One Thousand Gifts | Musings of a (Recovering) Strong Black Woman

His calendar was full, no room for extras and that seemed to mean no room for extras for me. But I had extras, too. My husband worked his 9-5 each day and on Monday he taught at night; Tuesday he studied at night; Wednesday he administrated at night; Thursday he met at night; Friday he ran a program at night; and Saturday he ran out of gas and I ran out of memory. It was a marathon week, with Flynn gone and me doing an interview and writing a speech on top of my blogging and daily homemaking and childrearing duties. Even with our race we didn’t feel misplaced. We know that God extended His grace to get us through the week and keep us on good terms with some of our best friends who we completely forgot we were supposed to hang out with Saturday evening.

I felt awful that I forgot, that I disappointed my friends and wouldn’t have the pleasure of their company, hers in particular, that I had been looking forward to all month. I felt awful that I felt awful and couldn’t push my body to have dinner with her, to have a moment reminiscent of our pre-children leisurely lunches. My friend didn’t snap at me, but forgave me, knowing that forgetting “is not something that you do.” She knew the week was a lot and she knew me a lot better. I needed her grace, especially after my website went down and it was hard for me to calm down about it. With the help of my webmaster and a hired one, my site was back up within a few hours and should be completely up-to-date soon. All is God’s grace. I say a BIG THANK YOU to God for His grace. This is the only thing that will keep you, no matter what your pace.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#31-40
Finishing my blog post uninterrupted
God for giving me a blog post
My husband for cooking
A relaxing day
A productive day
That my children like fruit
Not having to cook dinner
Another snow day
The Michigan Right to Life (RTL) Speaker Series
Being able to attend the RTL Life Speaker Series event at church alone

What Do You Think? Wednesdays

Be in the world but not of the world, we Christians are told, but to tell you the truth, I don’t always know what that looks like. I struggle with Paul’s statement that he became all things to all people to win some to Christ. What does that really mean? How did he do that? Even as I try to navigate the world system and not look like the world system, to win nonbelievers to Jesus Christ, I find myself waiting to hear step by step instructions from God. That’s the only way I’ve been able to attend secular gatherings and let my light shine, to speak of the Divine without compromise or condemnation. I believe the book One Thousand Gifts, by far my most favorite recent read, does just that. The book by Ann Voskamp is honest about her Christian struggles, questioning God’s goodness but eventually accepting all as grace from God. One Thousand Gifts goes into the world (including being on the New York Times Bestseller List), putting forth raw emotions and poetic language that many—Christians and non-Christians—can relate to, but it never embraces the world’s conclusions of creating a comfortable God who is easy to consume. Voskamp’s work is definitely a great example of being in the world and not of the world, maybe even becoming all things to all people to win some to Christ.

How have you come to understand Paul’s declaration in 1 Corinthians 9:2? What are some ways that your life demonstrates being in the world, not of the world, and winning folks to Christ?

Musings of a (Recovering) Strong Black Woman

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