Nancy Guthrie

Nancy Guthrie and her husband, David, and son, Matt, make their home in Nashville, Tennessee. She and David are the co-hosts of the GriefShare video series used in more than 8,500 churches around the country and host Respite Retreats for couples who have experienced the death of a child. Nancy is the author of numerous books, including Holding on to Hope and Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow and is currently working on the five-book Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament Bible study series.
 

Dec

24

2012

Nancy Guthrie|10:54 AM CT

Born to Raise the Sons of Earth
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There's a line in the carol, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!" that caught my attention this year that I don't think I've noticed before. The line immediately prior, "Born that man no more may die," has long been meaningful to me as one touched by the pain of death. Its truth has given me perspective in the midst of great sadness in the Christmas season by reminding me that what began in a manger will culminate on a cross where Jesus will "destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14). Yet here we are, living in this world where there is still so much death. We keep thinking that if God were good he would sweep into this world and our lives and protect us from all this loss and pain, that he would put an end to disasters and disease and death.
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Sep

04

2012

Nancy Guthrie|10:00 PM CT

50 Reasons I'm Having a Happy Birthday
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I remember when I thought people who were the age I am about to turn on my birthday were . . . really old. Something about these big birthdays soberly reminds us that we likely have fewer years ahead of us than behind us. But do we have to so easily absorb the world's attitudes about aging? Doesn't the reality of Christ change everything about our lives, including the growing older part? If "to live is Christ," shouldn't that make a difference in the way we face these big number birthdays?

It is not at all lost on me that my "outer self is wasting away" (2 Corinthians 4:16). But because I have Christ, my "inner self is being renewed day by day." All flesh is like grass, and let's just say this...

 
 
 
 

Apr

04

2012

Nancy Guthrie|10:00 PM CT

Praying Past Our Preferred Outcomes
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It is one thing to be asked to pray for another person. I'm happy to do it. I want to do it. I must admit, though, I am not always faithful to do it. However, it is another thing to be told what to ask God for in the situation. I've noticed that often requests for prayer come with specific instructions on how to pray. I call it a "please pray for my predetermined positive outcome" request.

And while I'm questioning our accepted methods of requesting prayer, I've got to ask, why do we seem to make it our goal to get as many people as possible praying toward our predetermined positive outcome? Is it that we think God is resistant to doing what is good and right but can be pressured by a large...

 
 
 
 

Nov

23

2011

Nancy Guthrie|5:00 AM CT

Joy to This Cursed World
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"Happy Thanksgiving!"

"Merry Christmas!"

"Happy New Year!"

As the end of the year approaches, everywhere we turn someone is telling us we should be happy. But for families who've lost someone they love, the holidays can seem more like something to survive than to enjoy. The traditions and events that can add so much joy and meaning to the season are punctuated with painful, repeated reminders of loss. Many grieving people wish they could find a quiet place to hide until January 2.

So is there any joy to be found in the midst of the holidays when you are grieving the loss of someone you love?

Still Infested


When you're grieving, the songs you have sung in church your whole life suddenly sound different. Phrases that easily rolled off your tongue, that you barely thought about...

 
 
 
 

Jul

28

2011

Nancy Guthrie|5:00 AM CT

How Could God Ask That?
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In our Sunday school class circle we were discussing Genesis 22, the account of God coming to Abraham and telling him to take his beloved son, Isaac, and offer him as a sacrifice. “I have always struggled with this story,” one man in the class said. “I just can’t understand how God could ask Abraham to do that. It just seems so cruel.”

Many of us have struggled to understand what seems like an outrageous request. And it is not only this command to Abraham that confounds us. We also read about Jacob’s wrestling in the dark with God throughout the night until finally God wrenched his hip, leaving him with a limp, and we wonder why God would do that. We read about God telling Hosea to marry...

 
 
 
 

May

31

2011

Nancy Guthrie|5:00 AM CT

What Do You Mean When You Talk about Christ in the Old Testament?
What Do You Mean When You Talk about Christ in the Old Testament? avatar

A couple of weeks ago I was preparing to speak to a small women’s group about seeing Christ in the Old Testament. I intended to set the scene with Jesus’ words on the road to Emmaus found in Luke 24, and to illustrate what I meant using numerous examples in the Old Testament. But as I prepared, I envisioned a sea of perplexed expressions on the faces staring back at me trying to make sense of what I was talking about, and more importantly, wondering how to incorporate it into their own study of the Scripture.

Only a few years ago my own understanding of how Christ is seen in the Old Testament was mostly limited to prophecies of Christ's coming and a few of the more obvious...

 
 
 
 

Mar

02

2011

Nancy Guthrie|7:18 PM CT

I'm Happy
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Nearly 900 women have registered to attend The Gospel Coalition national conference in Chicago in April, and that makes me really happy.

I’m happy because for a while it seemed to me that there wasn’t a place for me at the gospel-centered conferences that interested me as a woman who wants to grow in my ability to “rightly handle the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). I looked at pictures from various equipping conferences and couldn’t find female faces. And I don’t generally like showing up at parties I haven’t been invited to (although there was that one time I went to a Christmas party at the wrong house that was down the street from the party I was actually invited to and ended up staying a while).

I’m...

 
 
 
 

Feb

25

2011

Nancy Guthrie|5:00 AM CT

I Have a Voice
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At the climax of the movie The King’s Speech, King George VI is finally goaded by his unconventional speech therapist into declaring, “I have a voice!” —a turning point in his battle to overcome stuttering and effectively lead his country in wartime.

I suppose there is a sense in which we all have to discover that we “have a voice”—that we have something to say that is worthy for the world around us to hear and take note of. To speak up for someone who cannot speak up for himself, we have to find a voice and use it courageously. To speak out on matters of justice and mercy and righteousness, we have to find a voice and use it humbly. To give God the praise he is due we must find...

 
 
 
 

Sep

27

2010

Nancy Guthrie|8:00 AM CT

An Open Letter to My Pastors on Glenn Beck
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Dear Pastors Benton, Filson, and Teller:

I know it has been a few weeks now since the big Glenn Beck rally in Washington. Most of the conversation about it has centered on Beck's Mormon faith. But that is not what prompts me to write to you. What prompts me to write is a statement Beck made on August 30 in an appearance on Bill O’Reilly's show, when he cheerfully celebrated that “240 pastors, priests, rabbis, and imams on stage all locked arms saying the principles of America need to be taught from the pulpit.”

As I've continued to think about this statement, I'm moved to write today and say “thank you” for not being one of them. Thank you for your faithfulness in preaching Christ from the pulpit, not “the principles...

 
 
 
 

Sep

23

2010

Nancy Guthrie|9:00 AM CT

I Am an 'Atonement Gal'
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Recently a woman I have worked with in Christian publishing for more than 25 years died, and I went to her funeral. I always knew this friend was never quite comfortable with the lines many of the authors she worked with drew around biblical faith. But I didn’t know until the funeral how far outside those lines she had wandered. There were numerous things about the funeral that were troublesome and even alarming to me—no Scripture was read as part of the service, and the hope of resurrection was never mentioned, to name only two.

But it was one statement the pastor made in particular that caused me to gasp. Looking back, I wish I had stood up and walked out when she said it. But I didn’t want to...

 
 
 
 
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