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A healing book for anyone who has ever been hurt by life
Nancy Guthrie knows what it is to be plunged into life’s abyss. Framing her own story of staggering loss and soaring hope with the biblical story of Job, she takes her fellow sufferers by the hand and guides them on a pathway through pain—straight to the heart of God.

Includes an eight-week Bible study guide on the book of Job for individual or small group study.

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For information about the author, please visit www.NancyGuthrie.com

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Holding on to Hope

Tyndale House Publishers

Chapter One

Two weeks after the neighbor's house burneddown, I gave birth to a daughter we named Hope.We had planned on that name for years for adaughter, but I never could have dreamed howmeaningful it would become.

The doctors were immediately concerned by several"small" problems evident at birth-Hope hadclub feet, she was very lethargic and unresponsive,she had a flat chin and a large soft spot, she had atiny indentation on one earlobe, she would notsuck, and her hands were turned slightly outward.

On Hope's second day of life, a geneticist whoexamined her came to our room. He told us that hesuspected Hope had a metabolic disorder called ZellwegerSyndrome. Because she was missing somethingin her cells called peroxisomes, which rid cellsof toxins, her systems would slowly shut down.

And then he dropped the bomb that most babieswith this syndrome live less than six months.No treatment. No cure. No survivors. I felt like theair had been sucked out of me. While he was talking,I let out a low groan.

To be honest, it just didn't seem real. Sometimesit still doesn't. My husband, David, crawledinto the hospital bed with me and we cried and wecried out to God. The next morning when I wokeup, I was hoping that perhaps I had dreamed thewhole thing-but I hadn't.

We called our pastor and asked him to come seeus that morning. I looked at him and said, "Well, Iguess here is where the rubber meets the road.Here is where I find out if I really believe what Isay I believe." I knew I had to choose how I wasgoing to respond to this incredible disappointmentand sorrow.

In the days following the diagnosis, as welearned how to feed Hope with a tube, awaited theanticipated onset of seizures, and began to acceptthe reality that she would be with us for only ashort time, I returned to the story of Job. I wantedto look more closely at how Job responded as hisworld fell apart.

Perhaps you've experienced your world fallingapart. Maybe your marriage has ended, or yourparents' marriage has ended. Maybe financial disasterhas come your way and you're trying to digyour way out. Maybe your child has rejected yourvalues and rejected you. Maybe you've received thediagnosis you didn't want. Or maybe, like me, youhave faced the sorrow and loneliness of losingsomeone you love.

Do you feel as if your world has fallen apart? Ifso, you know what it is like to feel hurt and helplessand hopeless in the midst of loss. And perhaps you,too, are wondering if you will ever find your wayout of this place of pain.

Throughout the pages of this short book, we'regoing to look carefully at Job's experience, becauseJob shows us how a person of faith responds whenhis world falls apart. We know Job was a great manof faith because the writer tells us so in the firstverse of the first chapter, describing Job as a man ofcomplete integrity who feared God and stayed awayfrom evil. And, later in the same chapter, God himselfuses these same words to describe Job.

This introduction shows us that Job was devotedto God. He had impeccable character. We couldeven describe Job as God's friend. In fact, when Godendeavored to choose one person he knew wouldbe faithful to him no matter what, he chose Job-with complete confidence. Job must have provedhimself faithful over and over for God to have thatkind of confidence in him!

But Satan is skeptical. Satan thinks Job is faithfulonly because Job is supernaturally protected byGod and has such a comfortable life, and that if hiscomfortable life were taken away, Job would turnon God.

At this point, God gives Satan permission tohurt Job. We don't want to hear that, because itjust doesn't square with our understanding of aloving God. But it is clear. God gives the permissionand sets the parameters for Job's suffering.

"`All right, you may test him,' the Lord said toSatan. `Do whatever you want with everything hepossesses, but don't harm him physically'" (Job1:12).

Do you wonder why God would give permission for Satan to harm Job? More importantly, doyou wonder why God has given Satan permissionto bring so much pain into your life?

Before we try to answer the question "Why?" let'slook closely at how Job responds as everything hehas and everyone he loves are abruptly ripped away.

We'll see that Job's story is about much morethan his suffering. Somehow, along the way, he discoversGod in a way he has never known him before.And when his story comes to a close, we seethat "the Lord blessed Job in the second half of hislife even more than in the beginning.... He died,an old man who had lived a long, good life."

Isn't that what you and I want, even now, in themidst of our painful circumstances-to understandGod like we never have before, to see him as we'venever seen him before, to emerge from our days ofsuffering with God's blessing and with a life that canbe described as good?

How did Job move from profound pain toprofound blessing? Let's follow Job's steps closelyto discover his secret. Let's examine each steppingstone along the way. Let's follow him on the pathwayof suffering so that he might lead us to the veryheart of God.

* * *

One day when Job's sons and daughters were dining atthe oldest brother's house, a messenger arrived at Job'shome with this news: "Your oxen were plowing, with thedonkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided us.They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands.I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

While he was still speaking, another messenger arrivedwith this news: "The fire of God has fallen from heavenand burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am theonly one who escaped to tell you."

While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrivedwith this news: "Three bands of Chaldean raiders havestolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the onlyone who escaped to tell you."

While he was still speaking, another messenger arrivedwith this news: "Your sons and daughters were feastingin their oldest brother's home. Suddenly, a powerful windswept in from the desert and hit the house on all sides. Thehouse collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am theonly one who escaped to tell you."

Job stood up and tore his robe in grief.

Job 1:13-20

Continues...

Excerpted from Holding on to Hopeby Nancy Guthrie Copyright © 2007 by Nancy Guthrie. Excerpted by permission.
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