Mostly what God does Reflections on seeking and finding his love everywhere

Today coanchor Guthrie (coauthor of the picture book Princesses Save the World) makes her adult debut with a poignant account of the role that religious faith has played in her life. Raised in a sin-obsessed Baptist church, Guthrie grew up burdened with intermittent guilt for "being shallow, for being ambitious... for not being more forward in my faith." In her 30s, she was stuck in an unhappy marriage when it hit her "like a comet" that God "was, in fact, in the midst of rescuing me." The realization sparked a renewed faith in Jesus's love ("Mostly what God does is love us," she writes; therefore, he "truly intends us to love ourselves"). From there, Guthrie explores prayer as a method of processing "feelings and emotions and concerns in the presence of God"; doubt as "faith being worked out, like a muscle"; and everyday kindness as a "way we transmit the love of God," even if it's just by "look someone in the eye, offer our coat, or invit a stranger to sit with us." Through her candidness about the challenges she's tackled--including the death of her often "mercurial and terrifying" father when she was 16 and her abbreviated first marriage--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. Agent: Cait Hoyt, CAA. (Feb.)