Welcome to Litsy!

#5JoysFriday

💇‍♀️ A much-overdue haircut on Wednesday (it‘s ~8 in. shorter!)
📚 Seeing a family walking in my neighborhood & noticing one of the kids lagging behind the rest… because she was reading a book while walking.💜
🥗 Dinner with one of my best friends (pictured is the amazing salad I had!)
🗣️ Encouraging conversations as I‘m gathering info on becoming a spiritual director
🍽️ Looking forward to lunch tomorrow with another close friend

I‘m not sure what about this rubbed me the wrong way. The lack of true acknowledgment of trauma? The way she made the act of gratitude so easy even when she claimed it was hard? I just felt like I couldn‘t connect with her, like her life was so full of magic and rainbows thanks to thanksgiving that I couldn‘t meet her at the starting point. Not for me.

I'm always here for challenges that encourage me to focus on gratitude. I genuinely believe that contentment & gratitude are foundational to a happy life. We spend so much time worrying about things we can't change & thinking about things we can't have instead of embracing the life we've been given.

Thanks for thinking of this idea @Joscho - I truly think that a #MarvelousMay is possible if we are willing to find it!!

Second game for Thursday for #teamfozziwig #wintergames @Clwojick @StayCurious

#quotsymar19 @TK-421
#Giant

This book is like a warm comfy blanket - it seeps into your soul and heals wounds you didn‘t know were there. But it‘s also challenging, gently but firmly making you look at your doubt, fear, and lack of attention to things that matter.

I thought this book would be spiritual fluff with no substance, so I avoided it for a while. But through its poetic writing style, it encompasses incredible truths and challenges not to be missed.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I've been meaning to post this for a while. I can't I'm happy to say I have reached 1000 followers! You guys are so awesome, and I'm so grateful for the love from this litten community that I would like to give some of that love back. 🤗 Comment below with your favorite thing to recieve as a gift by 11:59pm (Pacific standard time) Halloween day (october31st) and be entered win a special box of goodies specially curated by me! Spread the word!

“Worry is the facade of action when prayer really is. And ‘stressed‘, this pitched word that punctuates every conversation, is it really my attempt to prove how indispensable I am? Or is it more? Maybe disguising my deep fears as stress seems braver somehow.” -Ann Voskamp

This has been my excuse for too many months on inactivity! But most importantly, congratulations to @callielafleur on the 1k milestone! #litsyisthebestUS

Day 13: #BeautifulWriting
Ann Voskamp has such a poetic way with words.
#ReadingResolutions

I‘ve yet to read this book but I love this!!

I am probably not the audience for this writing. It was a bit of a downer to me. The writing expressed with a mix of saccharin and melodrama. It read more like a memoir and the real challenges she faces and the faith challenges as well. For me it was a bit too much. I know so many love this book. I can‘t say any more than it was just not for me.

My last post asked about “Book that stressed me out... this is one of two. I‘ve learned to bail on books that stress me out.

This was so bad and nothing positive about this - very depressing and it never got better. I yelled at the person who thought this would be a good book for me. There is nothing redeemable about this book. Not a fan of martyrdom. Not for those in midst of religious burnout or victims of religious abuse.

Spreading the word! Congrats on #1K followers!!! 👏👏👏🍾🍾
Check them out to enter 😊
#bookkeepersgiveaway

@TheBookKeepers

I appreciate Voskamp's #devotion in writing this book. The thought of recording 1,000 gifts is astounding and humbling. #readingresolutions

I knew I was close and then sailed right past! My first 1000 Litfluence, I'm so proud!

So this is a pick with one big caveat: It is definitely of the Christian persuasion. I was ready for a syrup filled offering but she startles out of the gate talking about the lack of god and gratitude of any kind in her family growing up. The book is about a challenge that a friend gave her. For a book without specific personal challenges, it seemed to take me a long time to read, but I think that is because it is dense with ideas. The best kind

Well it took more than a year but I️ finally broke four digits. This Thanksgiving I‘m thankful for my Litsy community!

"...to give thanks is an action and rejoice is a verb and these are not mere pulsing emotions. While I may not always feel joy, God asks me to give thanks in all things, because He knows that the feeling of joy begins in the action of thanksgiving."

I tried to get a screenshot when I hit 1000, but someone liked a post before I could get the pic. So thank you all for 1001 Litfluence points!

Woo HOO!!!

Take 1,000 Gifts and multiply them by 10.

Thanks, Litsy Friends. ❤

LIFE CHANGING!!! Those are the first words I would use to describe this book! A friend recommended this to me quite a while ago so I bought it. It sat on my "to be read" pile for nearly a dozen months before I finally got to it and I couldn't put it down! It has revolutionized my perspective and changed my heart on giving thanks for life and living fully! This is a MUST READ!! I will definitely be reading it again! #AnnVoskamp #Eucharisteo

My #ThankfulFor picture for the #PhotoADayNov16 challenge is my gratitude journal. I started doing it after reading One Thousand Gifts but it's a great practice that lots of therapists recommend. #HappyThanksgiving

My last #FunFridayPhoto for today! Spiritual/Christian books I'm #thankful for. The Divine Conspiracy revolutionized the way I saw my faith- a shift to spiritual transformation & heart change rather than what he calls "sin management." Dallas Willard is the best. One Thousand Gifts reminds me to daily live in gratitude, and Let Your Life Speak opened my eyes to the connection between my deepest passion, ministry, and vocation.

For today's #inspiring #photoadaynov16 pick: a book that's also seasonally-appropriate as Thanksgiving is coming up. This is a beautiful exploration of how a practice of gratitude can transform the everyday.

Long, I am woman who speaks but one language, the language of the fall - discontentment and self-condemnation, the critical eye and the never satisfied. 5/5 - superlative

I had a successful trip to the library yesterday evening. I have read this before but it's been awhile and I love intentional stories. 💛🐝 So felt it would be a nice summer read.

As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible.