Saturday 1 October 2016

Choosing Gratitude {and a GIVEAWAY}

It's been a busy day here, but I want to quickly share about something that you may wish to hop on board with.

I have been reading through the Psalms, along with the lovely Candace Crabtree,  from His Mercy is New. We read a Psalm a day and find ways we can pray those words for ourselves. It's a wonderful exercise in making God's Word our own, and making it applicable to the situation we are in right now. The relevancy of so many of the Psalms is staggering!  It's been such a blessing to go through the Psalms in this way, and find the truths that are contained in them.

Well, Candace is starting a 30 days of Gratitude challenge. She will be posting videos on her FB page and sharing about it on her IG account +Candace Crabtree  It's all about cultivating an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude -  and which one of us doesn't need that in our lives? We don't just need it in an accidental sort of way, we need to be intentional about CHOOSING to be grateful, no matter our circumstances.

Candace will be using Nancy Leigh DeMoss's book, "Choosing Gratitude". It's not essential to have it, but I am sure it will be a book that you will be glad you purchased. It's available in print and on Kindle, as well as an Audiobook! There are other books she will be referring to, but she shares about them on her videos. Hop over to her post today for more information.

I have some new journals all ready to start recording the things I am grateful for.  I plan to also use Ann Voskamp's "Joy Dare" resources to journal my gratitude journey. She has OODLES of beautiful printables, which you can have free access to by subscribing. (Details on the post here) I've always intended to take part in her "Joy Dare", so this seems like the perfect time to jump in. She gives three prompts for each day, to help you think of things to give thanks for. Some will come to mind quickly, others may require some thought, but all will result in gratitude.

We all have SO much to be thankful for. SO much. As we have been learning about so many countries around the world where they face persecution, poverty and illness on a regular basis, I have reminded the children JUST how blessed we are, and we take it for granted.

Also, I am going to be starting back with Heidi St John's scripture writing challenge. She shares a few verses every day for you to read, meditate upon, then write out. The act of writing something out will aid you in remembering it, and we can all benefit from having scripture engraved on our hearts in any way we can. You can find out more about that on Heidi's IG account, her FB page, or on her website.

Whatever you do, make sure you try and get into God's Word when you can!

I can't wait to get started on my "Choosing Gratitude", and also hope to have my 13 year old daughter, Beth, joining me on this journey. I may get her to do a guest post on the way through, to share about what she is learning.

I will share what I have been journaling, as I go along - on IG, FB and on here. I can tell this is going to be just wonderful, and my heart if filled with joy just thinking about it.

We have our Harvest Supper at Church tonight, so I hope to spend some time this evening on these challenges. I can't wait!

BUUUUUUUUTTTT....


To kick start this season of gratitude, what better way than to give someone another reason to BE grateful?? I haven't had a give-away for ages, so I would love to share some joy with others!

I am going to give-away a couple of things! There are two items, and you can enter to win either of them.

Firstly, I have a large Moleskine Journal that I have hand lettered and painted. These journals are ruled, with 80 pages (16 detachable), so just a nice size for a month of journaling gratitude. I have hand lettered it with silver sharpie, and used shimmering paints for the flowers. It's really pretty, and it was going to be for myself, but I thought it would be much nicer to give it away (and fits right in with studying the trait of "generosity" with my children this week). I can always decorate another for myself, which would be such a chore... aherm.




 I am also going to give away a copy of the book that we are using during the challenge - Choosing Gratitude, by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.





You can enter to win either of these below. This is open to anyone, as I am happy to send the journal abroad. I'm all for sharing the love as far and wide as need be.

The give-away is only until Monday evening, so if this is a book you would like to have to join in with the challenge, you can get it as soon as possible! So, you have until midnight GMT on the third of October to enter (remember that is FIVE hours ahead of EST, and 8 ahead of Pacific). Share, share, share so people know, and maybe you will be the winner!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

20 comments :

  1. What a lovely pair of prizes! I agree that we have SO much to be thankful for. I often say to the children ... just stop and 'count your blessings... actually name them one by one. And yes, it will surprise us what the Lord has done'. I often say this at morning worship ... and the blessings for THAT DAY are countless even THEN! Imagine our whole lives ... what a dreadful thing it is to be ungrateful to the Giver of good gifts.
    A x

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  2. So much to be thankful for each day, a good reminder to stop and thank x
    Dawn MacK

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  3. I am so grateful that my husband is still alive. I am so grateful that I can be a part of my grandchildren's lives.

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  4. I am so grateful that my husband is still alive. I am so grateful that I can be a part of my grandchildren's lives.

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  5. Grateful for family,and food, and home.

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  6. A grateful heart is such a blessing! And it is good to cultivate that. It helps us to be content and "contentment and godliness are great gain" Rachel x

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  7. Sometime throughout the chaos of everyday life I need to stop and be grateful for the simple things. Today I'm grateful for family time and a warm fire.

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  8. I would be happy to win either. Thanks for doing this. I think this is a great season for me to focus on gratefulness.

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  9. This is a cool giveaway :-) Oh, it is a daily with choosing joy at the moment, but it makes such a difference when I do. We have so much to be grateful for.

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  10. I am grateful for our beautiful new daughter, our other children and my husband :-)

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  11. What a beautiful journal 😊 I started keeping a gratitude journal this year it really helps focus on the good 😊

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  12. I have to be grateful for my family and my amazing colleaques. And our home :)
    Jenna

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  13. Oh, this would be lovely! I am grateful to go to a church that faithfully teaches God's word and cares for me.

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  14. Sweet! I am so thankful to be alive and share life with family and friends.

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  15. I have Ann's book but would love to have this one by Nancy. My local library doesn't have it. :-/

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  16. Blessed by His goodness

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  17. This is very nice of you to do. This is my first time starting a gratitude journal, I'm so excited to see what God teaches me through this. Love the colors on your blog

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  18. Hi
    I'd love to win!
    To I'm so thankful that it is just over a year since surgery and how much better I am! I'm so so thankful to be able to wipe my work top!

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  19. What a lovely pair of prizes! I agree that we have SO much to be thankful for. I often say to the children ... just

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