The trailer for One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.... Share the trailer and the dare to live fully alive with friends :::: :::: :::: A whole community of women welcome you to the online Bloom (in) Courage Book Club, reading, discussing and growing with... One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are :: An Excerpt from Chapter 1 of One Thousand Gifts 'Aglowing sun-orb fills an August sky the day this story begins, the day that I am ...
Dear friends, Jessica and Angie asked if I might just slip in here with a bit of an introduction? Well... this is where I've been... and some days still find me right here: I rant and rave at the kids and it's ugly. And guess who shows up even here? There are things in my life that wildly hurt and I'm holding on to Grace by letting go. This a process and I struggle and keep returning to the wood and the Word. I believe in the impossible. My life's changed not because my ...
One Thousand Gifts: Chapter One from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo. In so many ways this chapter set the stage for all we are going to experience together during the course of this book study. As Ann mentions, it begins for her in a dark piece of her memories but this ache has given way to beautiful growth and a love for the Lord that transcends circumstance. In my own life I can think of many of these times, where I was pressed up against the fact that what I thought would be best wasn’t what ...
One Thousand Gifts: Chapter Two from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo. I was stopped cold on page 26 when I read about Ann’s “taunt of names.” They will no doubt be different for each of us but certainly we can relate to the notion that we each have these “signs nailed overhead…through us…naming us.” Immediately a few of those come to mind, and I am struck with the intensity with which they sting. I realize as I am reading that these names have affected me profoundly, on levels I’m not sure I have ...
One Thousand Gifts- Chapter Three from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo. I feel like this is where the nitty-gritty, let’s get started, pen to paper moments started to happen as I first read the book. I was sitting on the edge of my seat, agreeing with all of the things Ann had said, hungry to apply her thoughts to my life. In this chapter, we listen as Ann and her friend converse over cucumber chopping, and we hear about “the list.” I can tend to be a little type “A,” and I will admit that this ...
One Thousand Gifts: Chapter 4 from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo. Who feels like their life is crazy? I am writing this, trapped in my office at work. You see, I live in Nashville and it is snowing. We probably have two inches. But the streets are gridlocked and people are panicked, trying to get home. Snow is not a common thing here. After 20 minutes in the car and traveling less than a block, I came back to the office... a bit frustrated. But, I decided to take these hours as a ...
One Thousand Gifts: Chapter 5 from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo. Well, as you can see from the video, this wasn’t an easy one for me. It had a lot of wrestling, heart-pounding, broken memories pulled out of shadows. But, as we are learning and trusting God, we grow in our ability to see what He intends to do with the shadows. That was the heart of the conversation we had on the couch several months ago as we discussed Levi’s hand and the moment where I had to say goodbye to my daughter’s ...
One Thousand Gifts: Chapter 6 from Bloom (in)courage on Vimeo. I have been struggling with this post because Ann covers SO much in the video and the chapter. So, I've decided to break this post up into a couple small sections, which I think gives us a lot to discuss! ------- The title of chapter six asks the reader: What do you want? In the video Ann discusses the importance of answering that question - and that for her the answer is seeing God. But it is not the same for ...
