“Heartache forces us to embrace God out of desperate, urgent need. God is never closer than when your heart is aching.”

Joni Eareckson Tada

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I always love reading comments left on this blog. Sometimes it’s just encouraging to realize someone is reading, sometimes your comments make me laugh, many times they make me honestly think and consider. If you haven’t read all the comments from the previous post, let me encourage you to go back and take a look. There are some very dear people out there.

My friend Shari from Seattle is the winner of this month’s giveaway — a copy of Ann Voskamp’s new book One Thousand Gifts, which takes the admonition “Count Your Blessings” to a whole new level…a potentially life-changing level.

One of my favorite things to do is to share good books with friends. I was in a book club for ten years and had to bow out a few years ago to better attend to other things in my life. But I still read some every day, and there’s nothing quite as satisfying as sharing ideas and thoughts about a book with another person.

I also feel very blessed that at this point in my life I can give a book gift now and then, so I wrote down a list of those I’d like to give One Thousand Gifts to.

If you’ve read the book or are partway through it, would you share your thoughts? How has it touched your life or challenged you? Did you learn anything new? Has the book prompted some kind of action or response on your part?

Have you ever doubted God’s love for you? Have you wondered why you’ve prayed and He hasn’t seemed to answer in the ways you’re so desperate for? Or, have you known that God is a good and loving God but still maybe wondered just how much He thinks about you or pays attention to you personally?

Here’s what just one reader said about the book:

“It’s been over a month since I dove into the pages of Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are… But, the writing, the truth and the beauty that I found in this book have lingered on, and I can’t seem to shake it.

Out of the depths and front lines of some of life’s hardest circumstances, Ann has come forward delivering one of God’s most powerful instructions, one that we overlook, though it’s the most-often used command in all of Scripture: Do not fear. Ann, in her book, says ‘It is impossible to give thanks, and simultaneously feel fear.’ So her answer, her gift that she has written out here in this book, is a profound movement of Thankfulness. Gratitude. Grace. All of these things abound within the lines and word pictures that she paints so beautifully.

One Thousand Gifts is a life-altering and heart-shaping work. Each page is rich with story and beauty… I found myself lingering on each page, drinking them in slowly, not wanting the journey to the back cover to end. This book is not only revolutionary in content, it is crafted by a master of the written word. Ann Voskamp has delivered us, and skyrocketed the art of writing into unknown heights with this book.

I have found myself in awe of Ann’s story. She weaves it delicately and carefully, each word connected to another, creating lines upon lines of unending beauty. The result is a stunning basket of story, and its contents cradle one of God’s greatest gifts to his people: Grace.

To say this book is exquisite is an understatement. It is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word, and I am better for reading its pages.

Do not hesitate for one moment. Buy this book and allow God’s overwhelming Grace to soak in through the comfort and dazzling beauty of Ann Voskamp’s words.”

Congratulations, Shari! I’ll be mailing your copy tomorrow. Thank you all for commenting.

I just finished my copy yesterday, and am going to start it again right away, taking it even slower and more prayerfully. I have needed this book.

I Am……a Scottish woman in an American woman’s body.

I Want……a smaller house.

I Should……start exercising.

I Wish……that prayer were a little easier.

I Hate……the devil’s cruel assaults on families.

I Fear…….turbulence while flying.

I Hear……classical music on the house intercom.

I Search……for signs of hope every single day.

I Wonder……how many galaxies there really are.

I Regret…….the unkind things I’ve said in my life.

I Love…….my husband, my daughters, my grandchildren, my sons-in-law, my friends, my Jesus.

I Always……have to have a Cappuccino Cooler in the morning.

I Usually……read before going to sleep at night.

I Am Not……very spontaneous.

I Dance……in my dreams.

I Sing…….in the car.

I Never…….enjoy shopping in a mall or watching football.

I Rarely……go camping.

I Cry……when I pray.

I Am Not Always……meek and gentle.

I Lose……very important papers that I put in obvious and special places so I won’t ever lose them.

I’m Confused……about how to proceed.

I Need…….books, quiet, beauty, hope, God’s presence.

I Have……the most amazing, beloved family. And a developing bunion. And sagging skin on my neck. And two quirky Schnauzers. And lots of cardinals around my house.