**I am reposting this because I want to explain this strange word that I keep throwing around here on the blog.

Eucharisteo is a Greek word that basically means gratitude/thanksgiving. But it’s so much more than that! It’s not just being grateful for things that we perceive as “good” but for everything, because God tells us to give thanks “in all things” and He also tells us that He works “all things” for good (to them that are called according to His purpose), so in essence, He is saying that all things – even trials and really hard things – ARE good, so we should thank Him for them. This is one manifestation of trusting Him, which is the same thing as believing in Him, which is the same thing as having faith in Him. I HIGHLY recommend One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (which is where I first learned about this wonderful concept of eucharisteo).

I asked Derm Dad to read this article:

http://www.visionarywomanhood.com/raising-children-war/

After reading it, he asked me, “What’s our battle? And are we fighting it?”

I said, “I think our battle is for eucharisteo. Satan wants us to be ungrateful, to question whether God is really good. When we choose contentment, even in the hard things, that is the Spiritual victory.”

Lord, thank you for Everett’s stroke. Thank you for making things so much harder than they would have been if Everett had the use of his whole brain instead of only half. Thank you for the way our entire family is learning how to lean on You for Every. Little. Thing. Because I know I can’t do this on my own. But you are enough, Lord. And you are good to me.

I am learning all this from Ann Voskamp’s exquisitely challenging book, One Thousand Gifts.