Kathie Lee Gifford Shares the Lesson She Learned the Hard Way After 'Painful' Hip Replacement Surgery (Exclusive)

"This has been one of the most painful situations of my life," the author of the new book 'Herod and Mary: The True Story of the Tyrant King and the Mother of the Risen Savior' tells PEOPLE

Kathie Lee Gifford is on the mend after her recent hip replacement surgery.

As she prepares to release her new historical nonfiction book,Herod and Mary: The True Story of the Tyrant King and the Mother of the Risen Savior, Gifford tells PEOPLE that she's also been busy recovering after undergoing hip replacement surgery.

Though the former Today co-host, 70, hoped the surgery would be “easy," Gifford says that has not been her experience and recuperation has been “one of the most painful situations of my entire life.”

"It's been really hard," she adds.

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Admitting she "jumped off that gurney after my surgery," Gifford notes she quickly realized that she needed to take it slow — something she is not accustomed to doing.

“I walked, I climbed, I walked, and my doctor said, ‘Kathie, no. You have got to realize that this is serious,’” she recalls. “And I was off my walker in two days. I was off all my medications in three days, and then I did too much. I just did too much because that's who I am.”

“I started carrying books around and signing and getting ready, and my grandchildren came to visit,” she continues. “And you can't. I have learned from this that you only can only do so much. You're just human. You're just human. And I'm so grateful.”

The television personality shares that she was in need of the procedure because her “hips [were] down to the nubs.”

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Gifford also notes that her doctor said she would “never, ever, ever be” going through this if it weren’t for her active lifestyle. She recalls the surgeon telling her, “You climbed mountains, you made movies, you got on stages. You never took off your high heels, and you kept going and that's why you're going through what you're going through."

Despite the challenging recovery, Gifford has no regrets about her busy lifestyle.

“[I ask myself] would I change that? No, I was doing what God put me on this earth to do. Every year of it, I was doing what He called me to do," she says.

One of Gifford’s callings is writing her new book,Herod and Mary: The True Story of the Tyrant King and the Mother of the Risen Savior.

The historical nonfiction book, out Tuesday, July 16, gives “deep insight to how Herod came to power, how corruption and an ancient evil threatened the stability of a nation, and how a teenage Mary was called to traverse these obstacles to bring the Savior, Jesus, our living hope, into the world,” according to an official description.

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Gifford says the idea for the book came to her while on a rabbinical trip in Israel a few years ago.

“I came home from this trip completely immersed in the story of Herod and I told my son about it,” she shares. "I said, 'Cody, do you know the history of Herod?’ And he goes, ‘No.’ I ordered 10 books on him and read whatever books came in. I think there were five that were actually available. And I was blown away by the story of him. If Jesus is the greatest story ever told, Herod is the greatest story never told. I was blown away by everything about him.”

She noted that Cody, 34, “convinced” her that “these are stories that need to be told because people need hope. That's the whole point of this.”

"I don't know how much time the Lord has me still on this earth, but for whatever time it is I pray that I would be useful... that I would be kind and helpful, and loving to people," she adds. "I am a strong woman, but I'm a woman who for 60 years has been trying to do godly work, trying to do the right thing, trying to love people, [and] trying to represent the kingdom of God."

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Herod and Mary: The True Story of the Tyrant King and the Mother of the Risen Savior is available to purchase wherever books are sold.

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