Contact: Jana Muntsinger
615.376.9442
jana@mmpublicrelations.com
Few parents have to
face the bitter task of burying a child they love. But David and Nancy Guthrie have faced the grave twice now,
burying two children who each lived only six months. Those who have watched the Guthries—including millions who read
their story in TIME Magazine—have
wondered at their ability to emerge from such profound sorrow with faith
intact. But now readers can discover
the source of Nancy Guthrie’s strength as they encounter Holding On to Hope: A Pathway
Through Suffering to the Heart of God (Tyndale, July 2002). Guthrie’s first book invites readers to discover God’s heart in the midst
of darkness and to trust Him even as the journey unfolds.
Using the Biblical story of Job as her
framework, Guthrie reveals that although pain is unavoidable in human
experience, despair and bitterness are not. She describes Job as a godly man
who suffered greatly and questioned boldly, yet who emerged from his suffering
with a more intimate and meaningful knowledge of God. “Job acts as guide to those of us who are hurting,” explains
Guthrie. By leading readers down the
pathway of the Bible’s most significant sufferer, as well as by sharing her own
painful journey, Guthrie addresses the hard questions, such
as:
· Where is God when I am suffering?
· How can a person experiencing significant loss see God as loving?
· Is it possible to emerge from great pain with a more intimate relationship with God?
Nancy Guthrie offers companionship to those walking
through grief; she is a fellow traveler sharing her story with equal measures
of gentle encouragement and profound truth. Holding On to Hope
speaks truth and comfort not only to those who have faced the death of someone
they love, but to those who have experienced the death of a marriage, the
unwanted diagnosis, the loss of a dream. “Do you feel as if your world has
fallen apart?” Guthrie asks her readers. “If so, you know what it is like to
feel hurt and helpless and hopeless in the midst of loss. And perhaps you, too,
are wondering if you will ever find your way out of this place of pain.”
With bold honesty and
credibility, Guthrie exposes her first-hand understanding of loss. “It was the day after we buried Hope that I
understood for the first time why so many people choose to medicate their pain
in so many harmful ways,” she writes.
“That day I tried to sleep it away. And in the days that followed, I
figured out that I could not sleep it away, shop it away, eat it away, drink it
away, travel it away. I just had to
feel it. And it hurt. Physically.”
-more-
Holding On to Hope/page two
Already, Guthrie’s book is receiving strong praise from well-known Christian leaders and other writers. Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham, has penned the book’s foreword, and early endorsements are in from Max Lucado, Joni Earekson Tada, Ravi Zacharias, Sheila Walsh and TIME writer, David Van Biema. Already the book has been featured in Publishers Weekly, ECPA Footprints, Christian Retailing and CBA Marketplace.
“This is a most unusual book,” comments
Jan Long Harris, Acquisitions Director at Tyndale House Publishers. “Not only does Nancy share an unusually
painful story, she does so with unusual grace, power and insight. I believe her small volume will become a
source of comfort and strength for many who have—and many who will have—the
foundations of their world shaken.”
Harris also comments that the initial retail response to Holding On
to Hope has been unusually strong for a first time author.
Nancy Guthrie has worked in Christian
publishing for 18 years, handling special editorial projects and media
relations for well-known Christian authors and speakers as well as the
Christian Booksellers Association. Her
writings have appeared in Christianity Today and Profile Magazine. She has been active in leadership for Bible
Study Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee, where she resides with her husband,
David and their 11-year-old son, Matt.
Tyndale
House Publishers creates inspirational titles that are distributed to every
continent of the world. Tyndale is the
publisher of the best-selling Left Behind
fiction series (50 million sold to date) as well as The Living Bible (more than 40 million
copies sold in the United States and Canada alone). Tyndale's product
line includes a diverse mix of hardcover and trade paper books, Bible reference
products, Children’s products, Bible studies, videos, audio books, calendars,
and a best-selling line of mass-market paperbacks. Tyndale is based in Carol Stream,
Illinois.
# # #
March 2002
By Nancy Guthrie
Foreword by Anne
Graham Lotz
Release Date: July 2002
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
ISBN: 0-8423-6418-8
Price: $11.99
ECPA Category: Christian Living/Practical Life/Grief,
Suffering
Trim Size: 4 3/8 x 7 1/4
Binding: Jacketed
Hardcover