Choosing Gratitude

Over the past week I've been reading Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  I've been reminded that gratitude IS a choice and it's often the hard choice.  My default is whine rather than to worship.  I wanted to share a few quotes that encouraged and convicted me.

This first one is from the forward:

"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.  Most of us are able to thank God for His grace, comfort and sustaining power in a trial, but we don't thank Him for the problem, just finding Him in it. But many decades in a wheelchair have taught me to not segregate my Savior from the suffering he allows, as though a broken neck- or in your case, a broken ankle, heart or home- merely 'happens' and then God shows up after the fact to wrestle something good out of it. No, the God of the bible is bigger than that. Much bigger." -Joni Eareckson Tada

Instigators of Ingratitude
1. Unrealistic expectations
2. Forgetfulness
3. Entitlement
4. Comparison
5. Blindness to God's grace

Gratitude unleashes the freedom to live content in the moment, rather than being anxious about the future or regretting the past. - Ellen Vaughn

"Arguable the most affluent, materially blessed people in the history of the world, we have become angry, bitter, proud, and ungrateful. We have gotten this false sense of entitlement and the entirely unbiblical idea that God owes us ease and luxury...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 to have done in us and through us can only come through the valley of shadow and suffereing. 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." Nancy Leigh DeMoss

It is so, so easy for me to slip into ingratitude and complaining.  My want to be content in the day.  I want to be thankful for God's provision today, instead of worrying about what's going to happen two weeks from now.  I want to thank Him for this time that is stretching me.  I want to think Him for the opportunity He is giving me to trust Him.  I want to trust that He is accomplishing something far bigger in our situation right now than I can imagine.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55: 8-9