{"id":454079,"date":"2026-02-07T07:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T07:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454079\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T07:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T07:42:08","slug":"savannah-guthrie-leans-on-her-faith-amid-mother-nancys-disappearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454079\/","title":{"rendered":"Savannah Guthrie leans on her faith amid mother Nancy\u2019s disappearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The day after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was taken<\/a> from her Tucson, Arizona, home under the cover of night, her daughter, Savannah, made a heartbreaking appeal to pray for her mother.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cRaise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment,\u201d she wrote in her first post<\/a> on social media after her mother\u2019s abduction became public.\n <\/p>\n

\n Two days later, in a heartbreaking video<\/a> Guthrie, host of NBC\u2019s flagship morning program \u201cToday,\u201d sat sandwiched between her older sister and brother.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n Speaking through tears, Guthrie described her mother as a strong, faithful woman and \u201cGod\u2019s precious daughter.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Guthrie\u2019s faith \u2013 and insistence on the power of prayer \u2013 has been central throughout the almost weeklong saga of her mother\u2019s disappearance.\n <\/p>\n

\n In her 2024 bestseller \u201cMostly What God Does<\/a>,\u201d Guthrie credits her parents for her religious upbringing and describes how her faith has helped her navigate some of the most difficult times in her life.\n <\/p>\n

\n And, she says she\u2019s come to believe \u201cthe pains of this world are not (God\u2019s) original plan and will not be how the story ends.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis,\u201d she writes, \u201cis faith.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

\n One of Savannah Guthrie\u2019s earliest memories is of her mother, father and brother being baptized in their church.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere were five of us Guthries,\u201d she writes, \u201cBut my sister used to say that God was the sixth member of our family.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Guthrie\u2019s father died when she was in high school and she recalls how her mom held the family together.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMy mom was so strong and set aside her own grief in many ways, just to be there and make sure that we could all move forward together,\u201d Guthrie recalled during a 2023 Mother\u2019s Day segment<\/a> on \u201cToday.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe greatest gift my mother gave me was faith and belief in God. It changed my whole life.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But Guthrie admits throughout her book that she has at times struggled with her faith. And in those moments, Guthrie said her mother would often help her find her way back.\n <\/p>\n

\n She recalls how her mom gave her the same Christmas gift for nearly a decade: a plastic-wrapped devotional journal.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis was our tradition, our special thing, our bond,\u201d she writes. \u201cIt was how she encouraged\/reminded\/prodded me to walk with God as I walked into adulthood.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Savannah<\/p>\n

\n After college, Guthrie\u2019s mom helped her move from Arizona to Butte, Montana, for her first job in news. The two-day road trip would also mark Guthrie\u2019s first time moving away from home.\n <\/p>\n

\n But 10 days after the she started, the news station closed. Guthrie explains experiences like this taught her faith is forged, not in moments of ease or happiness, but in the lowest points of adversity.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI learned to trust God not because the terrible thing never happened, but because it did,\u201d she writes. \u201cWe often turn to prayer in desperation, when \u2026 our hearts and souls (are) plagued by the struggle.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s at these times we need prayer the most. And often when we find it hardest to do.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s been nearly a week since Nancy Guthrie vanished from her home, and besides ransom notes sent to media outlets across the country earlier this week, investigators said the family has yet to be contacted by her alleged captor.\n <\/p>\n

\n Guthrie\u2019s son, Camron, posted another plea<\/a> Thursday afternoon for his mother\u2019s abductor to contact the family.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhoever is out there holding our mother. We want to hear from you. We haven\u2019t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The video coincided with a deadline the Federal Bureau of Investigation said was set in a ransom note sent to the media.\n <\/p>\n

\"Pima<\/p>\n

\n Local law enforcement and the FBI are now offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Guthrie\u2019s safe return. Officials said they have not yet identified a suspect in the case.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a poignant chapter of her book, Savannah Guthrie explains how a family tradition helped her grow closer to God.\n <\/p>\n

\n During the summers, Guthrie said her cousin Teri would stage a mock \u201ckidnapping\u201d \u2013 piling Savannah and her sister, Annie, into a station wagon with their cousins before embarking on a road trip from Tucson to Phoenix.\n <\/p>\n

\n During the trip the Guthrie girls would find a payphone and call home to their mother who, she writes, \u201cwould feign shock \u2026 then assure us she\u2019d drive up to retrieve us in a few days.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It was during one of these visits that Guthrie said her cousin introduced her to a scripture that would underpin her faith for the rest of her life: Psalm 23.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cPsalm 23 is our secret code, God and me,\u201d she writes of the prominent scripture. \u201cSometimes in moments of need, it appears out of nowhere.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Psalm 23
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name\u2019s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
New International Version\n <\/p>\n

\n Guthrie said she\u2019s learned to find hope and comfort in the scripture, which proclaims \u201cEven though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you (God) are with me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWide awake and beset by anxiety, I turn to (Psalm 23) for meditation, a way to train my focus on something other than my worries and fears.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Decades later, in a cruel twist of fate, the Guthrie family is no longer pantomiming a kidnapping. As Guthrie\u2019s children desperately wait for the phone to ring, Savannah alluded to Psalm 23 in a video message to her mother.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMommy \u2026 we believe and know that even in this valley, He (God) is with you,\u201d Guthrie said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe pray without ceasing and we rejoice in advance for the day that we hold you in our arms again.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Savannah<\/p>\n