Week One: One Thousand Gifts

"The wisdom I proclaim is God's secret wisdom, which is hidden from human beings, but which He had already chosen for our Glory even before the world was made." 1 Cor. 2:7 (GNT)

Week one of our study on Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, was amazing! I am thrilled and absolutely humbled to be a part of a terrific group of women who are so hungry to learn more about becoming the woman God has called her to be! I know I have said this already more than once, but you are ALL (even those doing the online version of this study with us) a product of MANY months of prayer and I can't wait to see the wonderful things God has in store for us throughout our remaining 10 weeks together. (It's already going by too quickly!)

Chapter one, An Emptier, Fuller Life, was a difficult one. We all agreed that it was very tough to read about the death of Ann's 18-month-old sister who died in a tragic accident while her family members watched on. The start of Ann's life was rough as she struggled to understand how a loving God could possibly allow such travesty to happen. On page 12 she writes, "Where is God REALLY? How can He be good when babies die, and marriages implode, and dreams blow away, dust in the wind? Where is grace bestowed when cancer gnaws and loneliness aches and nameless places in us soundlessly die, break off without reason, erode away." She goes on to ask the question, "how do I fully live when life is full of hurt? How do I wake up to the joy and grace and beauty and all that is the fullest life when I must stay numb to losses and crushed dreams and all that empties me out?"

WOW.

And isn't that it? Isn't that that question we wrestle with when life doesn't turn out the way we had hoped it would? When marriages end bitterly, when cribs lie empty, when cancer rips the life of our loved one from us much sooner than we were ready to let them go?

This is the ugly stuff in the world. This is the stuff created from the sin that first entered the world. When Adam and Eve were ungrateful for the beauty that surrounded them and so they longed for more.

On page 15 Ann says, "Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren't satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other."

We hunger for filling in a world that is starved.

Questions for discussion:

1.) "If I'm ruthlessly honest, I may have said yes to God, yes to Christianity, but really, I have lived the no." (pg 16). What do you think Ann means by this? has this ever been true for you?

Is it easy to say yes when things are going our way only? Is it easy to "sign up" for a life with Christ when we haven't yet lived the ugly this world offers?

How do we FIGHT for JOY?

Everyone has a story. We all have stories that are painful and difficult. But how do we honor God in the midst of pain and struggle. How often do we want to change the story - when we're not even the author?

There is a difference between JOY and HAPPINESS. Isn't there? Happiness is a 'feeling', where JOY is an act of the will. It is possible - wildly possible - to find JOY in the midst of pain. Because JOY is a choice.

2.) Ann describes how the death of her sister, "tears a hold in the canvas of the world" (pg 16) and later writes, "I wonder... if the rent in the canvas of our life backdrop... might actually become places to see. To see through to God" (pg 22). Is this a metaphor you find intriguing, comforting, or disturbing? How do you understand it in light of your own experience of loss?

The "tears" in the canvas of our life. Are these holes that allow light in from the love of God? Are they places and opportunities to "see" through to God.

3.) The author's narrative is right with vivid phrasing and evocative imagery. What lines or descriptions stand out for you? Why do you find them to be powerful?"

And so - the questions we wrestle with is... "How do we choose to allow the holes to become seeing-through-to-God places? To more-God places? How do I give up resentment for gratitude, gnawing anger for spilling joy? Self-focus for God-communion?" (pg 22).

"To fully life - to live full of grace and joy and all that is beauty eternal. It IS possible" (pg 23).

Will you join us on the fight for joy?

Below is the video from week one. Ann is the one in the middle. (Remember to scroll to the bottom of the blog to pause the music from my playlist in order to hear this video.)

One Thousand Gifts: Chapter One from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo.

Tell us what YOU think!! We're so happy you've joined us on this journey... this journey to JOY!

Next week's homework: Read chapter 2 and memorize Psalm 50:23 (NIV).

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



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