By Mallory Mattingly
TODAY anchor Savannah Guthrie recently discussed with podcaster Jason Kennedy why she continues to talk about her faith on television.
Kennedy asked Guthrie, “I think, if I talk about my faith all the time on social media, on the show, in an interview, people are gonna think, ‘Oh, he’s better than all of us. He never messes up.’ And I know that it was a nerve-wracking experience for you to publicly talk about this. What pushed you over the edge to say, ‘I need people to hear this?'”
“I mean, I had and continue to have all those fears,” Guthrie admitted. “I mean, if you’re waiting for me to make a mistake, you don’t have to wait. It’s every day that I fall short for that reason. I guess I feel that love and grace of God so distinctly, not because it’s some distant experience that I once had, but because it’s one that I have every day and continue to need and have to remind myself.”
Related: Savannah Guthrie Encourages Fans to Come to God ‘With Your Doubt’
Last year, she wrote
“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?” a synopsis of the book reads. “In this collection of essays, Savannah Guthrie shares why she believes it does.”
It’s nerve-wracking as a public personality to speak openly about one’s faith, but Guthrie feels like she needs to do it anyways.
“So what got me over the fear? I think it’s because I had something good to say about God and I wanted to say it,” the TV personality revealed. “You know, a lot of people have asked me since I’ve done some interviews about this book, they might say, ‘Well, did you feel like, boy, our world really needs to hear this? You felt a duty or an obligation, or maybe you felt like, gosh, you’ve had some really lucky breaks in your life. Look at you. Lucky girl from Tucson, Arizona, from nowhere, and here you are at the TODAY SHOW. That’s amazing. Did you feel like you kind of owed it to God? You know, look at what I’ve done for you. What do you have to do for me?'”
“None of that. And by the way, who responds to something like that? No, it’s the opposite,” she continued. “The most amazing thing happened. Through time, in a way that I could never anticipate, in this most beautiful alchemy — a little bit of time, a little bit of heartache, really feeling that love — I wanted to [write the book] because I had something wonderful to say about God, and it felt good to say it.”
Like Guthrie, we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about God in a world that so desperately needs Him.
Read Next: Savannah Guthrie Tells Children: ‘God Is Here for You’
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