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

This book is quite thought provoking. I laughed and cried through the whole thing. The author’s perspective is relatable without going too deep. I absolutely loved the book and it was a very easy read. I finished it two days, although it can be done in one sitting, but life.

Savanah wrote a good book and shared glimpses into her personal faith journey. It is well written and I enjoyed reading it. I has lots of quotes from the Bible to give the reader inspiration for daily living.

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 circumstances, 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 we 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 book was so beautiful, touching, and inspiring, not to mention humorous and extremely relatable! Such an honest an open - and real - testimony of faith. I will re-read this many times, I’m sure!

I haven’t read very much of it yet but what I have read is wonderful! Its easy reading and down to earth...very relatable . I am looking forward to reading more!

I began teaching Bible to adults in 1970 and have been teaching in my current adult group for almost 17 years. This book, "Mostly What God Does" is very engaging and refreshing. I also took my time reading a small portion at a time. Anyone can relate to the principles and truths that are presented. The storyline is very real. I love and appreciate how Scripture is included and marked as to which version is being used. I have the same childhood background as Savannah Guthrie and have continued with the same denomination as times have changed over the decades. I would highly recommend this book because it speaks to us as we deal with daily life. We need to know that we are loved by God in ways we cannot even fathom.

Sweet, genuine and encouraging ❤️ Honest, vulnerable, Savannah shares the truth of God’s love that is visible all around us.

I see Savannah Guthrie on the Today Show every morning. When I heard about this book, I frankly was not sure how I would like it, but decided to try it. I'm really surprised at how fresh, loving, humble and deep her relationship with the Lord is. I have come not to expect that from celebrity types, but she has really opened my eyes. Love the book and will be giving it to others because we are all humbled by God's love and she expresses it openly and beautifully.