Author ANN VOSKAMP
Publisher ZONDERVAN
ISBN 0-310-32191-0
Ann Voskamp is a home-schooling wife and mother of six children. She and her family live in Ontario Canada and are farmers. Her book is essentially autobiographical and in it she reveals her pathway through pain and family loss into increasing intimacy with God. This road has hinged upon ‘eucharisteo’, the Greek for thanksgiving. She is clearly a gifted writer, though her style will not suit every reader, indeed, at times there seems to be a hint of affectation in it, never-the-less the reality and profound value of what she tells will be evident to all. “How do we find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties?” is the question she ably seeks to answer. “What does a life of gratitude look like when your days are gritty, long and sometimes dark? What is God providing here and now?’ This author is thoroughly practical as she unfolds the pilgrimage she has been taking as she has awakened to God’s daily bountiful giving in everyday blessings. She has been discovering that the life she always desired with God is to be found in giving thanks to Him for what she already is receiving from Him day by day. Her understanding of God’s grace commenced when she began to chronicle the gifts she saw as coming from God, obviously this needed discipline at first, journaling them in the midst of her busy life, but persevering on this route opened her eyes to gratitude and became an avenue to beholding God as very present. It is good to see the way she sensitively incorporates quotations from a number of other authors, virtually all of which are among the richest veins of godly writing. This book is her story, it is a great story, a story of God’s goodness and grace, it is authentic and valuable because it glorifies Him and does not evade the mundane and ordinary nor the problems great and small that are part and parcel of daily family life. Some will probably say that this is a book more suited for women, but what is found here is for both men and women.
