Monday, July 9, 2012

1,000 Gifts: A Life of Gratitude

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. Zondervan, 2011.

The author was challenged by a friend to write down in a journal 1,000 gifts that she was thankful for. So Ann took the plunge. One Thousand Gifts is the result of the author accepting the challenge. One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are is a beautifully written book. It is a prose that sings. It rejoices in experiencing grace in the ordinary things of life, for example, the sunrise, or spending time with a child. Ann points out how thanksgiving leads to joy. One is reminded of the line in the hymn, Count Your Blessings, Count your blessings, one by one, and it will surprise you what God has done. This is what Ann Voskamp does in this book. She writes down her blessings one by one and she is surprised and lost in wonder at the goodness of God.

This is not a syrupy book, however. The book starts out with the description of the author's sister suffering a tragic death and how this accident traumatized the family. This book asks the question why do bad things happen to good people. Why do the innocent suffer? One might not agree with all the answers provided with the author, but will be challenged to come up with their own answer. One Thousand Gifts will help the reader to live a life of gratitude in response to God's grace.

Ann is a farmer's wife who writes for DaySpring's site (in)Courage. She is also an advocate for Compassion, and travels and speaks for the suffering. She has six children and homeschools them.

This book will work well as a devotional reader. I read it alongside my morning Bible reading. I commend this book to others.

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