One Thousand Gifts Study Guide: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

by Ann Voskamp

'How, ' bestselling author Ann Voskamp wondered, 'do we find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties?' When your days are filled with the mundane, disappointment, or even darkness, how can you break the bondage of self-hatred and fear that has white-knuckle control on your life and instead embrace the everyday blessings that will immerse you in Christ's fullness? How can you live your life with a heart overflowing with delight? In this six-session, video-based study, Ann encourages participants take on the life-changing discipline of journaling God's gifts---to really look at life and find the good in it. It's only in this expressing of gratitude for the life we already have, we discover the life we've always wanted ... a life we can take, give thanks for, and break for others. We come to feel and know the impossible right down in our bones: we are wildly loved --- by God. Embark on this personal, honest and fresh exploration of what it means to be deeply fulfilled, wholly happy, and finally fully alive. Participants in this this study can use this Participant's Guide to further explore the topics discussed in the One Thousand Gifts video.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Faith, Christian Living, Self Help, Book Club, Christianity

96 pages, Paperback

Published November 21, 2012

About the author

Ann Voskamp is a farmer's wife, the home-educating mama to a half-dozen exuberant kids, and author of One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, a New York Times sixty-week bestseller..
Named by Christianity Today as one of fifty women most shaping culture and the church today, she's a global advocate for needy children with Compassion International, a loser of library books, a stirrer of soup, a loud laugher, a kid snuggler, a Jesus lover and honestly, a bit of a mess. It’s okay really. Grace is the most amazing of all.
Her online journal, one of the top 10 most widely read Christian blogs online, is a relief of quiet vulnerability and an oasis of sacred, seeing God in the everyday ugly beautiful.

Connect with Ann on:
AnnVoskamp.com
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Reviews

[Cori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great companion to the book. Honestly, you don't have to get the DVD to follow along with this little study guide. The book goes hand-in-hand, and they compliment each other well without it.

My other recommendation would be to get a blank notebook or journal because you'll want to start your own gratitude list.

I'd rate this book a PG.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

1/an emptier, fuller life: After the death of her sister, their family asks: Can there be a good God? No, God, we won’t take what you give. No, God this is ugly and this is a mess and can’t you get anything right and just hand all this pain out of here and I’ll take it from here. Thanks for nothing. Does God really love me? If He truly, deeply loves me, why does He withhold that which I believe will fully nourish me? Satan’s sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude. Adam and Eve are ungrateful for what God gave. Isn’t that the catalyst of all my sins? We aren’t satisfied with what God gives. We eat the apple and, in an instant, we see. Everywhere we look, we see a world of lack, a universe of loss, a cosmos of scarcity and injustice. We don’t see the material world for what it is meant to be: as the means to communion with God. Now everywhere we look, we only see all that isn’t: holes, lack, deficiency. His secret purpose – our return to our full glory. Well, even with our boys…I don’t know why that all happened, but do I have to (Author’s BIL). How do I give up resentment for gratitude?
2/a word to live…and die by: Author dreams 4x in one night that she has cancer. I want to live. Fully live. For years of mornings, I have woken wanting to die. But this morning, I wake wildly wanting to live. Will I have lived fully or just empty? How do we live fully so we are fully ready to die? Isn’t beauty here? Can’t I find it here? Eucharisteo: he gave thanks. He took the break and knew it to be gift and gave thanks. Is the height of joy dependent on the depths of my thanks, Grace, Thanksgiving, joy. The greatest gift is to give thanks for everything. Communion: it’s the most common of foods – bread. How there is thanks… and then the miracle of the multiplying of the loaves and fishes. Thanksgiving always precedes the miracle. Ingratitude was the fall – humanity’s discontent. The Eucharist invites us to give thanks for dying. Only one leper gave thanks. How else do we accept His free gift of salvation if not with thanksgiving? (the only way to go from empty to full) Thanksgiving is the evidence of our acceptance of whatever He gives.
3/first flight: A friend notices that the author had changed after starting her 1000 Gifts list of things she already has (which started as a dare from a friend). Writing it down – it is sort of like…. unwrapping love. Writing the list makes her feel happy all day. If all these were gifts that God gives – then wasn’t my writing down the list like receiving. Like taking with thanks. Jesus took the bread, even the bread of death, and gave thanks. Paul: I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I name it, the naming of it manifests its meaning: to know it comes from God. Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. Giving thanks in all things is this: to give thanks in this one small thing. The moments will add up. The clouds open when we give thanks. Something always comes to fill the empty places. And when I have thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow within me. This act of naming grace moments, this list of God’s gifts moves beyond the shopping list variety of prayer and into the other side of prayer. It is really a dare to name all the ways that God loves me. Prayer, to be prayer, to have any power to change anything, must first speak thanks. Prayer without ceasing is only possible in a life of continual thanks. The gift list is thinking upon His goodness – and this, this pleases Him most!
4/a sanctuary of time: 362. Suds…all color in sun. They say that time is money, but that’s not true. Time is life. And if I want the fullest life, I need to find fullest time. The busyness of your life leaving little room for the source of your life. God gives us time. And who has time for God? Pastor’s biggest regret: Being in a hurry. I cannot think of a single advantage I’ve ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing. In all judgement and effort to get things done, hurry and impatience are sure marks of the amateur. I can slow the torrent by being all here. I only live the full life when I live fully in the moment. Giving thanks for one thousand things is ultimately an invitation to slow time down with the weight of full attention. In the present. I AM – His very name. Full attention slows time, and I live the full of the moment, right to the outer edges. I slow time! It’s ridiculous how much joy a moment can hold. Jesus gives thanks for the loaves (John 6:11). Give thanks and get time? The real problem in my life is not a lack of time but a lack of Thanksgiving. It’s giving thanks to God for this moment that multiplies the moments, time made enough. I am thank-full. I am time-full. While watching her kids eat: When did I stop thinking life was dessert? Life is dessert – too brief to hurry.
5/what in the world, in all this world, is grace: 1000 Resurrection bloom, an amaryllis, a gift a year in the coming. Fully live! Live fully! I know it in the vein and the visceral: life is loss. What will I lose? Who will I lose? That is what a shadow is, an empty space, a hold in the light. Evil is that – a hole in the goodness of God. That which seems evil only seems so because of perspective, the way the eyes see the shadows. Above the clouds, light never stops shining. Are your ways My ways? It’s just that my eyes are bad – my perspective. Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light (Matt 6:22-23). Author’s son has an accident and requires surgery on his hand the same day another Mennonite boy dies. Who deserves any grace? Is it because His heart awaits us at Home? Because if we don’t say goodbye here, when will we meet Him there? When I realize that it is not God who is in my debt but I who am in His great debt, then doesn’t all become gift? Oh, God, should I accept good from you, and not trouble? (Job 2:10) It’s the word of God that turns the rocks in the mouth to loaves on the tongue. Out of dark, tender life unfurled. Out of the darkness of the cross, the world transfigures into new life. And there is no other way. It is suffering that has the realest possibility to bear down and deliver grace. Darkness transfigures into light, bad transfigures into good. Staggeringly, doesn’t even Beauty Himself become the ugly-beautiful? God labors to birth grief into greater grace. All is grace. God is always good, and I am always loved. As the surgeon would cut open my son’s finger to heal him, so God chooses to cut into my ungrateful heart to make me whole.
6/what do you want? The place of seeing God: Author runs after the moon. Why have I run (to the moon)? A summer of physiotherapist appointments and daily bending exercises, trying to work his gnarled joint, stretch through the scar tissue stiff. These exercises to break down the knotting scar tissue from the fall. A summer of pain. A summer of grace. Wherever the pain there can be everywhere grace. It is the glimpse of His face to which I bow down. Do I have eyes to see it’s Him and not the thing? How we behold determines if we hold joy. Behold glory and be held by God. Isn’t Jesus Himself saying that people need to see and then believe – that looking and believing are the same thing? (John 3:14-15). Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God. Seeing is the spiritual life. To be like a cherubim with eyes all over their bodies, including hands and back. My moon wonder is but a glimpse, foretaste, of what God always sees, experiences. For God is happiest of all. Joy is God’s life. Don’t I yearn for it to be mine? I know what I want: to see deeply, to thank deeply, and to feel joy deeply. How my eyes see, perspective, is my key to enter into His gates. I can only do so with thanksgiving. If my inner eye has God seeping up through all things, then can’t I give thanks for anything? And if I can give thanks for the good things, the hard things, the absolute everything, I can enter the gates to glory. Living in His presence is fullness of joy and seeing shows the way in. It is the art of gratitude that makes joy possible. Isn’t joy the art of God? The glory of God is the human being fully alive, and the life of the human consists in beholding God. Don’t I give God most glory when I am fully alive? And I am most fully alive beholding God! One thing I ask of the Lord, this what I seek…all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to seek him in his temple (Psalm 27:4).
7/seeing through the glass: She is harsh with her son for throwing toast at his brother. Jesus: What do you Want? Ann: I want to see you in these faces. Jesus: seek my face. You would realize that your complaints about them are nothing more nor less than blasphemies. You believe in the power of the pit. Do I really smother my own joy because I believe that anger achieves more than love? Ann gives thanks aloud (with two of her sons in the room). All the world is a window (globe is glass to God). If we are willing to see, it is transparent. Why do I have spiritual Alzheimer’s, always forgetting? I am blind to joy’s well (Hagar and her son) every time I really don’t want it. The well is always there. Why do I lunge for control instead of joy? You have to want to see the well before you can drink from it. If we don’t intentionally commit to the hard practice of seeing, down we die in barren wilderness? The only way to fight a feeling is with a feeling. The Lord has to break us down (God touching Jacob’s hip sinew) at the strongest part of our self-life before He can have His own way of blessing with us. Wrestle with God, beg to see the blessings, and all faces become the face of God. Wells don’t come without first begging to see the wells, wells don’t come without first splitting open hard earth.
8/how will he not also? Their farm is losing money, and her husband encourages her to ‘just trust.’ Anxiety has been my natural posture, my default stiffness. Worry is the façade of taking action when prayer really is. What if I open the clenched hands wide to receive all that is? Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me (John 14:1). If I believe, then I must let go and trust. Choose stress, worry, anxiety, reject what God has given now, which is good news too – refuse to trust – and be condemned. If authentic, saving belief is the act of trusting, then to choose stress is an act of disbelief – atheism. Ann realizes that she feels no fear as the market still teeters, there has been no change. Thanks is what builds trust. Who trusts the Bridge Builder? Count blessing and discover Who can be counted on. I am grateful to the bridge builder for the crossing of a million strong bridges. Remembering frames up gratitude. Do this in remembrance of me (remember and give thanks). The foremost quality of a trusting disciple is gratefulness. All gratitude is ultimately gratitude for Christ, all remembering a remembrance of Him. All bridges hold, fastened by nails. God reveals himself in rearview mirrors. There is no joy without trust. Again, I refuse to walk the bridge into tomorrow’s unknowns, and I shame the Bridge Builder with my worries, my demands to stay here or go back. Perfect love cast out all.
9/go lower: Ann’s daughter takes some pictures, and the lower vantage point is unfamiliar to her. I want that crazy, happy joy, God. How have I lost it growing older, duller? Her Aunt is touched by her daughter’s wild joy in that ball – a happiness like I have never seen in all my travels through all these years. The joy of small that makes life large. Awe ignites joy because it makes us bend the knee. Expectations kill relationships – especially with God. After coming home from the hospital, she threw up her arms in giddy gratitude. It is only when our lives are emptied that we’re surprised by how truly full our lives were? Surprised by joy = no other way to discover joy but as surprise? In the upside-down kingdom of heaven, down is up and up is down, and those who want to ascend higher must descend lower. God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other, and that it is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower. The moment I try to grasp for humility, she’s gone. Her children break a glass cabinet door. Can we really expect joy all the time? He knows that the feeling of joy begins in the action of thanksgiving. Only self can kill joy. I’m the one doing this to me. A proud man is seldom grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves. My own wild desire to protect my joy at all costs (palms closed on joy’s fragile flame) is the exact force that kills my joy. His trials, oxygen for Joy’s fire. Leave the hand open and be. In Mary’s humility – her willingness to die to her expectations and plans – God exalts her. And I humbly open my hand to release my will to receive His, to accept His wind.
10/empty to fill: I wave back at my son and he laughs in the rain. I am a flame to light other flames. Waterfall of blessings falling into the open hand. Youth pastor asks her to go to Toronto as a chaperone. This is my place, open-handed. Homeless man with rubber mask: why you think I am wearing this mask? I am wearing it to mask my feelings. Then he starts crying saying he is so messed up. What do you do with all this grizzled pain? He asks a girl to read: “I know that nothing good lives in me, in my sinful nature. What a wretched man that I am! (Romans 7&8). Jesus washes disciples’ feet at the Last Supper. Communion is only complete in service (giving grace away/thanks-giving). Life of rote work = public servant. When Christ is the center of serving makes us a loving servant to all. That is what makes us content – the contented, deep joy is always in the touching of Christ – in whatever skin He comes to us in. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. (Matt 20:27) He calls us to serve, and it is Him whom we serve., but he kneels with us as we serve. Ann gathers with other women to break bread and wash feet. She asks: Do you feel served in your day-to-day life? Woman: I’m the one who needs to ask if I’ve been a blessing. Ann: The way you have been real with me, transparent and authentic, and we have been mothers, and we have been sisters and we have wept. The way through the pain is to reach out to others in theirs. This housework (1000 endless jobs) each gives the opportunity for one to become the gift. God can enter into me, and use these hands, these feet, to be His love, a love that goes on and on forever, endless cycle of grace.
11/the joy of intimacy: I fly to Paris and learn how to make love to God. He chooses his children to fully live. Fully live the fullest life: the astonished gratitude, the awed joy, the flying and the free. With each fight I had accepted and given thanks for, I let go of my own will and accepted His. The yearning. To merge with Beauty Himself (chasing the moon) I am not at all certain that I want consummation (completion of God’s purposes). All I can think: real communion (exchange intimate thoughts/bread & wine) terrifies. The risk is too great, the discomfort too so demanding. We prefer to settle for a less demanding, less overwhelming meeting. Yet we are haunted by the awareness only this overwhelming meeting gives life. He is calling for oneness. Communion. In union, that love is mine-ours! God is relationship and He woos us to relationship and there is nothing with God if there is no relationship. I could bless God – caress with Thanks. It’s our making love. I want it: union. I want to be in God and God to be in me, to exchange love and blessings and caresses. They attend the Louve and she sees Rembrandt’s Supper at Emmaus and she knows the warmth of union with Christ. Will I remember this, not wanting to spend an hour’s absence from Him? In the garden of Eden, union stolen. How badly do I want to return to perfect Paradise, walk with God in the cool of the evening, be fully alive?

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an EXCELLENT Bible study that my weekly group "Women Journeying Through the Bible" just completed. The focus was on entering our gifts into our Gratitude Journal showing eucharisteo (thanksgiving - being thankful) for the gifts God surrounds us with every day - so many that we take for granted. We had a lot of fun with our journals - each doing theirs differently - some used their smart phones, others by making lists and I had the fun of using a composition book and gluing in pictures of each of my gifts (I even used colored pencils to embellish some of the pages . . . told you I had fun!) Once I realized the gift I found an image of it on the internet or in my photo albums - printed them out - glued them into the book and wrote a little summary allowing me to absorb the meaning of the gift and feel grateful. Ann definitely has a way with words - we all thought she was very poetic (without the rhyming). Her testimonies really helped us dig deeply into ourselves. We learned to turn the ugly into beautiful (believe it or not I found a "gift" by getting the flu!!!). I provided the DVD for our weekly meeting, each woman had their own participant's guide and several of us brought and read Ann's book alongside the study. The book does provide additional meaning to the study but it was not required for the study. I highly recommend this study for any small group or even by yourself. The DVD is very cheap and is purchased with the participant's guide so it is not expensive to do it by yourself if you so desire - BUT the fun is in sharing your gifts and having fellowship with your friends. Enjoy!!!

[Kimberlee Reitmeier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved how it helped me focus on the little things in life to be grateful for. Could not stand her over dramatization of all things. Very uncomfortable with her making love chapter at the end. Totally lost my support at that point.

[Katie Kreamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
A beautiful book and study guide by @annvoskamp ! It truly dives in to helping you find the things you can have gratitude for in your life and how to use that to model Christ’s love for others!

[Crystal Stoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

She is so poetic and and help change my cynical view on the world to something more ethereal and gods and calm. It’s a gift.

[Haley Kardokus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ann is a beautiful writer and I loved listening to this in her voice. This was a gift to me!

[Vanessa Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uplifting and strengthening read.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just the study guide without the DVD. I recently purchased an e-reader & was trying to figure out how to download an e-book from the library collection. I thought I was getting the book, "One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are". When I discovered that it was only the study guide, I decided to keep it on my e-reader & use it as my first experience to get used to my new reading medium. I should also state that when I went back to the library web site & tried to get the actual book, all the copies including the e-book were being used & there was a wait list. So, I was really curious to see what this was all about. The study guide gave me an overview of the book and there was enough information there to give me more than a good idea.
Ms. Voskamp shares her life experiences and suggests ways to examine your own life with the goal of becoming more spiritual. The general idea is to live life with the attitude of gratitude and I could take what I learned from the study guide and go on from there but if you want more of the details of Ms. Voskamp's experiences, you will need to read about them in her book.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I'll definitely read year after year. I catch myself not always immediately penning down my moments, but constantly thanking God for them. There is beauty in every part of life from the dirty dishes(God thank you for the meal you blessed us) to the screaming children(Lord thank you for the blessing of children and the wisdom and perseverance you give me in these times). Truly, a life filled with eucharisteo is a life well lived, constantly expressing our gratitude for each moment we're given.

[Jennifer Jessop · Rating 5 out of 5]

This study guide was very helpful for taking notes along with the DVD. Since this was used for a FaithGateway Online Bible Study, I was able to watch the DVD online and see the online discussion of the DVD. Honestly, with the study taking place from November 18 to December 22, my schedule did not permit me to delve too much into the between-session personal study sections.

Hearing Ann speak and read from her books was the icing on the cake for me. Perhaps, too, I will move from Eucharisteo to joy.

[Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rich study. The dvd and study guide do not follow the original book exactly, but present it in a condensed form. The photography is beautiful and Ann's teaching is full of depth and grace. I taught this to a tribe of about 20 women and it was rich and beautiful. I will likely teach it again in the fall, and I have no doubt I will be blessed even more the next time through the study as there is plenty of manna in this book. So grateful for Ann Voskamp.

[Robin Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not a video I would recommend. People in my study group were impacted because it reached deep, dark, hidden and emotional places inside them. There was a lot of breakdown and sobbing during sessions, but did not seem to lead people towards healthy healing. Maybe that wasn't the goal, maybe it was just to uncover and expose peoples tender underbellies. Sessions finished with a lot of heaviness and quietness but not a lot of freedom.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I only read the study guide, I did participate in a ladies' study which watched the video narrated by Voskamp herself. This is an extraordinary study guide (and video), and I'm sure the book also is worth a close reading. Her message: look for and appreciate the 1,000 gifts God gives us each day. That is the springboard for additional discussion and study. Highly recommend.

[Mary Marsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a life changer for me. A reread and redo, daily and worthy of daily remembering. the Study Guide, in my opinion would be transformational, as well, but in a small group where sharing allows you to talk out your inner thoughts and struggles in the way the questions aim to guide the reader. Excellent resource and amazing content.

[Misti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some great points, but all in all, I found myself getting lost in the poetic style of the book. I listened to some of it and read some of it and I couldn’t decide which way was better. Listening, I would get lost in all the poetic language and reading, I felt like the ideas were too vague or obscure and that my reading of it couldn’t flow well. Overall, not my favorite style.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly one of my favorites! My small group loved it and we had great dialogue around the topic of living with heart of 'eucharisteo': honor, praise, thanksgiving, gratefulness.
"May your life's thanksgiving become thanks living."

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh how I love this book! I love the continuous reminder that we find joy through being continuously grateful to God. I feel so much more intelligent after reading a book written by Ann Voskamp. Her poetic writing style is simply splendid.

[Bree · Rating 3 out of 5]

The accompanying dvd has gorgeous videography! There’s lots of good stuff in there. Lots to reflect on. While at times I just LOVE her lyrical style of writing, sometimes it just goes over my head. It was a nice study to do as a group & discuss as we went along.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne's interpretation of scripture regarding the thankful life is beautiful and extraordinary.

[Shelley Chisholm-speers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shared this study & DVD with some girlfriends on a weekend in my home. WE LOVED it. Highly recommend it.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

helped me change my thonking to God's way of thinking.
Being grateful in every moment and in small things!

[Robin Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

See review of book.

[Sara Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pleasant Bible study shared with the NewLife women's group.

[Lolo Mcclure · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent resource and well written.
A sweet and intimate time within the book study circle.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

We did this Bible study with our teen daughter ... Really good, simple, nice video sessions.

[Cyndi Marton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not follow this book at all. I tried to made it to chapter 3 and had to give up. I wish I had read an excerpt & reviews before I got it. I do not recommend this book.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very good study!

[Simon Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book equals your life made better.

[Janette Johnson Melson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I quote this book all the time. It is my all-time-favorite Bible study. Not only do I love Ann Voskamp's ideas, but she writes the most beautiful prose.