I bought Ann’s book and started my own journal of counting. Counting gifts, counting graces. Recording the blesses that He daily loads us with.

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. ~ 1 Thessalonians  5:18

In everything.

Eucharisteo.

“And he took the bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them…”(Luke 22:19)…..In the original language, “he gave thanks” reads “eucharisteo.” …The root word of eucharisteo is charis, meaning “grace.” Jesus took the bread and saw it as grace and gave thanks. He took the bread and knew it to be gift and gave thanks….But there is more, and I read it. Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning “joy.” ~from One Thousand Gifts

I’m learning what that really means.

Even in the hard things.

Starting simple, with every day life, giving thanks seems easy. It’s a choice and I’m learning to choose thanks over bitterness. Stumble though I may {over and over I stumble} I will press through this never ending list of gratitude. And I’m finding joy. I’m learning what it means to accept His will even in the hard things and to say, “YES”, and “thank you, Lord.”

Like Monday.

Monday. The day I would make a decision I knew He would have me make. I had seen Him work in her life and I know He’s still working. I know He’s faithful. Still, I would have to make this choice and she would go back to the walls of a cell. Sitting in a court room with knotted stomach, heart racing so fast at times I thought I would pass out, I said over and over the words that my sister had said while praying with me that morning—”You are Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there.” He was there. He is here. With me, with her. And in that moment, “thank you. Even in this, I give you thanks.” Each time, over and over, every single time I pressed through the fear that tried to consume me, each time I chose thanks, I chose to accept the moment for what it was and calm flooded my soul.

Even when the circumstances seem to want to crush the very life out of you, when stability grows weak and fear seems sure to grip you and tear you apart—even then we can make a choice to thank Him and to accept the moment.

Even on Monday, my Dad’s birthday. With heartache so great I could barely breath, with uncertainty over her future I said yes to Him, to what He would have me do. When emotion begged me make a different choice I did the hard thing and the bond was revoked.  And even now as I type this and it seems appalling and absurd that I would dare share this story I know that He WILL work in this and He WILL work through this. I will trust Him and thank Him even in the hard things. I’ll stumble again and I’ll struggle but I’m learning that this is where freedom is. This is joy. And I pray she finds it and I pray you do, too.

And just as I know that He alone brings freedom and this is what I want for her and it can be found even behind cell walls, I know I, too, must choose daily. Even when I see her, hands and feet cuffed, overcome with emotion, I choose through the heart wrenching unbearable ache to say, “thank you, Lord.” “I trust YOU, Lord.”

As Ann says over and over in her book, “Eucharisteo always precedes the miracle.”

Life is a gift. Each moment is a gift. Even in the hard things there is reason for thanks. And this always precedes the miracle.

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Luke 22:19-20

For the body broken and the blood shed, even before going to the cross He gave thanks.

He gave thanks.

And then the miracle…