What does it mean to choose gratitude when life does not turn out the way you planned?
In Choosing Gratitude, Dennis R. Atwood invites readers on a deeply personal and profoundly hopeful journey---one forged int he crucible of pastoral ministry, congregational life, and life-altering diagnosis of early-onset Parkinson's disease. Written with pastoral warmth and honest vulnerability, this book speaks to everyday believers navigating disappointment, anxiety, loss, and uncertainty.
Atwood does not offer shallow optimism or "toxic positivity." Instead, he explores gratitude as a deliberate spiritual practice--one that begins within the heart but ultimately transforms communities. Drawing from Scripture, personal stories, and over thirty years of ministry experience, he shows how gratitude is not denial of hardship but a faithful response to it.
The book unfolds in two movements.
In Part One, Atwood lays the spiritual foundation for gratitude. Through biblical reflections on passages such as Psalm 95 and Matthew 6, he addresses anxiety, disappointment, and the daily grind of life. With candor, he shares his own struggle to "choose gratitude" after stepping down from pastoral ministry due to Parkinson's. These meditations help readers cultivate an inward transformation--learning to trust God in uncertain seasons and to see life through the lens of thanksgiving rather than fear.
But gratitude, Atwood insists, cannot remain private.
In Part Two, he tells the compelling story of "The Gratitude Project," an innovative ministry initiative that empowered a small congregation in rural North Carolina to invest boldly in its community. With limited resources but abundant faith, this church reimagined its purpose, leveraged its assets, and made a tangible impact among the most vulnerable. The result was not only community transformation but congregational renewal.
Choosing Gratitude is ideal for individual devotion, small groups, church-wide studies, book clubs, and community organizations. Each chapter includes reflection and action questions designed to spark conversation and practical engagement. Congregations will find in these pages a hopeful framework for rediscovering their mission in a time when many churches feel anxious, divided, or uncertain about the future.
At a time when negativity and fear dominate headlines and social media, Atwood calls the church back to its essential identity: people who trust in God's abundance rather than scarcity; people who express gratitude through generosity; people who become the hands and feet of Christ in their neighborhoods.
This book is not about building bigger churches. It is about becoming better reflections of God's love.
Honest, biblical, and inspiring, Choosing Gratitude challenges readers to adopt gratitude as a daily posture--and to let that gratitude overflow into acts of justice, mercy, and compassion.
In everything, give thanks.
And watch what God can do.
