Category Archives: Gratitude

Stop, Look, Listen

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Abby| 16 Comments

By Wendy Hitchen

When I was a young girl, a programme was rolled out across the UK for road safety, called the Green Cross Code. It was drummed into us at school with videos, games and practical sessions. The strap line was:

‘Stop, Look, Listen’

I have many memories of crossing roads with my classmates and teacher, having followed the Green Cross Code. I still use it today when crossing a road! I’ve been thinking about this strap line as I re-read Ann Voskamp’s book ‘One Thousand Gifts’ and I’m being challenged to really appreciate life. She exhorts the reader to take time, everyday, to catch their breath and appreciate the gifts that are around them.  Through these times of observation, gratitude wells up, leading to peace in the midst of chaos, calm in the storm, hope in the dark.

Do I really do it?

I need to STOP. Even just for a short time, stop. While washing dishes at the kitchen window, while sorting laundry, while making a coffee at work, while travelling throughout the day. It doesn’t necessarily mean disappearing into a room on my own, it may just mean taking a deep breath, looking around and taking 5 minutes to gain perspective.

Then I need to LOOK. Look for the unexpected. The bird on a branch, the ray of sunlight, the child’s smile, the friends around me. There is always something to see, if I will just look.

And LISTEN. Listen for His voice. I can hear it in the wind, laughter, music, silence -  it is possible to hear Him in a busy workday or a manic day at home with a full schedule. It really is.

These 3 simple steps open up my heart to Him; they allow thankfulness to rise, they change my perspective and they teach me more about what it is to live step by step with my Maker.

So in the midst of the all the busy-ness, the packed diary, the mundane tasks, let’s all take time to stop, look and listen. Today.

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Posted in Focus on God, Gratitude, Peace, Wendy Hitchen

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A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Abby| 2 Comments

By Abby King

“To bring the sacrifice of thanksgiving means to sacrifice your understanding of what is beneficial and thank God for everything because He is benevolent.

A sacrifice of thanks lays down our perspective and raises hands in praise anyways – always.

A sacrifice is by definition not an easy thing.”

Ann Voskamp

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How to really celebrate Advent

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Abby| 15 Comments

By Abby King

The countdown is about to begin. We buy Advent calendars every year to mark off the days until Christmas, but what is it we’re really looking forward to? The food we are about to eat? The gifts we are going to get? The break from work? The children’s Christmas performance? The family time?

The true meaning of Christmas can sometimes get lost in all the busyness and preparations and demands this season makes. So to help us remember the One who is the real gift we’re celebrating we have put together below this Advent Calendar with a difference. For each day of Advent there is a suggestion for how we might give, to reflect the character of God the Father, who loved us so much He gave His only Son.

The activities have been designed especially with children in mind, so that the whole family can be involved. But even if you don’t have kids, don’t let that put you off joining in and really celebrating Advent in the style of your heavenly Father!

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Posted in Abby King, Advent, Giving, Gratitude

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Book Give-Away!

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Abby| 2 Comments

Congratulations to Sarah Cook, who lives in Cambridge, England – she won a copy of Amy Carmichael’s Edges of His Ways last month!

This month, we are giving away another copy of Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts, to tie in with Thanksgiving and our theme of gratitude.

To win a copy of this excellent book, make sure you’re a subscriber, and then LEAVE US A COMMENT SOMEWHERE!

The winner this month will be the person who has left the most comments on the site between now and December 1st!

So get commenting! We’re excited to see who wins!

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Being Thankful

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Abby| 10 Comments

By Karri Nachtigal

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord and
to sing praises to Your name, O Most High”  Psalm 92:1

I have recently started visiting a website called Cole’s Foundation.  It was founded to help support families that are affected by cancer,  updating information about the person affected by cancer with the purpose of praying for them.

I have been questioning why I am drawn to this site and to these families’ stories.  It is so that I can pray for them, but also because many of these families have a quality that I learning more in-depth.  They are able to be thankful even in the midst of their struggle.

One of the stories was about a nine-year-old girl, named Malia.  She had been fighting cancer for about a year before she passed away.  Malia’s mom wrote something that helped change my focus: “Thankfulness doesn’t leave room for bitterness.”

The past couple of years have been a struggle for my family and the road was feeling too long and was starting to get filled with the “overgrowth of bitterness.”  The question of “Why God?” wasn’t being asked with a searching heart anymore, but started to have more of a whine to it, accompanied by an occasional foot stomp.  I then read those six words “Thankfulness doesn’t leave room for bitterness”, and decided I needed to change my focus.

So these are the things I am thankful for in God allowing me to walk this path:

I am thankful that God is in control and I am not.

I am thankful that God has supplied all of our needs.

I am thankful that we still have a house to live in.

I am thankful for my family.

I am thankful that others have helped us out when we needed it.

I am thankful that God has allowed me to see “daily miracles” that I would have missed out on had He not sent me down this road.

I am thankful for my faith in Jesus, otherwise I would be lost and not able to walk this road.

The road God has us walk isn’t always easy, but there are always things we can be thankful for on the journey.

It’s always really encouraging to hear about the good things Jesus has done – please leave a comment below telling us what you’re thankful for.

Thank you!


If you enjoyed Karri’s post, you can read more on gratitude here and here

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Posted in Gratitude, Karri Nachtigal

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Can you count to a thousand?

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Abby| 13 Comments

by Abby King

I’m slipping my post in quietly this weekend to tell you about a beautiful book I’m reading, called One Thousand Gifts: a dare to live fully right where you are, by Ann Voskamp. It begins with two stories: Ann, as a four-year-old, along with the rest of her family, watches her 18-month-old sister get killed when she is run over by a truck in their front yard. Years later, she watches as her brother-in-law’s two baby boys both die of the same rare genetic disease.

These two events from Ann’s life touch the painful places in all our lives. All our stories hold grief, heartache, anguish. All is not right with the world and we have never known it more clearly. And our stories shape our questions: Where were you God? Can you be trusted? If you really and truly love me, why is this happening? Why don’t you answer my prayers?

Ann writes:

I think of buried babies and broken, weeping fathers over graves, and a world pocked with pain… I wonder too… if the rent in the canvas of our backdrop, the losses that punctuate our world, our own emptiness, might actually become the places to see.

To see through to God.

That which tears open our souls, those holes that splatter our sight, may actually become the thin, open places to see through the mess of this place to the heart-aching beauty beyond. To Him. To the God whom we endlessly crave.

Maybe so.

But how?  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?

A friend challenges her to find one thousand things she loves, that are gifts, that she can be grateful for. And in taking up the dare, Ann begins to learn gratitude for the moment, how not to carve up life into blessing and curse, but to see all as grace, all moments as gift. Her story of the painstaking discipline of learning to be thankful and see God in every moment takes us through learning to build bridges of trust and see each moment of our lives through the lens of His word. In her own, poetic style she guides us through this path, whispering that “the secret to joy is to keep seeking God where we doubt He is.”

And so I am counting too. And learning that some days it is easy and some days it is hard. But I want to live fully, right where I am. I want to be grateful in all the moments and see the grace and love that pours into them all. I want to learn how to live in His joy today, rather than wait to find it in tomorrow.

What about you? Could you count to a thousand?


You can read Ann’s blog here.

You can join a book group discussing One Thousand Gifts here.

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Posted in Abby King, Book of the Month, Gratitude, Recommendations