My middle school kids say “Mommy’s Show” when referring to my favorite Today Show. I love everyone on that show, and I feel anyone can be comfortable and connect with Savannah. When I found out she wrote a book on her faith, I was over the moon! My family started to read a little of it each night and it was bitter sweet to finish it last night. We were so inspired, touched, humored, and encouraged by her authentic and insightful words of faith. Thank you so much for being brave to write this beautiful gem, Savannah!
Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars | 2,073 ratings
Price: 17.32
Last update: 12-31-2024
About this item
Read by the author.
#1 New York Times Bestseller
Guthrie persuasively renders the evolution of a hard-won religious belief that makes room for imperfection and "does not require us to ignore... the sorrows we experience or the unjustness we see but to believe past it." This openhearted offering inspires.—Publishers Weekly
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 coanchor 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.
The diagram can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Top reviews from the United States
PJ5.0 out of 5 stars
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Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2024
John R. Amos, JCD5.0 out of 5 stars
A great read in spirituality
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2024
A Review by John R. Amos, JCD of Mostly What God Does: Reflections of Seeking and Finding His love Everywhere by Savanna Guthrie.
This is a good book on spirituality written in a whimsical style that is not overdone. Its teachings are sound. Though from a Protestant Christian perspective, many of other faiths and traditions can profit from reading this work. Spoiler alert: The book barely mentions and hence does not detail the difficult events from which its lessons were derived. It is not a tell-all autobiography. It sticks to the point of noting how spirituality helps us live better lives despite inevitable human suffering.
Rather than providing a summary, here are my favorite quotations—the author in her own words.
1) “Mostly what God does is love you. To believe this about God is the essence of faith: giving God the benefit of the doubt in a world that invites cynicism and despair. …. It is powerful when we look at the events of our lives in this light.”
2) “Going through deep crises, profound adversity…can be existential threats to your belief, or they can be extraordinary teachers.”
3) “Knowledge of and belief in the deep love of God is how we come to love ourselves. …. This love is how we begin to…see ourselves as God sees us.”
4) “God’s feelings for us have nothing to do with our feelings toward him. …. We cannot do or say anything to make him love us more—or less.”
5) “The only thing harder than believing that ‘mostly what God does is love you’ is maintaining that belief.”
6) “God is always communicating here in the present tense.”
7) God’s telephone number is Jeremiah 3:33. “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
8) “If we want to recognize God’s voice, an intimate connection is vital. …. We must do life with him, like a baby does with Mom. ….(W)hen I hear God’s voice, it is usually saying something I never expected to hear…. It is foreign to me, consistent with who God is, echoes the Bible, and doesn’t always tell me what I want to hear. …. In its simplest form, God is always calling. …. And always, boiled down to its very essence, he is saying one thing: ‘Come with me.’”
9) “Lifting up the people I love before the God I trust draws me closer to him and to them.”
10) “God tells us to praise him not for what it does for him but for what it does for us.”
11) “Sometimes it’s good to read the Psalms just to feel better about our own level of drama and navel-gazing.”
12) “I learned to trust God not because the terrible thing never happened but because it did. …. I realized that the source of my mistrust—my fear of the bad circumsta
nces, my fear of calamity and doom—was far worse than any actual bad thing that ever happened.”
13) “God, over time, works things out in the direction of closeness to him. His trajectory is of ever-increasing intimacy and communion with him.”
14) “Seeing events over a long passage of time, with the benefit of maturity and perspective, is the closest humans can come to understand how God works and how he answers a prayer.”
15) “…(T)he joy of faith isn’t just a fleeting, emotional euphoria, a high…. It is also an intellectual joy: the excitement…of understanding something new and marvelous, thought provoking and challenging.”
16) “…(T)o ask for a blessing means simply asking for more of God. …. When I pray to God to bless someone I love, I am asking him to be present and involved—not necessarily to dictate a certain result.”
17) “The picture of mercy. That is how our heavenly Father embraces us.”
18) “Real internal change does not come at the point of a weapon or the threat of eternal damnation. It comes upon glimpsing, and then absorbing, the wholly unmerited and extravagantly generous expression of his astonishing grace.”
19) “If we can’t confront the truth about ourselves—what’s good and what just isn’t—then we are likely to avoid ourselves, distract ourselves, anesthetize ourselves.”
20) “Our God is not a God of happy talk. …. Our God is a firm and straightforward truth teller. …. God remains kind and loving even when talking to us about an area of our lives that needs to change. ….(C)onfession is not meant to be a ‘cosmic beatdown’ or an occasion for ‘morbid introspection.’ It is simply being accountable for the ways in which we fall short of love.”
21) “Doubt is just faith being worked out, like a muscle.”
22) “In the end, in this life anyway, we cannot know if our faith is correct or if it is sadly misplaced. But we can believe. And I have concluded that believing is, at the very least, a better way to live.”
23) “God doesn’t cause pain, but he does turn our pain into promise.”
24) “May we all simply exude the sweet aroma that is a telltale sign of time spent with God: goodness, kindness, and love.”
25) “…(T)here is no such thing as a wasted opportunity—not if you are determined to make something of it.”
26) “Comfortable is not where the action is. …. To discover your purpose, you probably need to get uncomfortable. …(T)he most fruitful seasons of blossoming and growth are always, always, inevitably, on the other side of risk….on the other side of your fear…. When w
e step out of our comfort zones, we step into our needs. This is where God gets a chance to do his thing.”
27) “Even our wrong decisions can be redeemed…. This choice or that choice isn’t the definitive end or only possible beginning . …. This is a great moment for God to share. Invite him into your chaos. Faith is believing God will take you where you’re meant to go.”
28) ….(L)earn to make friends with your troubles—make them your teachers, instead of your tormentors. Or imagine they’re rescuing you, pointing you in a different direction, to what’s truly meant for you.”
29) “What’s my purpose?... I believe we feel in sync with ourselves and with God when we do what we are uniquely suited to do for something meaningful, in service to something or someone greater than ourselves.”
30) “I am congenitally fearful, guilty, and worried—ever anxious that I am, at any and all times, mere moments away for calamity, my comeuppance, my good fortune to end, for me to get what I surely deserve.”
31) “The only thing I know, the only sense I can make of it, is that God gave me these blessings not to keep or board or store away for a rainy day but to share.”
All of these thirty-one points provide worthwhile material for meditation, which the author encourages throughout her book. She provides appropriately interesting contexts as well.
This is a good book on spirituality written in a whimsical style that is not overdone. Its teachings are sound. Though from a Protestant Christian perspective, many of other faiths and traditions can profit from reading this work. Spoiler alert: The book barely mentions and hence does not detail the difficult events from which its lessons were derived. It is not a tell-all autobiography. It sticks to the point of noting how spirituality helps us live better lives despite inevitable human suffering.
Rather than providing a summary, here are my favorite quotations—the author in her own words.
1) “Mostly what God does is love you. To believe this about God is the essence of faith: giving God the benefit of the doubt in a world that invites cynicism and despair. …. It is powerful when we look at the events of our lives in this light.”
2) “Going through deep crises, profound adversity…can be existential threats to your belief, or they can be extraordinary teachers.”
3) “Knowledge of and belief in the deep love of God is how we come to love ourselves. …. This love is how we begin to…see ourselves as God sees us.”
4) “God’s feelings for us have nothing to do with our feelings toward him. …. We cannot do or say anything to make him love us more—or less.”
5) “The only thing harder than believing that ‘mostly what God does is love you’ is maintaining that belief.”
6) “God is always communicating here in the present tense.”
7) God’s telephone number is Jeremiah 3:33. “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
8) “If we want to recognize God’s voice, an intimate connection is vital. …. We must do life with him, like a baby does with Mom. ….(W)hen I hear God’s voice, it is usually saying something I never expected to hear…. It is foreign to me, consistent with who God is, echoes the Bible, and doesn’t always tell me what I want to hear. …. In its simplest form, God is always calling. …. And always, boiled down to its very essence, he is saying one thing: ‘Come with me.’”
9) “Lifting up the people I love before the God I trust draws me closer to him and to them.”
10) “God tells us to praise him not for what it does for him but for what it does for us.”
11) “Sometimes it’s good to read the Psalms just to feel better about our own level of drama and navel-gazing.”
12) “I learned to trust God not because the terrible thing never happened but because it did. …. I realized that the source of my mistrust—my fear of the bad circumsta
nces, my fear of calamity and doom—was far worse than any actual bad thing that ever happened.”
13) “God, over time, works things out in the direction of closeness to him. His trajectory is of ever-increasing intimacy and communion with him.”
14) “Seeing events over a long passage of time, with the benefit of maturity and perspective, is the closest humans can come to understand how God works and how he answers a prayer.”
15) “…(T)he joy of faith isn’t just a fleeting, emotional euphoria, a high…. It is also an intellectual joy: the excitement…of understanding something new and marvelous, thought provoking and challenging.”
16) “…(T)o ask for a blessing means simply asking for more of God. …. When I pray to God to bless someone I love, I am asking him to be present and involved—not necessarily to dictate a certain result.”
17) “The picture of mercy. That is how our heavenly Father embraces us.”
18) “Real internal change does not come at the point of a weapon or the threat of eternal damnation. It comes upon glimpsing, and then absorbing, the wholly unmerited and extravagantly generous expression of his astonishing grace.”
19) “If we can’t confront the truth about ourselves—what’s good and what just isn’t—then we are likely to avoid ourselves, distract ourselves, anesthetize ourselves.”
20) “Our God is not a God of happy talk. …. Our God is a firm and straightforward truth teller. …. God remains kind and loving even when talking to us about an area of our lives that needs to change. ….(C)onfession is not meant to be a ‘cosmic beatdown’ or an occasion for ‘morbid introspection.’ It is simply being accountable for the ways in which we fall short of love.”
21) “Doubt is just faith being worked out, like a muscle.”
22) “In the end, in this life anyway, we cannot know if our faith is correct or if it is sadly misplaced. But we can believe. And I have concluded that believing is, at the very least, a better way to live.”
23) “God doesn’t cause pain, but he does turn our pain into promise.”
24) “May we all simply exude the sweet aroma that is a telltale sign of time spent with God: goodness, kindness, and love.”
25) “…(T)here is no such thing as a wasted opportunity—not if you are determined to make something of it.”
26) “Comfortable is not where the action is. …. To discover your purpose, you probably need to get uncomfortable. …(T)he most fruitful seasons of blossoming and growth are always, always, inevitably, on the other side of risk….on the other side of your fear…. When w
e step out of our comfort zones, we step into our needs. This is where God gets a chance to do his thing.”
27) “Even our wrong decisions can be redeemed…. This choice or that choice isn’t the definitive end or only possible beginning . …. This is a great moment for God to share. Invite him into your chaos. Faith is believing God will take you where you’re meant to go.”
28) ….(L)earn to make friends with your troubles—make them your teachers, instead of your tormentors. Or imagine they’re rescuing you, pointing you in a different direction, to what’s truly meant for you.”
29) “What’s my purpose?... I believe we feel in sync with ourselves and with God when we do what we are uniquely suited to do for something meaningful, in service to something or someone greater than ourselves.”
30) “I am congenitally fearful, guilty, and worried—ever anxious that I am, at any and all times, mere moments away for calamity, my comeuppance, my good fortune to end, for me to get what I surely deserve.”
31) “The only thing I know, the only sense I can make of it, is that God gave me these blessings not to keep or board or store away for a rainy day but to share.”
All of these thirty-one points provide worthwhile material for meditation, which the author encourages throughout her book. She provides appropriately interesting contexts as well.
Vivian Hubbell5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable and inspiring book.
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2024
Loved reading this book by Savannah Guthrie. Her book is well written, humorous, personable and very inspiring.
Liat Abbott4.0 out of 5 stars
super awesome
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2024
love the book and great quality!
Denise Brown5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2024
Very good book. Surprised by the insight provided. I often refer back to it as a reminder to myself. Worth the price for the hardcover.
Kindle Customer5.0 out of 5 stars
Great easy read.
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2024
This book truly did surprise me. Not really being a fan of hers from TV I hesitated to purchase the book. Then when she started being criticised for speaking of the book on air I was prompted to purchase the book. I mean really we all should be able to make reference to our faith in public. It is such an easy enjoyable read that has no age limits. In the forward (which she wrote herself) she suggest reading it slowly which I have done. I will actually be using some of her stories to teach a lesson at my church. It would be a great book for a first time mom which I am very very far from being. I have actually purchased several other (5) copies to give as gifts. Thank you Savannah for sharing the beautiful book with the rest of us.
LUVGBOY5.0 out of 5 stars
A very good book!
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2024
Very inspiring to read.
Lisa5.0 out of 5 stars
Unbelievable book
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2024
How is it that I’ve read multiple faith based books and have never come across a book that has such a fresh perspective? With each chapter I am overwhelmed with gratitude that Savannah wrote this book. Her insights into scripture and how they play out in our daily lives is unparalleled. And I don’t say that lightly. And I’ve probably not written a book review in a decade. Since starting this book I have ordered and sent it to 3 other people in my life. If you are on the fence about purchasing this book, don’t be. Just do it. I cannot effectively explain why it has touched me to my core…but it has, I will read this book over and over for the rest of my life.
I’ve never seen Savannah Guthrie on whatever morning show she’s on, I don’t know anything about her and I didn’t even know she was a Christian. I can’t even tell you why I was compelled to purchase the book. But of course we know it was a God thing. I bought the book and put it on a shelf and didn’t pick it up for a couple of months. But when I did, it was exactly when I needed to.
Beautiful book. Important perspective. If you are a Christ follower- buy it. You will never regret it.
I’ve never seen Savannah Guthrie on whatever morning show she’s on, I don’t know anything about her and I didn’t even know she was a Christian. I can’t even tell you why I was compelled to purchase the book. But of course we know it was a God thing. I bought the book and put it on a shelf and didn’t pick it up for a couple of months. But when I did, it was exactly when I needed to.
Beautiful book. Important perspective. If you are a Christ follower- buy it. You will never regret it.