Customer Reviews

The One Year Book of Hope (One Year Books)

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Author Nancy Guthrie understands the depth of grief, but she also knows the power of hope. In this book, she comes alongside readers to share her experiences, thoughts, and most importantly, her belief in a merciful God. Each page is like a gentle hug, as her words breathe life from the precious promises of the Bible.

The book is arranged around fifty-two themes, which encourages daily reading for a year. However, the author's sensitivity to sorrow has led her not to include days of the week or dates with each section. She realizes that grief has no timetable and therefore her words may be read slowly or with greater urgency, depending on the individual

There is a gradual progression in these pages, as the first theme acknowledges the brokenhearted and the last entry is on letting go. Throughout the book, the reader will come face to face with different aspects of the healing process while their attention is always directed toward a vibrant hope in God.

However, the heart of this book is the heart of the author. Her personal acquaintance with grief makes her compassionately qualified to minister to others. She has sought answers and comfort, and through her experiences, she has also learned a great deal about hoping in the Lord. Her spiritual insights, which were gleaned from serious study of the Scriptures, lead readers through the darkness of sorrow to the light of victory. Her words are trustworthy because she has been tried in the furnace of affliction.

Grace, beauty, and truth flow from these pages. Although sorrow is never trivialized, the author consistently causes the reader to look ever onward and upward to the Source of all comfort and hope. And that's the perfect way to spend every day of the year! -- Joyce Handzo, Christian Book Previews.com

This devotional is written in such a gentle and sensitive way. I try to read it daily but sometimes while grieving you just can't stick with a routine. There's nothing to 'push' me along -- no dates, weeks, or months of the year. No 'guilt' for getting behind. It's ready for me when I'm ready for it. Sometimes I read several days at a time then miss several. It encourages me, and encourages thought and reflection. It tells me to trust in a loving God (which I do). This book also points to the scriptures and gives references which can be read in tandem with the devotion. This is a wonderful resource for those overwhelmed by grief.

I came across this book from a Christian book review, and fell in love with it. Nancy Guthrie does not pull any punches. God is holy, no matter our circumstances.

After working through just a couple of weeks, I gave copies to each of my friends and co-workers on their birthdays throughout 2006. Even if you have never experienced great pain in life, you will find this book a blessing. And when you do experience tragedy - and we all do - you will be better able to work through it.

THIS BOOK IS WONDERFUL!!! I READ IT DAILY! SEVERAL TIMES A DAY!
MY LITTLE GIRL WENT TO HEAVEN 19 MONTHS AGO, SHE WAS 20 MONTHS OLD, SHE HAD MITOCHONDRIAL DISEASE, THIS IS A VERY RARE AND PROGRESSIVE NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASE. LIFE IS VERY HARD FOR ME, ITS A STRUGGLE, BUT I CAN PICK THIS BOOK UP AND READ JUST ONE PAGE AND THE PAIN IS NOT AS BAD. I LOVE IT!! IT HELPS ME GO ON!!
I READ "HOLDING ON TO HOPE" WHILE MY BABY WAS SICK, AND I WOULD JUST THINK "GOSH, I HOPE THAT I CAN BE STRONG LIKE THIS AUTHOR"!, THEN AFTER MY BABY DIED, I WAS ON AMAZON AND THIS BOOK WAS SUGGESTED TO ME. IT IS REALLY GREAT, I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE.

I was given this book by a friend who had originally bought it for herself (her father had been diagnosed with terminal cancer) but after she read the forward she felt that it was meant for me. I lost my son to a terminal genetic muscle defect 11 days after he was born.

I have been learning so much about myself and so much more about who God is. Because Nancy's situation was very similar to my own, I feel like she knows how I feel and the experiences I am having. I love being able to spend time everyday learning more and gaining new insight into God. Also to be able to heal little by little while growing stronger in my faith is very encouraging.

The layout is great. It is written so that it can be read daily on schedule or it can be read at your own pace. The topics are relevent to the grieving processes and offer verses that correspond. Often the verses are ones that I have read before but I had never thought of them in the way that she offers them.

I recommend this... its truly is a book of hope.

The One Year Book of Hope (One Year Books)
I searched for a devotional that had some depth to it with both scripture and "digging deeper" quality to it. I found this one through a daily email I get. The book uses loss in our lives as a tool to find more of God. I was diagnosed with leukemia a few years back. The type that is chronic and slow growing. The good news is that it grows slowly, the bad news is that it doesn't respond to chemo in order to go into remission. So, I have to deal with it on a daily basis. It is so hard to fit that into my mind. You hear cancer and you want to do the most extreme treatment and get rid of it totally. Well, aside from a bone marrow transplant there is no cure. A transplant is too risky when living with the disease is not as bad as the cure. Since my life is not in danger, today, we wait. The treatment is called watch and wait. In this book, the author speaks of some horrible loss in her life and how she found more of God through that. I so relate to this as I am finding more of God in the journey I am on. I get tired of being told that God heals and that I need to simply believe that and poof! It goes away! That's not how I am experiencing this. There is a LOT of loss dealing with a chronic disease. There is not some magic words I can say that will make it all go away. Instead I search for what God is using my suffering for on a daily basis. This book is helping me on that road in a very real way. I'm so glad I bought it.

for all of us who have suffered loss, for those of us who have known the sorrow of a death of a child this book is an honest look at how to get the peace of God

A good friend gave me a copy of this book six months after my husband died of cancer back in 2005. I have since read through it three different times and have given away 25 copies of it to friends or acquaintances that I know are struggling through some sort of heartache in their lives. It is the best daily "devotional" I have ever owned (and I have used dozens). Nancy Guthrie writes with such honesty and understanding about loss, and I believe, outside of the Bible itself, it has been the most beneficial text I have ever read. I would love to own a hardback copy but not sure there ever was one available.

I buy this book for everyone I know who has lost a child. After the loss of our 17 year old son in a car accident 4 years ago, I had read numerous books about grief and loss of a child. Although my faith was firm I found that this daily devotional was so powerful and reached me in my pain in a way unlike the other books. It brought me back to a fuller understanding of how much God loves us, enabling me to trust Him once again with all whom I love.

This is an excellent devotional book for anyone who has lost a loved one or had a loved one with a serious illness or injury or whatever type of pain and sorrow one is going through.