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Smell of Dirt and Magnify the Lord [Excerpt by Ann Voskamp]

 

Excerpt from Selections from One Thousand Gifts: Finding Joy in What Really Matters by Ann Voskamp.

 

When we lay the soil of our hard lives open to the rain of grace and let joy penetrate our cracked and dry places, let joy soak into our broken skin and deep crevices, life grows. How can this not be the best thing for the world? For us? The clouds open when we mouth thanks…

 

Smell of dirt. Let joy penetrate our cracked and dry places.

Smell of dirt. Let grace and joy "penetrate our cracked and dry places."

 

[Consider how] Mary, with embryonic God Himself filling her womb, exalts in quiet ways: "My soul doth magnify the Lord" (Luke 1:46 KJV). So might I! Something always comes to fill the empty places. And when I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow within me. This, this, makes me full, and I "magnify him with thanksgiving" (Psalm 69:30 KJV).

 

What will a life magnify? … All that is wholly wrong and terribly busted? Or God?

What will a life magnify? The world's stress cracks, the grubbiness of a day, all that is wholly wrong and terribly busted? Or God? Never is God's omnipotence and omniscience diminutive. God is not in need of magnifying by us so small, but the reverse. It's our lives that are little and we have falsely inflated self, and in thanks we decrease and the world returns right. I say thanks and I swell with him, and I swell the world and He stirs me, joy all afoot.

 

This, I think, this is the other side of prayer.

 

This act of naming grace moments, this list of God's gifts, moves beyond the shopping list variety of prayer and into the other side. The other side of prayer, the interior of His throne room, the inner walls of His powerful, lovebeating heart.

-Ann Voskamp

If you like, you are welcome to name a grace moment, a small gift from God, in the comments on this post.

- Adam Forrest, Zondervan

 

Learn More about Selections from One Thousand Gifts Learn More

Learn more about Selections from One Thousand Gifts.

Visit Ann Voskamp's blog at www.aholyexperience.com.

 

Suggested Posts

How to See God During Hard Times via Ann Voskamp
Spirit-filled Living vs. "Just Trying Harder" via Jim Cymbala

 

(Image is an inset taken from Selections from One Thousand Gifts. Some styling above is web-exclusive. This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's personal opinions are shared only for information purposes. To receive more enriching & encouraging posts, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

 

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The Scoop on 3 Zondervan Books in Christianity Today’s 2012 Book Awards

 

Christianity Today recently whittled down a list of 390 book submissions to a select few of 2012 Book Award winners & notables, books which "offer insights into the people, events, and ideas that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission." Three of their book selections are by Zondervan authors. 

Below you can discover more about the award-winning authors and their books. Read the interviews to discover the authors' thoughts on topics that include:

  • How to trade in resentment for gratitude (See the Ann Voskamp interview )
  • Why maps that portray the spread of Christianity usually get it all wrong (See the Irving Hexham interview)
  • An uncommon-yet-crucial conviction about God's Word (See the Michael Horton interview)

The three Christianity Today 2012 Book Award honorees from Zondervan:

1. Spirituality, Award of Merit

Learn more about One Thousand Gifts

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully, Right Where You Are
by Ann Voskamp (@annvoskamp)
"Christ Himself  instituted the act of thanksgiving as central to what it means to be a Christ-follower — to take and give thanks, and to do so in remembrance of Him… Gratitude truly is the gravity of the Christ-centered life." -From Voskamp's interview with author Jason C. Dukes.
Read Excerpt  Learn More

2. Missions / Global Affairs, Award of Merit

Learn more about Understanding World Religions

Understanding World Religions: An Interdisciplinary Approach
by Irving Hexham (@irvinghexham)
"We are now living in a new era which is far more like the situation faced by the first Christians than anything the majority of Christians have seen for around a thousand years [since]… In this situation it is essential for Christians to understand other religious traditions, their histories, and beliefs." -From Hexham's interview on the LifeWay blog.
Read Excerpt  Learn more

3. Theology / Ethics Award Winner

Learn more about The Christian Faith

The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way
by Michael Horton (Follow @whitehorseinn)
"Theology fuels mission. And I believe that Reformed theology — not just the "five points," but its broader confession — is the richest, deepest, and most faithful account of the whole teaching of Scripture. Of course, that case has to be made and not just asserted; hence, the size of the book!*" -From Horton's interview with The Gospel Coalition.
Read Excerpt   Learn More

*In case you're wondering, The Christian Faith is 1,056 pages long and weighs five times as much as your average hardcover. It weighs just over four pounds.

Those are three of Christianity Today's recent favorite books.

 

What are yours?

 

- Adam Forrest, Zondervan Internet Team

 

(This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives; the writer's opinions are his own, and are only intended for information purposes. To receive new blogposts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

 

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On Counting our Blessings: The “One Thousand Gifts” Book and App

 

Does gratitude come easy? Not for me. That's why Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts book and mobile app captured my attention. Let's start with the book.

 

Seeing and Receiving our Blessings: Ann Voskamp's Book One Thousand Gifts

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As the summary of One Thousand Gifts reads, Voskamp's book shows readers "a way of seeing that opens [our] eyes to ordinary amazing grace." I roundly concur. (At time of writing, I've read about half of Voskamp's book.)

I'd like to share one of my favorite parts from One Thousand Gifts. Voskamp describes how things change for her when she begins to literally count her blessings…

 

Excerpt from One Thousand Gifts
 

Across the backside [of the scrap paper], on a whim, a dare, I scratch it down: Gift List. I begin the list. Not of gifts I want but of gifts I already have.

  1. Morning shadows across the old floors
  2. Jam piled high on the toast
  3. Cry of blue jay from high in the spruce…

They are just the common things and maybe I don't even know they are gifts really until I write them down and that is really what they look like. Gifts He bestows. This writing it down – it is sort of like … unwrapping love…

Read More…

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