In today's modern world,
few parents have to face the bitter task of burying a child that they
love. But Nancy Guthrie has 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
significant 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 and Chinese. The One-Year Book
of Hope, provides
hurting people with a daily dose of truth from Scripture to guide them
toward healing. Publishers Weekly wrote: "Where other devotionals
offer tiny and undemanding snippets from Scripture, Guthrie's approach
is meatier, and we see her genuinely wrestling with some of the more
difficult passages of the Bible. Throughout, Guthrie's soul-searching
honesty and personal anecdotes make her a perfect companion in times
"
In addition to teaching at her church, Nancy speaks
regularly at women's retreats and evangelistic events nationally and
internationally including recent events at The Brooklyn Tabernacle, Second
Baptist Church of Houston and a women's conference in Scotland. Nancy
has worked in the Christian publishing industry for over twenty years
and handles media relations for clients such as the international
association for Christian retail.
“God has been preparing me my whole life for teaching his
Word,” says Nancy Guthrie. “God 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 John Piper that I listen to almost
daily on my ipod. My over twenty years of experience as a publicist
who has worked with so many leading Christian communicators has given
me a front-row seat to seeing how they use humor, story, organization,
exposition, and so many other tools to communicate biblical truth
in an effective way. 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.”
But Nancy says the most important thing God has given her is a love
for his Word. “To me, it is a treasure to mine,” 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, a car-pool line to wait
in, e-mails to answer and a friend to listen to. |