Biblical Gratitude

I have begun reading a book called "Choosing Gratitude..Your Journey to Joy."  I struggle with an ungrateful heart.  Romans 1 speaks of what happens to the ungrateful. It's not a good ending.  Nancy Leigh DeMoss wrote it with an introduction by Joni Eareckson Tada.  Both said something very interesting.  Throughout my Christian walk I've heard Bible teachers that we should be thankful in a given circumstance and not for it.  These ladies both disagree.

To quote Joni:

"And so I've been giving thanks for most of my paralyzed life. Not only giving thanks "in everything" as one part of the Bible tells us, but "always giving thanks to God the Father for everything" as another part commands (I Thessalonians 5: 18; Ephesians 5: 19-20  NIV). Most of us are able to thank God for His grace, comfort, and sustaining power in a trial, but we don't think Him for the problem, just finding Him in it."

Joni then writes that not only is she grateful for the wheelchair but her quadriplegia as well. She calls it a blessing. To quote her it is: "a gift wrapped in black." She says that the Savior is not separate from the suffering He allows. She and Nancy are deeply committed to the idea that gratitude pushes you to the Lord and thus the place of joy.

I don't know about you but my life isn't overabundant with joy. Nancy says:

I've discovered that gratitude truly is my life preserver. Even in the most turbulent waters, choosing gratitude has rescued me from myself and my runaway emotions.  It buoys me on the grace of God and keeps me from drowning in what otherwise would be my natural bent toward doubt, negativity, discouragement, and anxiety. Over time choosing gratitude means choosing joy."

I am hopeful that the Lord uses this book in my life to convict of the lack of gratitude and joy.  The author calls gratitude a spiritual discipline. I'm learning a lot about the disciplines of the Christian life these days. It's been a very good thing...and one for which I am truly grateful.