Over six months ago, a friend of mine recommended the book on her facebook, so I downloaded the free sample onto my Kindle and then bought the book. But then other things came along and I became distracted, forgetting about the book. It sat in my Kindle library, waiting to be explored.
In December, I met with my two friends, Alie and Sue, for what we call our 'Rio Day' (Sue and Alie came to visit us when we lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2004 and we started a tradition of listening to God and praying together) Since that time we have met up each time I have been in the UK. In the early days we would set aside a whole day to catch up with what had been happening since the last time we met, focussing in on what God had been doing in our lives. Then we would share a meal together and prayer for each other, paying particular attention to any words and pictures God revealed to us.
It has been an amazing adventure, which has not only sustained each one of us through the huge changes we each have experienced over the past seven years, but has guided our direction. Having close friends whom you are accountable to, really helps to keep you on track with your spiritual life. In recent years we have had to restrict ourselves to a couple of hours in an evening, but we do keep in touch regularly via email, so when we meet we can get straight into the 'best bit' (the prayer and hearing from God for each other).
So, back to recently, Alie arrived saying she'd heard of a book about thankfulness, called One Thousand Gifts, which she was going to buy. That jogged my memory and I confessed that I'd got it but hadn't read it yet. Over the Christmas holidays I did read a lot of it, and Alie did buy a copy too. We were able to arrange a second 'meet-up' just before I left for Cape Town, and spent some time sharing our findings with Sue. Inspired by the 24/7 prayer movement, several years ago Sue had created a prayer room in her home, which was well used both personally and corporately for homegroup prayer events. 'Rio days' spent in this room were always special.
Alie has now discovered the website http://onethousandgifts.com/ and Ann's related blog http://www.aholyexperience.com/ She sent us photos entitled 'The Prayer Bench' and 'A Peace Retreat', which you can find on the site.
Today, I decided to start a journal of 'gifts' and create a tiny Prayer Corner in our flat:
Each item on the table has special significance:
A notebook, which I bought in Kiev, and had forgotten about until God prompted me to bring it back to Cape Town for my own 'counting gifts':
A Bible open to one of my favourite Psalms - 139:
A 'vase of beauty', again a 'prompting from the Lord' given to me since we returned to Cape Town, now filled with collected treasures:
A small photo book, a table gift from a recent Christmas family gathering in UK, now filled (both sides) with photos of close family:
The candle Joanne & David sent to Cape Town for 'Alex Day', a special day to remember the life of our beautiful nephew, on the first anniversary of his passing away:
These items should prompt thankfulness and open the way to many 'a holy experience'.
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