"Old" but good

Now that I am home (not working) I can truly catch up on my gifts :). I have quite a few saved on my phone, but I also need to get back on track.

3 gifts found in Christ:
~Our church family.
~Love from and for others.
~Peace in storms.

3 gifts nailed together:
~Our soon to be replaced pews.
~Our sanctuary in our church building.Yes, it is just a building but the refreshment and teaching found there each week is needed and appreciated.
~The communion table.

3 gifts waited for:
~A baby.
~Restful days off.
~Spring (told you these were old!).

3 gifts about your home:
~The begining of a new bead pattern.
~Markers-used to make the new pattern.
~Comfy lazy boy chair.

3 gifts found in a closet:
~New maternity clothes.
~Games.
~Summer shoes.

3 gifts found in the dark:
~Shelter from the storm.
~I am alive (re my pulmonary embolism 4 years ago).
~I am able to have a baby (see above).

A gift outside: Butterfly who seemed to be fighting for life.
A gift inside: Flowers from my love.
A gift upside down: nest on the side of the road that I saw during a walk.

3 gifts rising up:
~Finch flitting through the yard.
~The tempeture.
~ A prop plane seen during a walk.

A gift hiding: My lost tea mug (it was in the trunk!).
A gift held: Fresh fruit.
A gift heard: peppers singing around the lake at night.

Joyful Blessings

I feel as if I should better explain the Joy Dare for those who are unfamiliar with 1000 Gifts. 

Ann Voskamp  was challenged by a friend (as you can read in her book, I challenge you to read it!) to keep a list of 1000 gifts. Gifts from God. This was in response to an email from Ann explaining how God was teaching her about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in all things. How ingratitude is a sin. How our lives are meant to be a communion with God.

These gifts don't have to be the huge things. I think that is what has struck me the most. Every little thing around me is a gift from Him and I need to start acknowledging that and thanking Him.  Some of them physical and tangible. Some not as much so.

There is something to naming these gifts. It's hard to put into words. She talks about it in detail in her book, and yet I find it hard myself.

I had started the journal of gifts myself. 

But still. As I wrote yesterday I was struggling. Lost in myself. In my circumstances. In grief. Overwhelmed. And then I saw the post from my friend, clicked on link and decided to do the Joy challenge. 

Something happened. My focus went from me to where it should be, Him. I realized in 3 little ways what gifts He has poured on me and I filled with joy.

As I start to purposefully look for these gifts that are all around me it changes everything. 

And so I continue with the Joy challenge today.

Even if you don't understand, I pray you will see His grace as He opens my eyes to the truth of His gifts that constantly surround me. 

I decided to back up and do some of the days that I missed. I just am getting so much out of it. And am a detailed person.

A gift found at 11: 30am : Christ focused new album.

2:30 pm: Long, refreshing quiet time.

6:30 pm: Chapter "What in the world, in all this world is grace" ~1000 gifts

3 gifts found in writing

" As indeed he says in Hosea,

   “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
   and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
   there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” Romans 9: 25, 26

 

"Though he slay me, I will hope in him..." Job 13 :15

 "Because God is patient, we should be patient."
~James Montgomery Boice, To the Glory of God

3 gifts found when bent down: A section of green beads that fell on the floor and kept distracting me with their sounds of moving.

The ability to keep my home clean without chemicals.

A load of clean laundry waiting to be folded.