Guthrie sat down with PEOPLE for an intimate interview ahead of the release of her children’s book ‘Mostly What God Does Is Love You’, available everywhere now

Savannah Guthrie anchoring the Today Show on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. Photo: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Savannah Guthrie wears her heart on her sleeve.

Figuratively, yes. She overflows with warmth and smarts and sparkle and charm — all of the immediately obvious things that make America happy to wake up with her every morning on the Today show. But her heart is literally there, too, on her right forearm, where her first and only tattoo is inked. Daintily inscribed in her late father’s handwriting is his phrase “all my love,” words that not only guide Guthrie’s life but now, her literary pursuits.

Sitting in her pastel pink dressing room not five minutes after wrapping the Feb. 12 show, Guthrie’s already changed out of the black blouse she wore on air and into a pink short-sleeve sweater that matches the paint on the walls, her teeny tattoo visible as she tells PEOPLE about the latest musings of her heart: her children’s book Mostly What God Does Is Love You (out now), the kids’ version of her New York Times bestseller Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere from February 2024.

“It’s my sister who famously said that God was the sixth member of our family. And I think what she meant was that God was a subject of conversation and a presence and character in our lives that we talked about and referred to and leaned on. And so I’m trying to bring that same feeling to our own house,” says Guthrie, 53, of her life now with husband Mike Feldman and their two children, Vale, 10, and Charley, 8, who is named after Guthrie’s late father.

Savannah Guthrie, Mike Feldman and their kids (L-R) Charley and Vale celebrating Easter on March 31, 2024.Savannah Guthrie/Instagram
“We have lots of conversations. And I think I’m glad about that. Sometimes the questions are funny questions or pointed questions,” she says of her curious kids. And, in the spirit of the apple never falling too far from the tree: “My kids, they have good brains and they’re not afraid. They’re not afraid to ask the tough questions,” she says.

Guthrie’s got range (as do her children). She takes presidents to task and can hang with Jalen Hurts, and Tom Hanks knows her by name. And while Vale and Charley now have a kids’ version, they also really like to read the parts of mom’s “grown-up” book in which they’re heavily featured (and they, too, enjoy hanging out with Jalen Hurts).

As a mom, Guthrie says she feels like her job is to talk about the God that she knows (spoiler alert, it’s a major reason why she wrote both books) and, of course, to pray with her kiddos at night and “drag” them to church on Sunday.

“They’re little now, but the older they get, this is a relationship that they will choose, and whether they want to or not will be up to them,” Guthrie says. “I always say, ‘Okay, my job is to introduce God, and God will take it from there.’”

Savannah Guthrie’s new children’s book ‘Mostly What God Does is Love You’.Amazon

Still, that doesn’t mean writing books about her faith and her relationship with God was easy. In fact, the feat is incredibly personal, and it forced Guthrie to be vulnerable in a way that even endearing oneself to the entire country for hours every morning year after year doesn’t require.

“I was so afraid because I didn’t really know how it would be received,” she admits. “What I’ve learned is that there’s a real yearning for deep conversation about things that matter, and it doesn’t mean there’s all these people that agree with me. They may or they may not. It’s just that it opened a conversation and that’s a gateway to real connection with new people, but also people I’ve known for a long time.”

Two of Guthrie’s most stalwart supporters are as unsurprising as they are indispensable: her mom, Nancy, and her lifelong pal, Hoda Kotb.

Kotb cheered Guthrie on with her signature unwavering belief and perpetually asked for more and more pages to read, before Guthrie even knew if the words she was writing were going to turn into anything. Kotb, with all of the confidence in the world, knew better. Knew best.

“That’s just Hoda,” Guthrie says.

Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on Kotb’s last day as Today co-anchor, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2025.Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

As for her mom, the two are incredibly close. Guthrie says her mom’s approval matters still, to this day, and at first, her mom was hesitant about the book, as perhaps any parent would be when their child stands on the precipice of something big and a little bit scary.

“I think she was afraid for me to put myself out there. It made me afraid, too. But she encouraged me, and that’s one of those moments of maturity where it’s like if my mom had raised a doubt in my teens or twenties, that might’ve been enough for me to really second guess myself. I sat with that, and then I just decided to go forward anyway, and she was right there with me,” Guthrie says proudly. “She’s just been so encouraging and supportive and wants to talk about what’s in it, which is also really great because I want to talk about it too!”

For all of the fear that comes with opening one’s heart and soul to the world, the result was ultimately astounding. Letters flooded in from readers about what the book meant to them, how Guthrie’s words helped them overcome struggles, and how they felt like they had a friend in her guiding them along while they were reading. And, what’s more, for all the letters that successfully made their way to Guthrie, she responded to every single one.

“I would write back, ‘We are friends now!’ Because I do think that when you can share a connection, especially a connection with your faith, that is the way that we really do feel close to each other and that’s so life-giving,” she says, “And I think it’s what God had in mind: all of us humans loving one another and being kind to one another.”

That theme runs through Guthrie’s professional life, too. After Kotb departed the show in January, Craig Melvin became Guthrie’s partner at the anchor desk, and the changing of the guard was, for the first time in more than a decade, filled with nothing but love.

“I loved that Craig had such a beautiful transition, and he earned it. And I love that Hoda had such a tender and sweet goodbye. Nothing makes me happier. That’s how it should be. And both deserved it,” she says. “We wrapped our arms around Hoda and hugged her hard, so she had to wriggle out of her hug to get away, but at the same time, we were so happy to welcome Craig. The perfect person was just sitting there the whole time.”

Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin on Jan. 13, 2025, Melvin’s first day as co-anchor of the Today Show.NBC

Whether or not she realizes it, Guthrie talks about the Today show the same way she talks about her faith. Sometimes it keeps her up at night, but it always feels like home, and she cherishes it deeply.

“And it’s bigger than any individual, and we all know that,” she says (of the show, this time). “And I’m happy for Craig. I mean, his parents and his kids came. He got to have that moment where he reflected on where he’s been and how far he’s come. And that’s a beautiful part of this journey. And those mountaintop moments, they don’t come every day. You really do have to soak them in.”

When asked how often she surveys the view from her mountaintop, Guthrie is quick to answer — an ever-present humility leaping out.

“I would say never,” she says with a laugh. “But I’m very grateful and I’m very aware. I really am. I know how blessed I am. I know how improbable it is that of all people on planet Earth, that it would be me. That this little spark of a secret dream that I might’ve had in my twenties could actually come true, so specifically. And of course, I see God’s fingerprints all over it. God is greater than any plans or any of our screw-ups. That’s what I’ve learned. I know — I know how lucky I am.”

There in her Today show dressing room, surrounded by pictures of her kids and her loved ones, brand new copies of Mostly What God Does Is Love You stacked on her desk, it seems improbable that Guthrie, as fierce as she is full of heart, ever would’ve ended up anywhere but exactly where she is.

She delights in telling PEOPLE differently.

Savannah Guthrie anchoring the Today Show on Feb. 9 2023.Nathan Congleton/NBC

“Nobody was like, ‘There’s a natural talent!’ At all!” she says. “No one. And by the way, certainly not in high school when I was ditching class and smoking cigarettes at Denny’s and barely got into college and almost didn’t pass the SAT. Not then, and not even when I started in local news and had my first job and my hair was terrible, my voice was insane, and I didn’t know what I was doing. I was there! I know how unlikely this is. If I had seen me, if anyone had seen me, it would be the last person you would ever say, ‘Boy, that one’s got potential.’ It’s the truth!”

Guthrie deals in truth by trade, yes, but if she’s learned nothing else in 53 years, it’s that taking the stunning leap, believing (often, in something bigger than yourself) even against all odds, well, that’s what faith is.

“It just goes to show that you have your goals and you live your life and push forward, but you have to have some faith that there’s something greater than you, and it’s pushing you toward your ultimate purpose and your destiny,” she says.

Guthrie signs a copy of the book with the guiding phrase that matches her tattoo: “all my love,” except instead of writing out “love,” she draws a heart.

“And [your destiny] may not be what you have in mind,” she says, knowingly, “but sometimes, it is.”

Guthrie’s children’s book Mostly What God Does Is Love You and her book Mostly What God Does are both available now wherever books are sold.