One Thousand Gifts

A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

By: Ann Voskamp

Narrated by: Ann Voskamp

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

More than 1.5 million copies sold! What if you discovered that the life you already have is the life you’ve always wanted? What if joy is possible right where you are? New York Times best-selling author Ann Voskamp invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative journey of chronicling God's gifts.

How can you find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and even the death of loved ones? What does the Christ-life really look like when your days are gritty, long, and sometimes even dark? How is God even here?

“It is in the dark that God is passing by...our lives shake not because God has abandoned but the exact opposite. God is passing by. God is in the tremors. Dark is the holiest ground, the glory passing by. In the blackest, God is closest, at work, forging his perfect and right will. Though it is black and we can’t see and our world seems to be free-falling and we feel utterly alone, Christ is most present to us...”

In One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp invites you to discover a way of seeing that opens your eyes to ordinary amazing grace, a way of living that is fully alive, and a way of becoming present to God that brings deep and lasting joy. It's only in the expression of gratitude for the life we already have, we discover the life we've always wanted...a life we can take, give thanks for, and break for others. Come to feel and know the impossible right down in your bones: you are wildly loved by God.

As Ann invites you into her own beautiful, heart-aching moments of amazing grace, she gently teaches you how to:

• Biblically lament loss and turn pain into poetry
• Intentionally embrace a lifestyle of radical gratitude
• Slow down and catch God in the moment

Not an audiobook merely to listen to, One Thousand Gifts is an invitation to engage with truths that will serve up the depths of God’s joy and transform your life forever. Leave pride, fear, and control behind, and abandon yourself to the God who overflows your cup.

©2011 Ann Voskamp (P)2011 Zondervan

Good message but boring and hard to listen to.

I think the overall message of the book is amazing and the author does an amazing job in displaying God’s love in our lives. The problem I had was in the reading of the book and the word choice and detail in the book. There was too much detail on everything the author said that I was hard to keep up with what she was saying and describing without falling asleep or getting distracted. Also the way she read the book often hurt my ears with the sharp stinging of the pronunciation of words with S’s sounding off in them. Yet overall I think it is a pretty good book.

1,000 Gifts

1,000 Gifts is a must read for every human. Focusing on thankfulness radically changes our perspective on life and relationship with God.

Lifechanging

It's a life changing and truth and a Saint- making method. A book to listen to again and again..

In Her Own Words... Literally!

There is something so beautiful about hearing an author read her own words. Ann's particular writing style is conducive to being read aloud. Because she relates a lot of personal stories in her book, she is able to convey the exact emotion of the moment, the sounds of the voices... its pretty amazing. The message of this book is priceless and life-changing. I wish I could buy cases of this book to give out to about everyone I know. This goes beyond your typical Evangelical self-help drivel. This book is meant to get into your soul, into your marrow and change the way you look at the world. Its working for me. Its a fantastic gift. Thank you Ann!

A guiding Pleasure

This book really gave me so much insight and a wonderful way to see the world and the everyday life. As she tells her story, she also teaches...And her voice is amazing,,her story is amazing, you almost feel as if you were there watching. I really grew with much needed knowledge and a realization that I am not alone in the "taking for granted" we sometimes do. Brilliant.

Beautiful and Poetic

A timely course on gratitude, the author uses day to day, even moment to moment anecdotal observations to teach gratitude and God's grace, and why and how these transform us. The wording can be a bit tiresome, redundant, but all the glimpses of farm life, family life and nature make up for it.

Artistry of words

Deeper waters.More to be had than can gained in one listening. Truly the best book in quite a while

excellent

loved this book! I wasn't sure if I could keep listening but after the first 2 chapters it gets better. She laid the foundation for her story, the first 2 were just so sad. It gets so much better though.

Incredible writer

Where does One Thousand Gifts rank among all the audiobooks you???ve listened to so far?

Top 5

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ann and family

Which scene was your favorite?

Soap bubbles

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Any additional comments?

Ann is one of the best writers I have ever read or listened to. To think she is a farmers wife with 6 kids and not have even finished college makes this book even more amazing!

75% of a masterpiece

Almost a great book. The central message is fantastic: unlock a joyful and fulfilling life through living thankfully and seeing each aspect of life from God's eyes.
The presentation is well thought out, and poetic and flowery. By presenting the truth in a great variety of contexts, Ann presses home the main point solidly. I think the repetition is needed because Voskamp uses them to skillfully bring out new aspects, methods, and benefits to the life of thankfulness.
The problem is that it's tough to follow. Likely only Ann could read it with the proper expression because others wouldn’t be about to follow the thoughts Ann does a great job reading it, but it's still choppy. My wife and I gave up on the hard copy, and would not have made it through without this audiobook version.
It's like an unfinished piece of furniture. Think of a beautifully carved exotic wooden chair that isn't sanded or sealed, so it's not smooth and occasionally gives you splinters. The language is often so poetic that the reader is left struggling with the grammar, trying to make sense of the thought, and thereby disrupting the flow. It's sprinkled with glittery details added for interest, but that ultimately distract. Consequently, it takes perseverance to press past the words and get to the wonderfully insightful message.
I would urge the author to take this rough, but sorely needed masterpiece, and revise it. “Put the cookies on the lower shelf so that children can reach, and all will be fed.” Perhaps go over it two times - once to clarify the illustrations so that a child could understand it. And a second time to smooth out the choppiness and improve the readability. The poetic beauty can be retained, without making it so difficult to read that the message loses is draw.
That said, if a listener or reader can stick with it to the end and get past the choppiness they will be blessed by this wonderful book!