The Story

The One Year Book of Hope

In the lowest days of her grief following the death of her daughter, Nancy Guthrie made a list—a list of things she would write about if she were to ever write a devotional for people who are hurting. Many items on the list were questions she had not found answers to, scriptural passages that seemed unintelligible, phrases that held meaning or offered comfort. At the time, she wished she had something to read from every day that would confront her deep pain with truth from scripture, and thinking that maybe she would write such a book herself one day, she filed the list away and nearly forgot about it.

But she remembered the list when Tyndale House approached her four years later about writing a daily devotional, and it became the foundation for The One Year© Book of Hope, which releases in October 2005. Writing not only for those who suffer deep physical, emotional, and relational pain but also for those who simply want to see the lesser hurts of their lives redeemed, Guthrie speaks with an authenticity and credibility with which only one who has hurt deeply can speak. While she writes of her own experience of losing a daughter, Hope, and a son, Gabriel, to a rare metabolic disorder, Guthrie tells readers, "while my story takes up much of the ink in this book, it is your story that has prompted me to write, your loss that is heavy on my heart."

Guthrie developed 52 weekly themes to take readers through over the course of a year, moving from first-aid for the hurting in early weeks such as "Brokenhearted," "Holy Spirit, Comforter," and "Why?" to foundational truths in weeks such as "Parables", "Paradox" and "Joy," and finally into significant challenge in weeks such as "Submission," "Forgiveness," and "Letting Go." Each week includes devotions for Monday through Friday, and a guide for reflection, meditation, and prayer for the weekend.

Comfort and Truth

It was a quote from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis that not only confirmed her decision to write the book but gave Guthrie guidance along the way: "Comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair."

"So much of what I had read for hurting people is what I call 'pat you on the head' use of selected scriptures or simply psychotherapy", says Guthrie. "I knew that the only thing that has helped me emerge from the pain I've experienced with real joy and renewed faith has been confronting my very real questions and pain at every turn with the truth of God's Word. Scripture does speak to the significant pain of living in this broken world and offers genuine hope. It has been my goal to give hurting people a nugget of truth to chew on throughout the day, everyday."

A Flexible Format

Guthrie chose not to use dates or days of the week in the year-long devotional so that readers can begin the book at any time of the year and can feel the flexibility of sitting down with the book once a week to work through a week's devotions on a particular theme, or using it daily. But Guthrie hopes readers will use the book to develop a daily habit. "Every day we need a little more light to illumine our darkness," she writes. "We need a fresh touch, a fresh word to nourish and sustain us. Yesterday's manna, yesterday's insights may inform us, but every day we need something new to keep us moving forward toward healing."