THE POWER OF THANKSGIVING

A writer looks at the importance of giving thanks in a Christian walk of faith.

In her well-designed nonfiction debut, Addo-Atuah stresses the vital roles of gratitude and obedience in the lives of her fellow devout Christians. The author asserts that salvation, justification, and redemption form the “three-step package” of Jesus’ mission among his followers. For Addo-Atuah, Jesus is the key to this process since he is “the only Person of the Triune God who is capable of redeeming mankind because He is the One who is fully God and fully Man.” This stance will be immediately recognizable to many of her readers even though there are some Christians in the world who would disagree. The author’s focus throughout her work is on the importance of being grateful to “the loving God…who hates sin but loves the sinner,” the God who, after the fall of humankind from grace, created a way for mortals to restore fellowship with him. This gratitude also extends to the people God puts in the lives of the faithful to serve as “conduits of blessings,” although someone with “an envious, jealous, or hateful heart may suppress divine promptings and thus fail to accord us the assistance that we need.” This communal aspect of her faith is important to the author, who illustrates it with examples of the many individuals—friends, loved ones, and even strangers—she’s known who’ve helped at various points in her life to strengthen her faith, and it’s the most emphatic strand running through the book. Occasionally, Addo-Atuah’s enthusiasm can lead her astray—sometimes into historical inaccuracies, as when she says G.K. Chesterton is “thought to be the greatest writer and thinker of the 20th century” (perhaps only Chesterton himself ever believed this). But in general, the work’s powerfully worded calls to humility will resonate with Christians who are sometimes discouraged by a self-centered world.

A passionate and readable account that supports humility and gratitude as paths to God.