Faith, Flaws & Resilience: Savannah Guthrie Shares the Secrets to Her Smiles and Strength (Exclusive)

The 'Today' Show co-anchor — whose new faith-based book, 'Mostly What God Does', is out now — tells PEOPLE about how God has carried through her many highs and lows in life

From childhood onward, Savannah Guthrie's faith has always been of the utmost importance to her. Even when faced with adversity, nothing could deter her from trusting in God's plan.

The famed broadcaster never could have envisioned the life she's built for herself and the many roles she would helm. But of the many opportunities that have come her way, the Today show co-anchor, wife to Michael Feldman and mother of daughter Vale, 9, and son Charley, 7, never anticipated (or aspired) to write about her life. But when presented with the chance to put pen to paper about her faith about a year ago, she realized she finally had something to say.

"It just started spilling out of me. Even before I had a contract signed, I was writing and thinking, and the whole process was so exciting and thrilling, and felt so alive,” Guthrie, 52, tells PEOPLE exclusively of writing Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere, out today. "I felt like I was learning so much that even if there never was a book at the end of it, the process and the journey was so moving and personal and valuable. It felt like, in a way, something that was happening between me and God."

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Guthrie — who is raising her children in an interfaith household with her husband, who is Jewish — says her own faith journey has had many highs and lows. She's "not holding myself up as any kind of example at all."

"In fact, my life is full of potholes and detours, and mistakes and screw-ups. That is my faith journey. But I actually think that's most people's faith journey," she continues. "Sometimes you have moments and seasons of great faith, and sometimes moments of doubt and despair, and disenchantment. I've had all of those things, and the book is about that journey."

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The Australian-born broadcaster's "hard and exciting and thrilling and heartbreaking" experience of writing her book led to her opening up about an array of vulnerable topics, including losing her father, Charles Guthrie, when she was 16 years old, the demise of her first marriage and her career's journey before landing at Today.  "I think that when you read the book, you recognize that I'm a definite worrier, and there's no question about that. My faith has been the biggest antidote to that," she explains.

"That doesn't mean I don't worry, or I sit around and it's a state of rapture all day long with not a care in the world," she says. "No. It just means I bring my worries to God."

When it comes to both her personal and professional life today, Guthrie credits her continued faith in God for her many blessings.

"I am so at peace and grateful. I'm sure there are things like, 'Oh, we should interview this person or that person.' But it has already so far exceeded any expectation I could have had for myself," she says of her career. "My biggest dream for myself was not even this. So how could I even hope for more? I'm so grateful to be here. I know how blessed I am. I know how lucky I am."

She adds that a lot of the book is about giving "credit where credit is due," not only for her career but for the people alongside her and the journey of faith she's taken to get here.

"I've been blessed and not because things worked out in my career, though thankfully they did. Or because I'm so blessed to have a family that I wanted for so long, and thankfully I do," she concludes. "I'm blessed because God is present to me, and he loves me. And guess what? He loves you too. And that's the whole reason I wrote the book. That's it. I had something good to share and I just had to share it."

Savannah Guthrie's book, Mostly What God Does, is available now wherever books are sold.

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