We can only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks. Perhaps this is what encouraged me…challenged me, to take up this dare; that my faith may give thanks.
Thanksgiving is the evidence of our acceptance of whatever He gives, It prepares the way that God might show us His fullest salvation in Christ. How are we supposed to accept His free gift of salvation if we do not return to Him with thanksgiving? It needs to become my daily habit to speak this language of thanks, a habit of continually running back to God and magnifying Him with thanksgiving; praising Him with gratitude for the gifts that He unfolds in front of me everyday. This is Eucharisteo – the Greek word for thanksgiving – its root words mean grace and joy. I want to learn how to live eucharisteo, I want to see the grace moments that unfold before me. Listing these grace gifts is teaching me to embrace a fuller, deeper eucharisteo… this was the challenge that I was captivated by.
- the shooting star that captured my attention
- the crunch of fallen autumn leaves beneath my feet
- the words of a bible study that fill the room with a new challenge, to fully live the life that God has called me to, to live eucharisteo
It's the start of one thousand gifts, and it makes me smile. I want to know eucharisteo, I want to live it everyday.
“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) and God enters the world. This dare to list one thousand things I love, is really a dare to name all the ways that God loves me.” - Anna Voskamp