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

by Savannah Guthrie

At church, my pastor always apologizes when he tells the congregation a personal story or life anecdote that he knows they’ve heard from him before. “I’m sorry!” he says sheepishly. “I only have this one life!” In a way, I feel the same. I have just this one life,

I like to tell people about the God I know.

The one whose persistent but kind nudging can prod me into perspective,

whose forbearance and tenderness can coax me into change.

The one who surprises and delights me with the imagination of his creation and the beautiful...

The one who melts me with unexpected favor and unme...

The one who holds me, firmly and purposefully, when the weight of my disappointments and s...

I like to tell people about that...

To tell that story—well, like the politician at the rubber-chicken dinner, I am not going to p...

What are the six foundational aspects of a connection to God? Here is what I came up with: Love. Presence. Praise. Grace. Hope. Purpose.

the routine is meant to provide quiet and simple togetherness. Thirty seconds of space.

Blank space. Quiet. Nothingness. This is where God has the greatest opportunity to do his thing.

(In case you’re wondering, connecting with us is his thing.)

God will not let us down.

All My Love,

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1–2

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Ephesians 5:1–2

How does God feel about me? Mostly what God does is love you.

Mostly what God does is love you.

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.

God does not require us to ignore or gloss over the sorrows we experience or the unjustness we see but to believe past them. Believe that he is on the case, that his intentions toward us are good,

the pains of this world are not his original plan and will not be how the story ends.

There were five of us Guthries: my parents, my two older siblings, and me. But my sister used to say that God was the sixth member of our family.

In a season of close connection, God shored me up with wisdom and his Word; he provisioned me for a long journey, even one that I would at times choose to walk alone. Instead of feeling guilt for not keeping up with devout practices, imagining that God was disappointed or disgusted with me or had written me off entirely, what if I believed that what he was really doing was loving me the whole time?

Love like that takes root and is a revolution from within. A triumph over hopelessness. A way to reimagine and rethink every circumstance, even those that disappoint us.

Seeing you, appreciating you, delighting in you. Knowing you, having compassion on you, healing you, forgiving you.

See it, appreciate it, grasp it, hold on to it. Inhale deeply of his goodwill and attune yourself to evidence of ...

What you will find is that love like that is not just for you. ...

For love like that cannot be contained—it is exuded an...

Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. Ephesians 5:1–2 MSG

This is our great commission: choose to believe in God’s love. Wrap yourself in it; let it warm you from the inside. Then go out into the world, and you do it too.

I don’t want to write about getting divorced. It was one of the hardest, saddest times of my life. It almost broke me. I got married when I was thirty-three and was so idealistic and hopeful for some perfect family picture. In retrospect, I was a little delusional and a little stubborn. I wanted to not be single anymore, to have a family. I wanted the fairy tale. I always had miserable luck in the romance department. Bad choices, lack of self-esteem—bleh, it’s really not an original story. I ran out of patience because I thought I was running out of time. I got married when I shouldn’t have.

in a book about faith, you have to talk about your struggles. Going through deep crises, profound adversity—those are the make-or-break moments for faith; they can be existential threats to your belief, or they can be extraordinary teachers. Sometimes they are both, and not always at the same time.

I’ve heard it said life can sometimes feel like you’re walking barefoot with God on a burning-hot sidewalk. I’m just saying that I don’t want to delve into why the sidewalk was hot, how it got that way, what its temperature was, how badly my feet were scalded. I just want to tell you how God carried me and healed me and what I learned from the experience. Okay? Okay.

In a way, a bonus commandment was hidden within the two that Jesus mentioned. Love the Lord God. Love your neighbor. And love yourself. I’ve come full circle. I believe God truly intends us to love ourselves.

Knowledge of and belief in the deep love of God is how we come to love ourselves.

either by ourselves or by God. Humility is simply recognizing our need for God.

Acknowledging our need, as opposed to telling ourselves we’re fully self-sufficient, leaves space for him. That space can and will be filled with his love for us. This love is how we begin to love ourselves—we

we see ourselves as God sees us. It is the foundation of a real, u...

God loves us, and his love is contagious. If we stick close to him, we can’t help but catch it.

God’s great metaphor does not end there. Every parent knows that to have children is to carry a joyous burden of worry and fear and concern. The famous quote is famous for a reason: “To have a child is momentous. It is to decide to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

If only I could make them do what is good for them! How I wish I could just make them understand that the things I’m doing or forbidding—it’s for their own good! It is not to be cruel or withhold happiness from them. I’m on their side! Now imagine those words from God. About us. And we begin to grasp his perspective toward his children.

we don’t have a wide enough perspective. We are only human. We don’t have the multidimensional vantage point of God, taking account of people, places, and events, of future and current and past. But like a good parent, God does not let this get to him. He does not grow impatient. He does not rage. His love, compassion, and unwavering commitment never fail—regardless of how we act, what we say, or what we “deserve.” And his forgiveness is always available when, inevitably, we fall. When we turn to him, we find him waiting with outstretched arms.

does not matter how our kids act; our love for them is unshakable. So it is with God.

God’s feelings for us have nothing to do with our feelings toward him.

His thoughts toward us have nothing to do with our thoughts toward him.

We cannot do or say anything to make him love us more—or less. He loves us not because of who we are or what we do but bec...

LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV