Eucharisteo Living

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” ~2 Cor. 9:15 

If there is someone I would love to get the chance to meet and spend a day with, it would be Ann Voskamp. I’m pretty sure within the first hour of my time with her on her little farm in Canada, I would be encouraged and refreshed by her oozing simple love for the Lord. The joy of the Lord is contagious when He is glorified above all else. 

 

Two years ago, I took Ann’s Joy Dare to count 1,000 gifts in a year. Eucharisteo- Greek word meaning grace, thanksgiving and joy. So much meaning wrapped into one word. Eucharisteo living- Grace. Thanksgiving. Joy.- I haven’t stopped counting since that first day in January. It has been absolutely life changing. “When thanks to God becomes a habit – so joy in God becomes your life.” –Ann

The idea is simple really. Thanking God for his small and big grace gifts to us throughout the day in turn produces joy. All is grace. Everything is a gift. Joy in Christ is the result.

One thousand gifts or more in one year. It can be done. As I look back on the last two years it is possible to see God’s grace in #15: a sincere apology #34 carrot cake pancakes #140: long goodbye hugs #157: car is fixed #164: snow and sunshine #178: hooded sweatshirts when it’s raining #302: truth #802: parents who pray for me #1401: coffee and laughs #1416: You speaking in stillness #1609- eager 3 and 4 year olds #1636: Sunday naps #1658: catch up chats #1735: socks #1778: days that feel out of my control- You are my security and anchor #2026: blankets #2277: lounging lazy afternoons #2296: dinner table set and candles lit #2938: Flower Factory #3109: get well texts #3280: officially becoming a homeowner #3366: buttering homemade bread #3403: music while stuck in a traffic jam #3411: coffee and tears #3435: sand volleyball #3630: groceries #3702: hedge apples and wildflowers #3758: small world connections

Thankful for my sister's gifts: My 1st two thankful journals

Flipping through my used journals and reading through snapshots of grace moments has only caused more joy to well up inside. My faith is lifted when I process through gift after gift of God’s goodness. His love. His grace. His pursuit of my heart. These moments add up and prove that God is faithful still. Reflecting on these moments have stirred up fresh love and trust that my God is good in every season.

What a crazy FULL life adventure.

"My cup overflows" ~Ps. 23:5

  

Thanksgiving. May we desire to give thanks to God in everything. When we do, we can’t help but be moved by His love. Perspectives are shifted. The aches in life don’t disappear. They don’t get covered up. No, instead all the little gifts that preoccupy our time and thoughts amount to something grand. These gifts of grace produce joy. And joy is not temporal. Joy is not circumstantial. Joy is a state of being and living. We are filled with joy in God’s presence. To me this looks like walking hand in hand with the Lord. If I see and count everything the Lord has given me today as grace, how can I not want more of Him tomorrow? How can I not thank Him for every little way He shows me love. I can choose to see the Lord in everything and ultimately recognize that He is in control. And I am secure. Secure only in Him.

“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’ (Ps. 69:30), and God enters the world. 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.” –Ann Voskamp

So as we’re soaking up the remainder of Christmas and all the extra cozy family time and giving the last of the gifts, let’s pray to be awed once again by the wonder of God Himself, the greatest gift. He left His perfect home to come down, all the way down to our broken humanity. Love came down. Perfect love came for all. No one is excluded. The gift of redemption. The gift we cannot live without.

 


And as we think about the New Year to come, what if we did something for the first time. A new kind of list. Not another to-do list. Or a wish to-improve-us list. No, a thankful list. A grace-moments list.

January 1st, 2015 #1 ______fill in the blank. 

Right in the moment. Right where we are. Counting for a whole year! Three or more gifts a day, scribbled down in a journal is what we can give back to our God who has given so much. And in the moments where we feel like we've failed again, God's grace is abounding still. Grace. Thanksgiving. Joy. Eucharisteo living. I praise Him for all that He has in store for me this year. And when 2015 comes to an end, I want to be found in Him. To be found ever praising and thanking God for His grace is my prayer. 

“The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find”- Matt Redman

“One Thousand Gifts- A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are”-Ann Voskamp’s book. aholyexperience.com Check out her blog to learn more about the Joy Dare count or just simply to be refreshed and encouraged. Grab a notebook and pen and start counting. You won’t be left unchanged. Thank you, Lord!

When you want 2015 to be more than an adventure, you take a gold pen and write "Joy"

 Peace and blessings to you in this New Year to come! God is moving and stirring hearts. We get to give him our “yes” over and over. And over again.

Hello Mercy

"Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old." Ps. 25:4-6

I’m thankful for rainbows on gloomy days. Popping out of the clouds right in the midst of inward despair. When my heart feels cloudy, in a funk, dreary and just plain bogged down with life. When hope seems distant.

But HOPE is here. All day long. When I open the eyes of my heart to see truth through faith, then I see God is nearer still.

A few weeks ago, I had that little wake up call. Driving through the drizzling rain, I saw God’s promise painted across the sky. This time more than usual the symbol of a rainbow spoke loudly to my heart. The very heart that has been restless, weary, cluttered, preoccupied, and under pressure lately. At the time it only felt like a good reminder that God always keeps His promises. Only until after a couple weeks went by, did I realize I was in a season where God wasn’t “fitting” into my demanding schedule. My mind and heart weren't focusing on the promise that God will NEVER leave me. Instead, all the activities/responsibilities/thoughts I placed on my plate took priority and space there and I was leaning on my own strength to accomplish them. My cares were resting on me and not my kind Father. Not only is our Lord near us always, but He is there to carry our load; our burdens.

Mercy- kindness and forgiveness

It’s a simple truth, really. God is a merciful God. He is full of mercy and love.

He is all about forgiveness. Forgiveness when I try to muster up my own strength to handle things. Forgiveness when I seek out my own will and gain. Forgiveness when I lose sight of Christ and idolize my hardships. Forgiveness when I do, do, do and neglect being with my Father. Forgiveness when I complain. Forgiveness when I dwell on performance.

I’m so thankful for a kind Heavenly Father who forgives and draws me closer still. All is grace. Grace moves us onward and upward. I can work out of my rest with Him.

So, am I still in a busy, overwhelming, crazy season right now? Yes. Am I learning what it means to let go and let God? Yes. Am I a work in progress? Yes. Daily. Is the Lord showing me mercy in sweet ways? Yes. Over and over again. Is He holding me together? Absolutely.

There is ALWAYS time to give thanks.

We can walk lightly when we trust our merciful Father to carry us through mountains and valleys. He is quick and kind to forgive us when we try to take control. What I can say to Him is “Yes, God I know you're with me. What promise do you want my heart to learn in this crazy season? And how are you revealing yourself to me?

He loves to answer us! Trust, friends, that God is always for us!

Enjoy this catchy song with a lot of truth by Royal Tailor: Hold Me Together

Letting the pieces fall

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ~ Matt. 6:33

Fall is definitely in the air. Yippee! I was glad to spend most of my day watching the leaves fall from inside my warm house today. I’m not quite as ready for the crisp air as I thought I was.

The Lord has been speaking to my heart in the last few weeks about the things I put on the throne of my life…a.k.a His space. His place. Period. My prayer is to give Christ His place, first. Not after everything in my life falls into place. Not after all the things that demand my attention, my time, my thoughts, my heart are taken care of. No, my life’s pieces will fall into place because Christ holds every last piece. From beginning to end. When He is given His rightful place on the throne of my life, I know good things are ahead. No fear or worrying needed.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ~ Matt. 6:33

When I’m about my relationship with the Lord first, Christ is free to do in me what He has planned. The way He has planned it. His ways are so much better than I could ever imagine or carry out on my own. Because of His grace, my Father lovingly and patiently waits for my daily submission to His sovereignty. Actually my moment by moment submission. My “yes” to Him. So the pieces can fall. Fall freely.

My Savior will not share His throne with anything or anyone else. Because no one or no thing deserves that highest place. He alone is above all.

This song of declaration by New Life Worship came on my Pandora station today:

“Here in Your presence EVERYTHING bows before You…wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way.”

I could listen to this song on repeat.

“Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way.

Every fear suddenly wiped away here in Your presence

All of my gains now fade away

Every crown no longer on display, here in Your presence.”

Nothing can match or even come close to God and all that He is. And the coolest thing is we get to know Him. We get to call Him Father. We get to let the pieces of our life fall together into the beautiful story that He is writing. A beautiful story that points to the bigger story. God’s story. His glory. His fame. He sees the big picture. We get to see Him. That’s all we need to focus on. Him.

 

So friends, let’s clear the throne in our life so that those matchless things fade and fall away. 

 With God first, we can let the pieces

f

  a

      l

        l

...and land exactly where they should.

In Him,

Regina

And God knows us. Every detail in our life. He doesn’t miss a thing.

Play this song on repeat to yourself:

You Know Me- Bethel

Cracked Pots

“But now, O Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay, and you are our potter, we are all the work of your hand.” ~ Is. 64:8

I just have to brag on Father for a bit. He sent me a love note this morning. Wrapped in a jar of clay, there it was. A note just for me to find.

I started my Saturday just like most Saturdays. Coffee in my white porcelain mug and slippers on my feet. Morning sunlight streaming in through the window as I sit on the couch. Just letting the minutes  s l o w l y  pass by. I’ve been thinking about cracked pots lately.

 

My Bible is laying open to 2 Cor. 4:7~ “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

It doesn't take much to see the cracks and flaws in me. My “shortcomings”. Everything I see in me that I would like to live without. The parts that remind me that I’m fragile. Unwanted exposure of frailty.

Maybe that’s why I delight and find such comfort in this verse. Jars of clay. They have a purpose. We have purpose. What’s so special about a simple vessel?

“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” ~ 2 Cor. 4:6

   

To hold hope. To carry the light and glory of God, our potter. “To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us”, the cracked pots. There’s the purpose. Once I heard a speaker refer to “jars of clay” as cracked pots and it just stuck with me.

  

It’s never been about you and me anyway. “We are all the work of your (God’s) hand.” We are the clay.

Along the way in our life journey, whatever sin has caused our “cracks”, whether it was when we chose our will instead of God’s will, placed other “gods” above the one true God or just sought out our own selfish gain, our Father still calls us His own. We are His. And He uses us to bring Him glory. Flaws and all. He in us. The hope of glory. Our cracks of shame become cracks of beauty. Wanted exposure of glory. The light and glory of the One in us can now shine through us. To show that the surpassing power we carry belongs to God! How amazing is that. Grace.

So back to my Saturday: I decided to take a quick trip to my favorite thrift store. Now that I live so close I’ve really had to limit my visits per month. :) I had a couple items in mind that I was looking out for, but I always prefer being surprised with random finds. That’s just how I like it. God leaves me little love notes showing that He cares about me…down to the smallest of details and things that bring me joy.

With an already half full basket, I came across this little white jar on a middle shelf. I just loved how small it was and that it was white. I noticed a piece of paper rolled up inside, but it was taped so I laid it in my basket, for later discovery.

As I peeled back the tape at home and unfolded the paper, I sat at my table just amazed. Amazed at how God unfolds more of His love to me every day. How he wraps His great love around me and my “cracked” self.

 

The piece of paper inside the jar was worth more than the 50 cents I paid for the jar. Can we even compare God’s expressions of love for us to anything? It is truly astounding.

Father can use anything to get us to see that His love for us is real. It’s tangible.

It was no coincidence that my meditations of the morning connected with further truths in an afternoon thrift store find. It was God. He orchestrates everything. 

And when we see His power in us, changing us and molding us, suddenly our cracks don’t seem so bad after all. Actually they seem necessary. They show off what’s inside. Our hope. Our light. Our strength. God in all His glory. Nothing coming from us. All from Him.

From one cracked pot to another- be broken, surrendered and poured out for Him. That’s when we’re completely satisfied. Only then will His power SHINE.