Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere by Savannah Guthrie

 

Summary (from the publisher): Mostly what God does is love you.

If we could believe this, really believe this, how different would we be? How different would our lives be? How different would our world be?

If you ever struggle with your connection to God (or whether you even feel connected to a faith at all!), you're not alone. Especially in our modern world, with its relentless, never-ending news cycle, we can all grapple with such questions. Do we do that alone, with despair and resignation? Or do we make sense of it with God, and with hope? In these uncertain times, could believing in the power of divine love make the most sense?

In this collection of essays, Savannah Guthrie shares why she believes it does. Unspooling personal stories from her own joys and sorrows as a daughter, mother, wife, friend, and professional journalist, the award-winning TODAY show co-anchor and New York Times bestselling author explores the place of faith in everyday life.

Sharing hard-won wisdom forged from mountaintop triumphs, crushing failures, and even the mundane moments of day-to-day living, Mostly What God Does reveals the transformative ways that belief in God helps us discover real hope for this life and beyond.

A perfect companion to your morning cup of coffee, this incisive volume—not a memoir but a beautiful tapestry of reflections crafted as a spiritual manual—includes:

• a fresh, biblically rooted look at six essentials of faith: love, presence, grace, hope, gratitude, and purpose;
• an honest exploration of questions, doubts, and fears about the love of God;
• a dose of encouragement for the faith-full, the faith-curious, and the faith-less; and
• …and much more.

This deeply personal collection is designed to engage the practical ways that God loves you—not just the world, but you—and to inspire you to venture down a path of faith that is authentic, hopeful, destiny-shaping, and ultimately life-changing.

Review: In this collection of essays, TODAY show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie explores the role of faith in everyday life and the impact it has had on her own life. This reads not as a memoir but more of a spiritual manual, guided by what Guthrie sees as the six essentials of faith: love, presence, grace, hope, gratitude, and purpose. 

This was a really lovely read. I read this for a literary club I am in. I don't know that I would have picked it up on my own, but I'm glad it found its way into my hands. There are so many beautiful stories and anecdotes from Savannah's personal life and faith that she includes to help illustrate her points. I had no idea before reading this how large a role faith plays in her life, but it truly has played in a role in some many facets of her life from her childhood to her feeling called to her career path, and her approach to parenting. 

This was a quick read with short, bite sized chapters. Savannah herself encourages her readers to read this in small chunks or randomly, however you might feel called and it would certainly work that way. Each chapter could stand on its own. 

In sum, I'll close this out with a few lines from one of Savannah's favorite hymns that she includes in the book: 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, 

Look full on his wonderful face. 

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, 

In the light of his glory and grace.

Stars: 4