( Please note, I have received a complimentary copy of this book for review. ) After having spent very much needed quality time with this book, I realized quite quickly that, thankgiving needs to become a priority in my faith walk. Considering myself blessed beyond belief, and no pun intented, very thankful that Our Heavenly Father had this book join me on my journey. My prayer is that all who pick up this book are as equally blessed.

The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks by Dustin Crowe is in my opinion a must read for all Christ-followers. I found this book to be easy to read but filled with something that sounds easy but is deeper than first look. To pause, take a moment, and drink in the complexity of giving thanks. This author had me pondering the depths of his words. I know that I will be coming back to this one over the years and it’s a must have for me to keep on my shelf.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.


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I’ve never read a better study on the concepts of thanksgiving and gratitude. I loved this author’s writing style, and the personable tone of his writing immediately drew me into the book. As I reflected on the scripture passages the author refers to, plus his insightful commentary, I found myself at times being convicted, comforted, or encouraged. But most of all. I was drawn closer to God, the giver of all good things.

This book is not only a good Biblical look at the concept of giving thanks, but the author has included some practical things we all can do to practice thankfulness on a daily basis and have it become a lifelong attitude. The author also included a list of Bible verses for a 30 day study on the topic of thanksgiving. I liked this book so well that I am going to include include it in a book club study.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Thanksgiving season is nearly here. For many, it is a time of busy activities surrounding shopping, gifts, family reunions, and lots of food! Such things no matter how good miss the point: Thanksgiving is gratitude from the heart. The underlying assumption of true gratitude is to know that we have all received much more than we actually gave. For instance, we owe it to our parents who brought us up. We were young and helpless as babies, and our parents fed us, nourished us, and nurtured us. Of course, there are exceptions, but generally speaking, parental love for their children is pretty universal. In spite of idiosyncrasies and other associated dysfunctional relationships, we are in fact recipients of much giving and loving. For Christians, nothing beats the love of God in Christ Jesus, who not only gave, He gave His life for us at the Cross. We all need to be reminded regularly that thanksgiving is at the heart of society, especially the Christian Life. As a former pessimist, Author Crowe had four key motivations in writing this book. 1) He needs it personally; 2) He notices a lack of books on "giving biblically"; 3) his desire to know God more fully; 4) To grow spiritually. We need an alternative to all the complaining, griping, and sarcasm in our society. So, Crowe's objective is simply to do his part to help the grumbler in us become grateful instead.

He guides us through what it means to be grateful in God. Just having this spirit of thanksgiving would change our perspective of life. It is not merely experienced inside but also expressed outside. Thanksgiving is also a journey to be closer to God. When receiving a gift, we are thankful not only for the gift but for the giver. If we have cultivated our hearts to be consistently thankful to God for all He has done for us, thanking others would be most natural. I like the way he talks about the relationship between the gift and the giver. The gift not only reminds us of the giver, but tells us more about the giver. Crowe takes time to show us what the Bible says about thanksgiving. He shows us the multiple references to gratitude in both the Old and New Testaments. There are also themes that flow throughout the Scriptures showing us that gratitude is an act of worship and spirituality. Perhaps, one of the biggest challenges is to deal with difficult times in our lives. How then do we give thanks? Instead of giving in to needless anxieties that are not helpful, gratitude gives us the strength to deal with the challenges with a renewed vitality. Crowe also shows us that gratitude is a habit to be developed. It builds our spiritual muscles. Very often, our busyness and our propensity to be distracted makes us grumblers. Living thankfully means to recognize the gifts before us; to reflect on the significance; and the receive it with grace. Crowe ends with a gratitude challenge to help us discover our inner need for gratitude.

My Thoughts
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Being thankful should not be reserved just for a day or week in a year. It should be all the time. In 1 Thess 5:18, we are exhorted to always be thankful. This is a powerful prescription for growing spiritually. Whoever wants to practice the Word of God, give thanks. Who wants to grow spiritually? Give thanks.Not only is it nourishing to the soul, it is worship to God. An important point in the book is about this, that when we learn to give thanks to God, we grow our joy in God. Once this becomes a habit, we will not reserve our thanksgiving merely to mealtimes or other special occasions, but to do so all the time. Slowly, our perspective on life, in general, would change for the better.

The author is a self-confessed pessimist and he invites us to join him on the journey to move from grumpiness to gratitude. The title of the book should grab the grumbler in anyone of us, that we need to learn how to be truly grateful. As our world grapples with many challenges, we allow the negative things to surround us so much that it is easy to lose sight of the positives. As we practice giving thanks, we will increase our vision of hope to see light at the end of every tunnel. I appreciate this simple reminder from Crowe that Thanksgiving is like "an anchor through the storm." Life is not easy and grumbling will definitely not make it much better. It might even worsen the situation. Take a different approach, just like the counter-cultural principles taught by Jesus in the beatitudes.

If you find it hard to be thankful, consider picking up this book for ideas and suggestions. Take comfort that the author himself had also struggled the same. Take the gratitude challenge. Test yourself.

Dustin Crowe is pastor of discipleship at College Park Church Fishers just outside Minneapolis, Indiana.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

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This book has been provided courtesy of Moody Publishers and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

A few years ago, I started tracking how much complaining I did. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was griping far too much. Since then, I have been seeking God’s wisdom on changing my outlook. The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks fit right in with what I was looking for.

Before I began reading, I thought I was doing a decent job of switching from complaining to thanking. I soon realized that I wasn’t as far along as I had hoped. Just a little bit into the book, I read, “The object of our gratitude needs to expand from something to someone,” and I saw that I was falling short of the purpose of thanksgiving.

This book is full of practical help that points you to giving thanks to God, not generically, but purposefully. Dustin Crowe shows how this leads to building your faith and trust in God. Whether you are struggling with negativity or not, this book can help you better see all the blessings that God has provided. Even when trials hit, you can look to God’s promises and be thankful.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Dustin Crowe’s book The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks takes readers on a journey through the Word of God and personal reflection, helping readers make the journey he made—from thanksgiving as a concept to a rhythm of living. Starting with a foundation of biblical theology of thanksgiving and a treatment of the power of thanksgiving with many biblical examples, the author focuses on how to weave thanksgiving into every day life so that it is a habit. He also helps readers discover how they can be thankful in every season of life and how thankfulness in difficult times helps one focus on the One who keeps us rather than the difficulties—and how it brings peace and joy and fosters even more thanks-living. The book also includes a “gratitude challenge” for any time of the year—a 30-day reading plan that is guaranteed to propel the reader to cultivate the habit of thanksgiving as everyday living.

Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for this honest review.