In today's modern world, few parents have to face the bitter task of burying a child that they love. But David and Nancy Guthrie have faced the grave twice now, burying two children who lived only six months.

When Nancy gave birth to a daughter, Hope, in 1998, club feet, extreme lethargy, an inability to suck, and a number of other small problems hinted at something more significant. On her second day of life, Hope was diagnosed with Zellweger Syndrome, a rare metabolic disorder that is characterized by the reduction or absence of peroxisomes (cell structures that rid the body of toxic substances) in the cells of the liver, kidneys, and brain. There is no treatment and no cure for Zellweger Syndrome and most children with the syndrome live less than six months.

For Nancy, her husband David, and their son, Matt, the diagnosis was devastating and disappointing. Hope’s brief life—a life of only 199 days— made a significant impact on them and those around them, causing them to dig deep into their faith to make sense of such suffering.

To have a child with Zellweger Syndrome requires that both parents be carriers of the recessive gene trait for the syndrome. So, after Hope was born, David and Nancy took surgical steps to prevent a future pregnancy. Evidently it didn’t work. Just a year and a half after Hope died, Nancy discovered she was pregnant. And a few months later, pre-natal testing revealed that this child also had the fatal syndrome. The Guthrie’s second son, Gabriel, was born on July 16, 2001, the same day a story on the Guthries appeared on the pages of TIME Magazine. Gabe’s life was also very short, a mere 183 days.

Those who have watched Nancy and David walk through such loss, and the millions who have read their story worldwide in TIME Magazine and USA Today have wondered at their ability to emerge from such sorrow with joy for life and passion for God. Nancy offered many of the lessons she learned from this sorrowful experience in her 2002 book, Holding On to Hope: A Pathway of Suffering to the Heart of God, which has helped thousands of people pursue God in the midst of their suffering. She regularly hears from readers who have been touched by the book from all around the world as the book has been translated into German, Danish, Norwegian, Korean, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese.

Nancy continues to write books that reflect her compassion for hurting people and her passion for applying God's Word to real life. Her desire to grow in her understanding of God's Word has prompted her to begin graduate work in theological studies at Covenant Theological Seminary. She speaks regularly at women's retreats and evangelistic events nationally and internationally.

“God has been preparing me my whole life for teaching his Word,” says Nancy Guthrie. “He has blessed me with so many sound Bible teachers to sit under—from my days as a college student in Bible classes, to amazing Sunday School teachers, Bible Study Fellowship teaching leaders, a gifted pastor in my church —as well as several teachers like Tim Keller and John Piper that I listen to almost daily on my iPod. He’s given me a mind that wants to figure out the big picture of who he is and what he is doing in the world. I've also learned a great deal from working closely with numerous pastors and bible teachers in my twenty-five years of experience as a publicist in Christian publishing.”

But Nancy says the most important thing God has given her is a love for him and for his Word. “To me, Gods Word is a treasure to be mined,” she says. “The deeper I go, the more I see its wisdom, the more it authenticates itself, the more it reveals to me the amazing mystery of God.”

Nancy’s life experience has also significantly affected her teaching style. “I’ve had to dig into God’s Word in search of answers to hard questions about God and how he works, and I find that my listeners usually have the same struggles and questions. And while I share openly the deep hurts in my life, I also like to laugh. I often have people who hear me teach say that I'm very real. I hope that's true."

Nancy and her husband, David, and son, Matt, make their home in Nashville, Tennessee where, according to Nancy, life is less about professional pursuits than about the ordinary aspects of being a wife, mother, friend, and follower of Jesus, with clothes to wash, e-mails to answer, and a friend to listen to.