Choosing Gratitude

So often in life I complain. I focus more on what is going seemingly wrong, rather than all the abundant blessings I have to rejoice in. I want to be more joyful, but I wasn't really sure where to start. I had thought about reading 1000 Gifts, but something about it just didn't sit right with me, as I carried out some research into it- I kinda like to research a book before I spend on it!- I read a great wee article by Tim Challies. After I'd finished that article I decided to invest my pennies else where... but I wasn't sure where. Then I discovered that the wonderful Nancy Leigh DeMoss had written a book entitled Choosing Gratitude. Nancy has been such a blessing to me over the past few months through her radio show Revive our Hearts- she's now an integral part of my kitchen cleaning routine - so I was so excited to read what she had to say on this important subject.

This book is so so so good. It is easy to read but so convicting. It is deep but also has real life examples. It is soaked in scripture and leaves you clinging to the Lord to make you a more thankful person. Throughout the book Nancy states that gratitude isn't something that is optional, it is required for those who are believers. She begins basically outlining the theology of why we should be a thankful people, so that we are not just thankful in order to make us happy, but rather because it is an integral part of our faith. She then continues on by giving practical examples of people who were thankful in face of great trial and how we too can be thankful. She concludes the book with a 30 day devotional and resources for making our lives one that breathes gratitude to the Lord and to those whom we come into contact with.

We are not made to feel that being thankful is something simple to do, Nancy speaks with sensitivity and realises that in the face of trial it can be difficuly to be joyful, but it is something that we must do.

Read this book and you will view the world through different eyes. You will be more thankful for your salvation, for the material gifts of life and even for the trials which will come our way. Your whole life can and should be changed: as Nancy comments:
"Gratitude is a lifestyle. A hard-fought, grace infused, biblical lifestyle."

Published by Moody