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.

Nancy’s 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.

Nancy Guthrie is one of my favorite writers, not least of all because she’s saturated with God’s 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.

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.

I noticed while reading through the Bible one year that God frequently used women’s 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 clichés and pat answers to real problems, Nancy Guthrie speaks divine truth, explaining not only why God uses emptiness but how. Finally—a 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!

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.

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 most—a real solution. In this book you won’t find sugary platitudes or shallow pick-me-ups. You will find answers and see what we’ve 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.