Excerpts from Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey into Joy by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Day 1: Worship or Whine

The importance of this matter of gratitude can hardly be overstated. I’ve come to believe
that few things are more becoming in a child of God than a grateful spirit. By the same token,
there is probably nothing that makes a person more unattractive than the absence of a grateful
spirit.

I have learned that in every circumstance that comes my way, I can choose to respond in
one of two ways: I can whine or I can worship!

And I can’t worship without giving thanks. It just isn’t possible.

When we choose the pathway of worship and giving thanks, especially in the midst of
difficult circumstances, there is a fragrance, a radiance, that issues forth out of our lives to bless
the Lord and others.

On the other hand, when we give in to whining, murmuring, and complaining, we end up
on a destructive slide that ultimately leads to bitterness and broken relationships.

The consequences of an ungrateful spirit are not as readily seen as, say, those of a
contagious disease. But they are no less deadly. Western civilization has fallen prey to an
epidemic of ingratitude. Like a poisonous vapor, this subtle sin is polluting our lives, our homes,
our churches, and our culture.

A grateful man or woman will be a breath of fresh air in a world contaminated by

bitterness and discontentment. And the person whose gratitude is a by-product of and a response
to the redeeming grace of God will showcase the heart of the gospel in a way that is winsome
and compelling.

So unless you just love the way duty feels when it wakes you up at three in the morning,
or hijacks your plans for your day off, or hands you an unexpected bill that wasn’t in the budget
this month, don’t try living the Christian life without gratitude. By sheer willpower and effort,
you may succeed at “gutting out” right responses, but your Christianity (so-called) will be
hollow, hard-edged, and uninviting to others…

…Gratitude is a lifestyle. A hard-fought, grace-infused, biblical lifestyle. And though

there’s a sense in which anyone can be thankful—for God has extended His common grace to all
—the true glory and the transforming power of gratitude are reserved for those who know and
acknowledge the Giver of every good gift and who are recipients of His redeeming grace.
 Day 2: Do the Math

These three words—guilt, grace, and gratitude—are at the heart of the Gospel. In a sense,
they tell the story of the whole Bible.

We are born in a state of inescapable guilt, lawbreakers, under the just condemnation of a
holy God, attempting (but unable) through human effort to make ourselves worthy and
acceptable to God, good enough to earn His favor.

Into this hopeless situation comes the undeserved grace of God through Jesus Christ.
Christ, who unlike us, perfectly fulfilled the law of God, died in our place as our perfect
Substitute, taking the judgment we rightly deserved. His sacrifice on the cross means that we can
stop trying to jump through spiritual hoops or manufacture our own righteousness (an impossible
feat!). In that spectacular, extravagant gift of grace, everything we need for living in right
relationship with our Creator has been provided.

Christ’s life has become ours. His death has paid the sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His
resurrection has assured us that not even the grave can keep God from fulfilling His promises.
We are even now in forever fellowship with our heavenly Father.

It’s the ultimate miracle. Certain death has been replaced by certain life. We who would
never have sought after God on our own have been redeemed by One who sought us in His love
and mercy. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it
is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

That’s the Gospel—the Good News! Our guilt has been swallowed up in the gift of God’s
grace—the only thing big and powerful enough to forever and fully overcome and remove that
guilt...

…What follows next, then, should be the logical reaction to this kind of rescue. Snatched
from the brink of death, the burden of our sins lifted from our shoulders, you’d think the entire
remainder of our earthly life wouldn’t leave us adequate time for all the ways we’d want to say
thanks. No longer dependent on our good works and performance, with the destination of our
souls secured for all eternity, you’d expect that the energy of sheer gratitude, if nothing else,
would propel us to never-ending acts of worship and service. “Whatever you want, Lord. It’s the
least I can do after all You’ve done for me.”
 Day 3: Gratitude Is a Sure Path to Peace

I know a lot of women who suffer from a noticeable deficiency of peace. I’m one of them
sometimes. I’m not talking about a peace that equates to having a day with nothing on the
calendar, plopping down on the sofa with a cup of hot tea and a good book. Not that this doesn’t
sound inviting, but let’s be honest—that’s a rare occasion for most of us. The peace I’m talking
about doesn’t require a mountain cabin or a getaway weekend. It can happen anywhere, even in
the most hectic moments and places of your life.

But only because gratitude knows where to look for it.

If we were sitting across the table from each other, you could tell me what’s stealing your
peace right now without having to think hard. You may be grieving a loss that never settles far
from your conscious thoughts. You may be crying yourself to sleep at night over a situation with
a son or daughter that is beyond your ability to control—a failing marriage, a little one
undergoing diagnostic medical tests, perhaps open rebellion against God and against your
parenting decisions. Maybe you’re facing some health issues of your own, or your income just
isn’t meeting your monthly expenses, or your church is in turmoil over some hot-button issue.

We know that we can and should pray about these matters. But praying is not all that we
can and should do. “Do not be anxious about anything,” the apostle Paul wrote, “but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

To put it even more simply: In every situation . . . prayer + thanksgiving = peace.

When prayer teams up with gratitude, when we open our eyes wide enough to see God’s
mercies even in the midst of our pain, and when we exercise faith and give Him thanks even
when we can’t see those mercies, He meets us with His indescribable peace. It’s a promise.

Are you facing one or more chaotic, unsettled situations? Is your soul weary from
striving, stress, and strain? There is peace, my friend—God’s peace—waiting for you just
beyond the doors of deliberate gratitude. But the only way to find it is to go there and see for
yourself. God’s peace is one of the many blessings that live on the other side of gratitude.
 Day 4: Gratitude Gets Us Ready for Heaven

It’s what we’ll be doing forever. Oh, I’m sure it’s not all we’ll be doing forever, and yet I
am confident that every action, thought, word, or undertaking throughout our entire, endless life
with the Lord will be an expression of (literally) undying gratitude.

We know that day and night, the four living creatures in heaven “never cease to say,
‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’” (Revelation 4:8).
The twenty-four elders fall on their faces before Him, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God
Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign”
(11:17). Even now. Right this minute. Gratitude is the unending anthem of heaven.

And every time we speak and live out our thankfulness here on this very temporary base
of operations, we join our voices with the grand chorus of gratitude that wells up before the
throne of God, and we prepare ourselves for what we’ll be doing throughout all eternity,
glorifying and thanking Him for all he is and for all He has done.

So think of today as a “dress rehearsal.” And do it just the way you will when you’re
doing it “live” at the actual performance.

…Listen, dear friend, God loves you, His promises are sure, and your heavenly destiny is
settled forever if you’ve trusted Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior. But some of the holy work
we need done in us and through us can only come through the valley of shadow and suffering.
Are you going to be resistant to that? Or are you going to be clay in His hands, knowing that He
is intent on shaping you into the image of Christ and wants to use your life for something far
bigger than your own comfort, convenience, and pleasure? He wants your life to be part of a
grand, eternal redemptive picture that portrays the wonder of His saving grace. One day that
picture will be complete and together we will magnify Him forever.

In the meantime, we can go surrendered and willingly, trusting God and His higher ways,
or we can go kicking and screaming. The choice is ours.

I want us all to go forward in ways that are pleasing to Him, ways that place us in the
center of His great will and plan. So I say to you, and I say to myself: let’s go humbly, in faith,
and on bended knee.

And for our own good and His glory, let’s go gracefully. And gratefully.
 Day 5: Places To Go

In appealing for gratitudinal change, I am not calling you to something that’s trivial and
inconsequential, much less something that’s contrived or insincere. When gratitude becomes
your default setting, life changes. As we’ve said earlier, the whole world looks different when
you see it through gratitude-colored glasses. A problem that used to bury you now takes its
rightful place behind twenty other blessings that are bigger than it’ll ever be. A recurring issue
that once brought out a whole range of pent-up emotions now only produces a new excuse for
praising God with greater fervor than ever, knowing He is more than true and trustworthy.

Gratitude changes things.

But first, you need to tell God you’re going there. Tell Him you’re going to begin letting
your salvation be more than a once-upon-a-time event, but rather a daily cause for celebration
and wonder.

Tell Him you’re going to make each day a fresh opportunity to watch for His blessings in
things both great and small—from the ultimate, awesome gift of His saving grace, to the
privilege of having a healthy family, to the pleasure of not having one of those little painful sores
you can sometimes get in your mouth. (Has it occurred to you to be grateful for that recently?)

Tell Him you’re going to offer up to Him every situation and circumstance in your life,
even the ones that are still sensitive to the touch, the ones that make absolutely no sense, the ones
you just really don’t understand why you’re having to put up with right now. No matter how bad
it gets, no matter what someone says to you, no matter how long it goes on or where it might
lead, you will drop the full weight of it at His feet every night, be thankful for His strength that
brought you through the day, and wait for His mercies that will be new in the morning.