A Thankful Heart: How Gratitude Brings Hope and Healing to Our Lives

As national director of First Place, an evangelical dieting counterpart to secular programs such as Weight Watchers, Lewis understands the power of motivating people to change. She does it effectively and has applied this positive discipline to her own life. In this book on thankfulness, Lewis is candid about her own struggles to embrace gratitude when on Thanksgiving Day 2001, her middle daughter, a married mother of three, was killed by a drunk driver. With this admission, Lewis immediately gains an audience as she challenges readers to adopt by choice (and not simply assume by a faith-inspired osmosis) an attitude graced by thankfulness in all things, in all situations and at all times. With personal stories of trials including her own past bankruptcy, loss of employment and her husband's current battle against cancer, Lewis probes into the pain of life, proving she's experienced enough with its stings to speak from its darker side. The book doesn't always deliver fresh insights; many of these themes have been hashed out before. But Lewis's personal experiences give her authenticity as she expounds with conviction that it is only via a grateful heart that Christians can experience daily peace despite the reliably unreliable circumstances of life. (Nov.)