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Teary eyes blur the story on the screen.

Because it reminded me of the girl I used to be.

Young and in love.  Happy and care free.

Trusting implicitly in my Savior.  Seeing every gift as one from His hand.  Knowing He would withhold no good thing.

What happened to that girl?  When did life become such a drudgery?  At what point did I get so stressed about everything?

It wasn’t any accident that I picked up Ann Voskamp’s new book that afternoon.

Tears spilled from my eyes again.

Suddenly, I knew what had happened to that girl: she forgot how to delight in the little things.

She had stopped seeing every thing as a gift from His hands.

She had not yet learned to give thanks in all the hard things as well as in all the happy.

I know just reading this book won’t do it.  Not even just counting the gifts will change my heart.

But it’s a start.

Because it is pointing me to the cross, pointing me to the Word of Life.

And when it comes to things and books and blogs—that so easily distract me—I want to only read the ones that make me want to turn from the computer to pick up my Bible.

That’s the kind of blog that “A Holy Experience” has become for me. That’s the kind of book One Thousand Gifts is.

I know that I need to listen only to the people who are saying the things I need to be hearing—the things that are His Words.

I need the reminders that yes, all moms struggle with speaking in patience and kindness, all friends find it hard to speak the truth in love.

But more than that, in all that, I need the reminder that the only answer to the struggle is to fill myself with His Word, His life.

It’s not that anyone has all the answers.  It’s only that some point to the questions, some point to The Answer.

Ann Voskamp dared to ask the hard questions—and in counting One Thousand Gifts has learned the heart of the The Answer.

(Watch an interview with Ann about her book and story: part 1 and part 2.)

Written for YLCF’s March of Books—where we are giving away two copies of One Thousand Gifts!