Eucharisteo

1. to be grateful, feel thankful 
2. give thanks 

If you've received an e-mail from me in the last few months you will notice that I sign most of my e-mails with this word just before signing my name. I've recently learned what this word means after reading Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts. Voskamp explains the vital connection between living a life fully unto the Lord and living a life of thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving - giving thanks in everything - is what prepares the way for salvation's whole restoration. Our salvation in Christ is real, yet the completeness of that salvation is not fully realized in a life until the life realizes the need to give thanks (Voskamp, p. 40)

 {{sigh}} In her book, over and over she reminds readers that the secret to living joy in every situation is living a life in constant thanksgiving to God. Ann Voskamp seems to have learned just what the Apostle Paul learned:

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need (Phil. 4:11-12)

She has learned this through this Greek term eucharisteo. Throughout her book she presents this idea of literally thanking God for everything. She even begins to make a list - a goal - to name one thousand gifts that she has received from God. From the most mundane to the most grandeur of blessings, she records it. She describes the writing down of each gift as the act of receiving it from the Lord and offering thanks back to Him, just as Jesus did on the night that He was betrayed (1 Cor. 11:23-24: Same word eucharisteo used here). I mean, this woman wrote down every little thing that she saw and turned it into a gift from the Lord. Here are some examples:

37. Windmills droning in day's last breeze

38. Wool sweaters with turtleneck collars

39. Faint aroma of cattle and straw

Her rationale in doing this is that "Eucharisteo - thanksgiving - always precedes the miracle" (p.35). This miracle that she writes of is the miracle of joy. She wanted (as do I) to find joy in even the most minute things because God is in ALL things that He has created and bestowed upon us. She explains that naming 1000 gifts are the "Nails driving out [her] habits of discontent and driving [her] habit of eucharisteo."

Thanks is what multiplies the joy and makes any life large, and I hunger for it. -Ann Voskamp

Me too! Me too!! I want joy and I want to live fully! I want to shout with the psalmist all the days of my life: For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy (Ps. 92:4).

So, as I began reading Voskamp's book, I also began counting 1000 gifts. I am still working on the discipline of opening my eyes to all the good (and hard) gifts that God gives to me each waking moment of my day, but I am beginning to see that when I thank God, there is little (if any) room to complain, boast, sulk, and compare. 

Thank You, God for...

482. Providential encounter with pastors from Riverbend

483. Samuel's long nap

484. Date night to Zoe's Kitchen

485. Sounds of a happy new clapper

486. Starbucks delivery from special neighbors (Beth and Wes)

I'm sure this is not the last time I will visit this subject of eucharisteo as I hope it begins to color every nook and cranny of my life. May God be glorified in my naming His gifts as I turn them back to praise - to eucharisteo. 

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What's in a name?

Greetings! Meredith here.

Some might be wondering, "what's with the name of your blog?" I've decided to take my first blog entry to explain to you why I have named my blog "Her Fight for Joy." 


Her. This would be me. My fight for joy. You might ask, "well, why not name it MY fight for joy?" Great question! I chose to describe myself in the pronoun that distinguishes me as a woman. I believe that God, creating me as a woman, has designed me for a very specific calling and a very unique pursuit. I have been called to pursue a biblical vision of redeemed womanhood (thanks, Pastor Kenny, for that term) and I do that by seeking to fulfill my God-given role of wife to Joshua and mother to Samuel:

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. ::Titus 2:3-5::

Fight. Paul the Apostle urges us to fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12). Why fight, you might ask. We fight because there is an enemy to be fought against. There is the enemy as most people would know as Satan, or the devil. And then there is the most vicious of enemies, the enemy within. Because of the Fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, sin totally corrupted  the heart of every person, making it impossible to please God (Rom. 8:8). But, because of the mercy of God in sending His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and die a sinner's death, which I deserved, I am now imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Because of this subtitutionary life and death, I am now FREE to choose obedience and can please God through the work of His Son. There's the catch. I must choose to live in obedience to God and His Word. Although God gives me POWER to choose righteousness, there is that enemy within - the flesh - that often keeps me from choosing what pleases Him. Author of The Enemy Within, Kris Lundgaard writes, "The 'law of sin and death' is in a constant tug of war against the believer's overall desire to please God" (The Enemy Within, p.26). As a Christian woman, I am always in a battle against my own flesh and desires to be selfish, sinful, and pursue my own happiness. I need the power of the Holy Spirit to fight against sin and pursue holiness to the glory of God.


Joy. Not only do I have to fight to put off the deeds of my own flesh (Eph. 4:22-24), I must fight to put on the fruits of the Spirit, the outer manifestations of me becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17). Here is where my fight for JOY comes into play. Joy is one of those fruits of the spirit (the others being love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. Gal.5:22-23) that I have been fighting for my entire Christian life. Joy is not to be mistaken for happiness. Oftentimes happiness is what we have when things are going our way, when we get what we want, and when we are feeling comfortable. Oftentimes the pursuit of happiness is simply a pursuit for selfish gain. This is not what I want to fight for. What I am fighting for is an attitude of rejoicing in the object of my faith - Jesus - and the life He has given to me. God has called us to "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Phil. 4:4). I can tell you right now, I do NOT rejoice in the Lord always...but I WANT to. And because I want to, I am going to fight my own inclinations to be ungrateful and selfish and fight to put on the joy of the Lord! I know that this is not easy and so I must call on the Lord for His strength, but if He is mighty to save, He is mighty to change! Praise the Lord!!!

So that is where I am at now in creating this blog. I want this blog to be a place that I can share all that the Lord is teaching me and the great blessings He has bestowed on me. I want to express my thankfulness for each and every circumstance He brings me through and to ultimately bring Him glory through a joyful heart. I hope to post things in all forms: prayers, recipes, pictures, musings, and more :) 

May He be the object of my joy.

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