Grief, Faith and Nancy Guthrie

Last night, while visiting with friends over coffee, our host, Nancy Guthrie, shared from her journey through the deaths of two children. I was struck by her willingness to lay her heart bare, especially after weekends of speaking engagements and hosting grieving families this last weekend. How does she find strength to revisit the memories, the emotions, the loss, without growing bitter or consumed by self-pity? That kind of strength, courage and selflessness must come from God.

How can I respond differently when life abruptly, painfully changes? In listening to her, I took away that there is no list of things "to do". When confronted with loss, there is only faith. Faith that God is good and that He is involved in working all things for GOOD for those who love Him.

But, where does faith come from? How can one have it? Faith is a gift from God and all I have to do is ask Him for it. I was humbled by two things as I walked away last night - (1) all the times I've said nothing to grieving friends out of fear and in turn possibly hurt them and (2) how while pregnant I often saw my condition as a 'burden I must bear' instead of as precious time to care for a child. If ever I am blessed to be pregnant again, I will think of how Nancy Guthrie carried her children and look at those 9 months differently. And the next time I see a grieving friend, I hope I will have the courage to be uncomfortable and tell them I care.

I found Nancy's website today: www.nancyguthrie.com and am considering her book "Holding on to Hope".