Seeing the Gifts

Seeing the Gifts

For the past 2 days, during my time of prayer, I've been strongly drawn to this phrase, "Come and see."

It is an invitation from the Lord to come into His presence.
I am thankful that He has given me the privilege to be able to come into His presence. He is THE King after all. and who am I? But He invites ME! Yes, lowly me to come before Him, everyday, every moment. What a blessing it is!

It is a promise to see.
When I come into His presence, I am able to see not with human eyes but with my heart. He is present in each moment. His grace fills every day. His gifts and mercies abound if we but open our eyes. Today, He promised that I would see. 

What a beautiful gift to be able to see this. Ann Voskamp has launched a dare: to count 1000 gifts this 2012, to create this habit of thanks.

I had started to count 2 years ago in fact. However, I was not consistent in putting pen to paper and list all these wonderful gifts that I kept seeing in my life. At last count, I was only on #143.

I know the gifts are far beyond the thousands. And I know that I have a grateful heart. But it can always use some strengthening. So I am thankful for the list that Ann has put together for this month. They are prompts that I can use to purposefully look for the gifts. Sometimes, life can be so monotonous and mundane that I forget to see beyond the obvious.

Thank you Ann for sharing with us this tool. Thank you for encouraging me. (Sidenote: A year ago, I posted a pic on Flickr and added it to the 1000gifts pool and she commented on how the photo made her smile and happy. I was floored that she noticed my photo and that it touched her. It absolutely made me feel giddy like a school girl. Haha.)

I invite you to jump right in and list your gifts. She's even got an app to make it easier to list and share your gifts. I'm enjoying it! (And no, this is not a paid or sponsored post. I know how powerful this habit can affect lives that I want to share it with you!)

Come and see.
That's what God told me. In my heart.
That's what I plan on doing for the rest of the year...and my life. Come into His presence everyday and see the opened gifts before me.