Nancy Guthrie - God Does His Best Work with Empty

You must read this book. Too many people around you are grieving hard yet are clueless as to how to fill the emptiness. Be warned: This impossibly personal work treads on delicate territory (Who among us is an expert in helping the anguished deal well with loss?). Take heart, though; you have a seasoned, skilled guide in Nancy Guthrie. She has ingested the bitter bread of loss, which makes her counsel wise, wonderful, and best of all, authentic. In God Does His Best Work with Empty, my treasured friend shares insights that are grounded in Scripture and filled with tested-and-tried-compassion. Best of all, she knows Jesus well and understands how to gently point hurting people his way. So read it. And let its wisdom push you out into a hurting world where only Christ can fill those who are empty.

JONI EARECKSON TADA, Joni and Friends International Disability Center

Nancys writing is like a familiar pair of hands tenderly taking hold of our faces and an empathetic set of eyes, locking with ours to remind us of what has never stopped being true. Her words do the important work of acknowledging our ache, then lifting our gaze to the cross and the hope of eternity it secures for us. This book does that work patiently, thoughtfully, and expertly.

RAECHEL MYERS, cofounder of She Reads Truth

Nancy Guthrie is one of my favorite writers, not least of all because shes saturated with Gods Word. She affirms Jesus without ever offering cheap get-on-with-it advice that is code for stop grieving, it makes us uncomfortable. With honesty and transparency, Nancy affirms gospel truth that encourages, corrects, and empowers us to embrace the blood-bought goodness and joy of Jesus. This is a terrific book.

RANDY ALCORN, author of Heaven, If God is Good, and Giving Is the Good Life

Nancy Guthrie is always a source of sound wisdom for me, and God Does His Best Work with Empty is no different. Offering deep sympathy and life-giving hope, this book will strengthen your heart in the weary places and point you to the joy and promise of being filled by Christ.

LAURA WIFLER, cofounder of Risen Motherhood; podcaster; coauthor of Risen Motherhood: Gospel Hope for Everyday Moments

I noticed while reading through the Bible one year that God frequently used womens barren, empty wombs to bring timely deliverance to his people. After reading this book, I now know why: God does his best work with empty vessels! In a world of clichs and pat answers to real problems, Nancy Guthrie speaks divine truth, explaining not only why God uses emptiness but how. Finallya Scripture-based explanation that causes me first to think, then to worship our ever-filling God! The prayer at the conclusion of the book is something I personally plan to incorporate in my own journey moving forward. We all experience empty somewhere in our lives, and this book has helped me know how to fill it. Thank you, thank you for this biblical solution to emptiness!

DAVID ARTHUR, CEO and President, Precept Ministries

We all want to be skilled in connecting what we feel with what God says. We certainly can feel empty; the challenge is to hear God speak in Scripture to this emptiness and to hear him speak often, with characteristic gentleness and the element of surprise and newness. Nancy is, I think, the perfect person to make those connections for us.

ED WELCH, counselor and senior faculty, CCEF

Empty is a feeling we all experience in life. When the well runs dry, how we fill it up makes all the difference in the world. Some turn to alcohol, drugs, and personal ambition to numb the pain of loss and despair. But none of those provide us with what we need mosta real solution. In this book you wont find sugary platitudes or shallow pick-me-ups. You will find answers and see what weve all come to expect from Nancy Guthrie. She can relate to you, she can understand you, and she can help you. In your greatest pain, you can find a greater purpose.

COSTI W. HINN, pastor and author of God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel

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God Does His Best Work with Empty

Copyright 2020 by Nancy Guthrie. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph of old bottle copyright Jill Ferry/Getty Images. All rights reserved.

Designed by Ron C. Kaufmann

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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I fondly dedicate this book to the hundreds of bereaved parents who have spent a weekend with my husband, David, and me at Respite Retreat. As weve sat in that sacred circle, Ive looked into your eyes, acknowledged the emptiness in your homes and in your hearts, and assured you that God does his best work with empty.

I know the empty place is still there. Theres an empty place in your family photo, an empty place at the table, an empty place in the plans you had for your future.

Im praying that God will continue to do his best work, not in spite of your emptiness, but in it and through it.

Im praying that God will fill your lives with his

life and light,

beauty and purpose,

hope and joy.

T HATS ME! Thats my life. I feel so empty, my friend Julie said when I told her the title of the book I was working on, the book you now hold in your hands. She and her husband, both newly retired, their children far away, were struggling to figure out how to fill not just the hours in the day but the holes in their hearts. But her response to the title wasnt unique. Whenever I told people what I was working on, the most common response was a knowing, low-pitched Mmmm.

The reality of emptiness seems to resonate.

I know it resonates with me. And Im somewhat embarrassed to admit it because my life has been and is now filled with so much goodness. I have a multitude of reasons to be perfectly happy and completely satisfied. And yet...

I have often found myself fighting off a sense of emptiness, or perhaps more accurately, wallowing in a wave of emptiness. Sometimes I feel as if there is a bottomless pit inside of me that no amount of entertainment, affirmation, or accumulation can fill. Im ashamed of how envious I can be of what someone else has or does when I have so much and get to do so much. Ive often wondered how I can feel empty immediately after accomplishing something Ive worked hard for or while Im still on the vacation Ive dreamed of. Ive wondered how I can feel lonely in a room full of interesting people or in a marriage to a wonderful man. Ive wondered how it is that I can so quickly descend from thrilling satisfaction into nagging dissatisfaction after an expensive purchase, a successful event, or a sought-after experience.