight to our Savior.

Last year I was struggling through the journey of God’s calling to Cambodia and all of the changes it meant. I am definitely a girl who loves routine and the comfortable, so moving around the world to a culture I don’t understand and a language I don’t yet know was incredibly intimidating. I also was having a hard time with the idea of leaving the home office and the family I have found here. I hate goodbyes! I read the book in the midst of all of that, and God used the concept of thankfulness to really help me shift my focus back to Him. At first, any time I would encounter a tough situation I would stop and think about 3 or 4 things that I was thankful for in the midst of all that was going on. Not just general things, but specific parts of that situation that I could turn into a act of gratitude. I was challenged to make it a daily practice of writing down the gifts. As I started to make this a daily habit, I began to see more and more gifts that I had never noticed before. Sometimes I would begrudging write down something that didn’t seem like a gift at all at the moment, asking God to change my heart and see with a different perspective. And He often answered that prayer! By writing down and keeping track of the gifts, I have now an amazing monument of God’s faithfulness through the last three months.

Last week I reached one thousand gifts! I'm not done though because thankfulness is a daily, lifetime task. There are days when I struggle to find the gifts and other days when I can’t write fast enough all the big and little blessings. When thankfulness becomes a habit, God replaces fear with peace and joy that overflows.

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Here are a few of my gifts. Don't worry, I won't list all 1,000! As you can see, there is a wide range- some big and some little! 

1. Hymns in the wee hours

14. Perfect weather for time on the swing

30. Overhearing funny conversations in the hallway

44. A gift of money exactly when I needed that encouragement

78. Coffee/hot chocolate combo

92. Elohim- the God who created me just as I am

129. Learning a new Cambodian word

200. Fundraising is not about me

236. Working traffic lights

254. A Nebraska win at the last second

358. Sunday school laughter

362. A sermon in English & Khmer

433. Round after round of Spoons at Thanksgiving

463. The colors of a Nebraska sunrise

556. The brief moments just to chat

581. A short wait at the post office

627. Sweet hugs goodbye

661. A coffee cup waiting for me

723. Snowflakes falling, swirling, through the morning

805. Stories of God's faithfulness

877. Grace to switch plans

933. The people who said thank you

948. Sitting outside at Starbucks in January

993. How the foggy mist makes it feel peaceful

1000. Counting gifts and the joy that comes from Thanksgiving!

One Another Mission- Humility

1 Peter 5:5b-7 All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Comparing ourselves to others is such an easy thing to do, right? We look at someone else and find that they are “above” us in some way, whether it is in education, intellect, influence, fashion or possessions. Or, we go the other way and find that we are superior in some way. This can lead to being intimidated, judging someone falsely, acting in ways that are prideful or missing an opportunity to build a relationship.

True humility starts with a right perspective- looking to God. When we humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand, I think we can look at ourselves—and others—with God’s eyes and His heart. In some areas this means that we have to realize our brokenness but in other ways, we are treasured by God and loved by Him. The same is true with everyone around us. The superficial measures that we often use to judge others are not important to God. He sees our heart and when our heart is right before Him, He can lead us into right relationships with others bases on things that are real and true.

I think it is interesting that Peter adds to cast our anxiety on God. Humility and living in right relationship with one another is not easy! God is our source of strength and He can provide all that we need when we keep our focus on Him. 

What is God teaching you about humility?

New Year's Resolution

I have never been big on New Year's resolutions, but the start of January and a brand new year does present the opportunity to reflect on the previous year and look ahead with expectation and even a few goals.

As I was thinking back over 2012, one of the things that stuck out to me was the way I have seen my siblings dig deeper in their relationship with Jesus. They have impressed me and encouraged me, surprising me sometimes with the depth of their faith and in a sense, challenging me in the same way.

Based on that, I started to look at my own relationship with The Lord and was challenged to let Him be my sufficiency- and to learn and grow in my understanding of what that means for me this year. I can be stubborn and independent, hating to ask for help unless absolutely necessary. Yet, even though I like to depend only on myself, there is still a longing in my heart that is easy to fill with other things. Truthfully only God can fill that hole, putting joy there that can bubble up and spill over as I allow Him to work in my heart. One of the ways I have been growing in this area is by reading more Scripture, and asking God to give me an even greater hunger for His Truth. I don't want devotions to be just another check-mark on my "good things done" list, but rather one of the tools that God uses to teach and guide me. I have found so far that the more I read, the more I want to read. Sure, there are plenty of things that can distract from that time with God, but when I see it not just as a task but rather my lifeline, it becomes so much more important.

Did God challenge you with any New Year's resolutions? How are you growing in your relationship with Him?

The "One Another" Mission

Have you ever read through God’s Word looking for the “one another” commands? There are a bunch of them! Love one another, serve one another, accept one another, just to name a few. This tells me a couple of things. First, we are not meant to live the Christian life alone. God intends for us to grow in Him through community, through our interactions with other believers. Although by nature I am more of an introverted person and do not mind a quiet evening at home with a book (and much prefer this most of the time), I find that when I study God’s Word with other believers, pray with them, do life with them, that I see so many different aspects of God that I would miss by myself. Second, God gives specific commands for what our interactions are to look like. Our human nature does not lend itself to peaceful, perfect relationships, but we have the blue print for what these relationships should look like in Christ.

Here is an example to start with: John 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”.

I saw something in these verses I hadn’t seen before. I normally focus on the “love one another” part, but that is not all. We are to love as Jesus loved us. So, we must ask ourselves, “How did Jesus love?”

Wow. Jesus lived out His love by dying in our place. There is a fullness in that love that is honestly beyond my understanding. It is undeserved. Jesus’ love gives me confidence because there is no fear in His love, yet it spurs me on to obedience as well. While Christ lived on earth, it was love that overflowed as He addressed the crowds, healed the sick, raised the dead, and even, I think, challenged the Pharisees. He wanted more for them than a life of legalism and tradition.

What a model for how I am to love others. I cannot love in the perfect way that Jesus did, and yet this is what I am commanded to seek to do. The only way I know to love others is to try to understand Jesus’ love for me, and to ask to be filled in the same way so that I can love others.

What are your thoughts? Add them in the comments and I would enjoy hearing what you have to say.

Check back in the weeks to come for more “one anothers”!

Time Machine

Sometimes I wish I had a time machine. I would go back and live those moments that were beautiful, special. I would go back to Christmas Eve 2012, singing out-of-tune Christmas carols with my family while looking at lights, dancing like crazy people to my brother's playlist, staying up late with my siblings as we talked from our hearts in the darkness. But life has gone on since then, and would I trade the moments God has given me today for a chance to relive moments in the past? They are memories, precious treasures. But we are not made to live in the past but to embrace today. God did not create the ability to go back in time, and he gives us the grace to be present today, to enjoy and celebrate, to endure hardship and to come out on the other end. He is the author of time. Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.