This book was archived before I had time to read it, so I am not able to give accurate feedback. Thank you for the opportunity, sorry I was unable to get to it in time.

This is an excellent, thoughtful book. It is deep and meaty, biblical and gracious. Crabtree doesn't mince words. As well as the beautiful rightness of giving thanks, he highlights the dangers of NOT giving thanks. He states, "Ingratitude prejudges God before more of the story is revealed. God is not done. He never is" (location 144). "Even the things that grieve God, the events that threaten to crush us, the things that elicit his compassion and comfort for his people--those things are not accidents or flaws in the plan...In the deepest pain, we can still give thanks because our God is still here with us and he is working all things for our good, even if it is difficult for us to see how this side of eternity" (location 131). He talks about the necessity of having a "robust theology of suffering" in order to be thankful and trusting in the dark times.

I highlighted so many things in this book. I will be writing many of them out and posting them around my home and workplace as reminders. There's a list at the end of 100 things to give thanks for that can help us stretch our minds as we seek to grow in thanksgiving. I might go through and work on those one a day. This book has already affected me. I found myself thanking a co-worker for serving our patients so well. I've found myself looking for the things to be thankful for as I had a migraine. I pray this will continue.

Thank you to Crossway for providing me an e-copy of this book. I would highly recommend it. It's so good. All opinions are my own.

Thankfulness helps us overcome fear, depression, anger, outrage, bitterness, suicide and more.

I have read several books on thankfulness and this text rises above all the others. Why? Most of grew up being reminded to be thankful. The deeper question is thankful to who and why does it matter. It can be automatic to say thank you but not grab your heart. This text does that because it is a heart issue. If you suffer from relational problems or you can't seem to overcome an addiction, heartfelt thankfulness takes the focus off you and gives you a way forward. Thankfulness does not change your circumstances or wishful thinking but it does give you power of hope and not despair.

The following is a list of chapters
The Rightness of Gratitude
The Wisdom of Gratitude
Portrait of a Grateful Heart
The Fruitfulness of Gratitude
Dangers of ingratitude
Thankfulness in Action
Thankfulness and Contentment
Thankfulness and Wonder
Thankfulness and Suffering
Hinderances to Thankfulness
Questions about Thankfulness
One Hundred ways to be Thankful

My favorite chapter is thankfulness and Wonder. It reminded me of my grandchildren and seeing first in their eyes. Their excitement of a new experience. Of being with family and friends. They may not express their thankfulness but in their awe and wonder, their hearts are soft and receive love. It reminds me that you cannot give what you have not received. Thankfulness in its many forms does that. Highly recommend. And my word of thanks to Crossway Publishing for always providing books that deepen my faith. It means the world to me. I thank God for you

A special thank you to Crossway Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest revi

Introduction
Don’t you love it when you are surprised with a blessing? Rooted in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, my pastors hanged Thankful as the theme-banner over 2021 here at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church. With the theme in place, I began to look for supplemental resources to help our church family grow into thankfulness. Right off the bat, I found a brand-new resource from Sam Crabtree entitled Practicing Thankfulness, a book right on topic by a trusted pastor-author I was eager to read. Not only was I eager to read it, Crossway was eager to let me read it as they graciously granted me a review copy upon request, a surprise blessing indeed!

Summary
The aim of Practicing Thankfulness is as straightforward as the title. “I want to encourage you to get on with what you already know is good: practice thankfulness” (13). In the first three chapters, Crabtree explores the rightness and wisdom of gratitude along with the Christ-centered posture of a grateful heart. Chapters four and five contrast the fruit of gratitude with the dangers of ingratitude. Thankfulness in action is the theme of chapter six. Chapters seven through nine relate thankfulness to contentment, wonder, and suffering. The book concludes with chapters on hindrances to thanksgiving, frequently asked questions regarding thankfulness, and a list of 100 ways to be thankful.

Critical Evaluation
Reflecting on texts like Acts 17:25, 1 Corinthians 4:7, and Romans 8:32, which declare that everything we have or will have comes from God, Crabtree posits, “There will never be an end run around his provision. If God doesn’t supply something, we won’t have it” (17). He continues, “God owes us none of this. He never has. Not a thing. All that we have is by grace—undeserved, unearned, and even unsolicited” (18). Here Crabtree fights our entitlement tendencies by laying bare the truth of our lowly estate. This step is vital because our entitlement mentality draws us to grumble against God by pointing us to all the things we “deserve” that God is keeping from us. Entitlement questions God’s goodness. As such, it’s impossible to give thanks to God when all we think about is what good thing he’s holding out on. It’s only when we realize that we’re owed nothing except hell that everything we have can rightly be viewed as a gift from a benevolent giver whose unmerited generosity deserves thanks.

In chapter four, Crabtree describes an entire cluster of fruit that thanksgiving produces in the life of a Christian. “For example, thankfulness liberates from envy. It’s virtually impossible to be envious and thankful simultaneously” (44). “Gratefulness has a sanctifying effect on meals and marriage” according to 1 Timothy 4:3-5 (44). Thanksgiving guards our hearts in Christ according to Colossians 4:2. Studies have demonstrated that growth in gratitude “reduces inner stress and produces peace” (46). Romans 1-2 indicate that thankfulness leads to repentance rather than hardness of heart (46-47). “Thankfulness is energy-giving to the thankful as well as to those around them” according to Proverbs 16:24 (48). “With gratitude, everyone wins. You get more delight in God, God gets more glory from you, and people around you find enjoyment from your words and gestures of appreciation” (43). Simply put, thankfulness is good, and we should practice it, because God has designed blessings and glory to come through it.

In terms of accomplishing the aim of the book, chapter twelve does just that. If the goal is to practice thankfulness, the 100 ways to practice thankfulness help the reader to turn knowledge into action. This chapter is a large—though not exhaustive—thanksgiving “how to” guide.

Critically, I found chapter five on the dangers of ingratitude a strange chapter. The primary danger of thanklessness that Crabtree runs toward is homosexuality. He runs there because “there has been so much discourse in the public square about the roots of homosexuality” in terms of nature vs nurture (60). I agree with Crabtree’s assessment that thanklessness can lead to homosexuality; however, the chapter would have been more robust by focusing on more of ingratitude’s dangers—including eternal death—because there are vast multitudes of ungrateful people who will go down equally treacherous paths besides homosexuality.

Finally, I think there will be pushback over Crabtree’s insistence that we should give thanks for everything, not merely in everything (20-21; cf. Eph. 5:20, 1 Thess. 5:18). While I concur with Crabtree that we should give thanks in everything because God is working everything for the Christian’s good, the moral question is whether we should give thanks for the evil that was chattel slavery, the evil that was the 9/11 terrorist attack, or for any other sinful evil. Crabtree says we should give thanks for it all, but is this what Ephesians 5:20 really means?

Conclusion
On the whole, Practicing Thankfulness is a practical and helpful resource on the goodness and godliness of gratitude. Laymen, pastors, and scholars—in short, the Church—will be edified through this resource. Sam Crabtree, thank you for using your God-given gifts, abilities, and time to serve the Church with this resource, and thank you Crossway for your generosity in providing me a review copy.

Practicing Thankfulness by Sam Crabtree is a good, basic book on thankfulness and -- what is more important -- how to practice thankfulness in every situation and circumstance in our lives. It is very important for us Christians to actually know what thankfulness is but also how and when to practice it, and that is the question that this book answers. This isn't the most amazing book I have read, but it is a good, basic book on thankfulness.

In today's culture, we're expected to get all we can and (honestly) be discontent with the results. We've been trained to whine when things don't go exactly how we want them to go. Practicing Thankfulness provides the antidote. By walking his readers through why practicing thankfulness is important and how to practically do it, Sam Crabtree has provided an invaluable resource. I highly highly recommend this book, and I plan to buy copies for my friends and family!

Review on A Lot of Thoughts podcast will be posted 2/4/21.

The book's introduction includes one of 2020 oft used words - "pivot." The author describes thankfulness as being a quality on which pivots the difference between maturity and immaturity.

Chapters:
The Rightness of Gratitude
The Wisdom of Gratitude
Portrait of a Grateful Heart
The Fruitfulness of Gratitude
Dangers of Ingratitude
Thankfulness in Action
Thankfulness and Contentment
Thankfulness and Wonder
Thankfulness and Suffering
Hindrances to Thankfulness

The "Various Questions about Thankfulness" chapter addresses pet peeves, tragedies, problems related to churches and pastors, spouses, poor service received, receiving unwanted gifts, and more.

"One Hundred Ways to Be Thankful" provides ideas on expressing thankfulness and gratitude, the 100th one being: "Add your own suggestion to this list, and thank God for the creativity to do so."

Includes a general index and scripture index.

First sentence: Thankfulness is neither trivial nor inconsequential. On this one quality pivots the difference between maturity and immaturity.

I loved this book. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. I loved it because it was convicting, challenging, relevant, insightful, timely, and above all else scriptural. It is subtitled CULTIVATING A GRATEFUL HEART IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. Note the words GRATEFUL and ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

There are twelve chapters:
The Rightness of Gratitude
The Wisdom of Gratitude
Portrait of a Grateful Heart
The Fruitfulness of Gratitude
Dangers of Ingratitude
Thankfulness in Action
Thankfulness and Contentment
Thankfulness and Wonder
Thankfulness and Suffering
Hindrances to Thankfulness
Various Questions about Thankfulness
One Hundred Ways to Be Thankful
As a Christian, it is easy to *think* you know what thankfulness and gratitude are all about. Also it is easy to make a thousand plus excuses as to why you don't *have* to be thankful in *this* situation or *this* circumstance. Sure, it would be *nice* to live out that aspect of the Christian faith, but what difference could it really make?! Surely it's not essential-essential, right? You can be a Bible-believing Christian, a God-loving, heart-and-mind-renewed Christian without applying those *pesky* little verses about being thankful and rejoicing always?! If I fail in this aspect, surely it won't impact my witness, right? right?!?!

Practicing Thankfulness is a POWERFUL read. It led me to do a lot of thinking, reflecting, questioning. I think every Christian would benefit from reading this one! Crabtree says, "This book is for two kinds of people. It’s for those who have doubts about God’s goodness, and who therefore don’t often feel grateful. And it’s for those who believe God is good but want to grow in their faithful expression of appreciation for that goodness; they want to be more earnest and creative in thanking God as well as thanking those who are instruments in his hands. They’re dead serious about wanting to produce the fruit that gratefulness can produce. They’re hopeful."

Favorite quote: Oh, that gratitude would come as naturally to me as breathing! It’s not that we need more for which to be thankful. Rather, we should naturally be more thankful for what we already have.

The title of this book drew me in right away, as thankfulness is a life-changing practice, and I know how desperately our hearts need the reminder. I was excited to see how the author would encourage us in our journeys to grow more in this discipline. With lots of scripture and complementary quotes throughout the book, the author creates a great case for what thankfulness is, why it’s so important in the life of a believer, and how it truly changes our day to day and impacts those around us when we practice it.

There is a section where the author attributes “thanklessness” as the root of a variety of things. I found this section to be off-putting and out of place. For me, it did not fit into the overall message of the book as a whole and distracted me from the framework of thankfulness and faithfulness that was previously being laid.

However, there was still much of the book that I enjoyed and learned from. I loved the chapter that focused on suffering and how grief and gratitude can go hand in hand. I enjoyed the practical applications that the author cited to encourage us all on our journeys to cultivate thankfulness. And I loved how Pastor Crabtree encouraged readers to marvel at their lives and the divine creator of them. Every day is a beautiful opportunity to practice thankfulness and praise our Savior. That is a message that will never grow old.

*I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I purchased a gratitude journal for myself as I started 2021, so I thought this book would be the perfect companion. Wrong. This book upended my gratitude journal. The exercise really shouldn’t be narrowly focused on writing down the things for which you are grateful. Each and every point of gratitude should logically and consistently evolve into a point of thankfulness - specifically to thanking God. And Crabtree illustrates this time and time again with the support of Biblical verses and examples from literature, movies, and everyday life.

I always say that if I can find one nugget in a book that I can take away and use, or one that makes me pause and contemplate, the book is worth my time. Just one nugget. That’s it. Well, in all honestly – this book has such a nugget in each chapter. Without listing all of them, just consider these – Portrait of a Grateful Heart. Thankfulness in Action. Thankfulness and Contentment. And Wonder. And Suffering. Crabtree ends with 100 Ways to be Thankful – and these alone will give you reason to pause and really think about the world around you and the God who made it possible.

I’m looking forward to adding this book to my library. And I imagine you will find me blogging about thankfulness in the near future at https://patch405.com/