Devotionals for the Heart: Stress, Love, Service and A Mission Trip

Overcoming stress through love and service
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

I’m just going to admit it: I’ve been a giant ball of tension and stress recently. Kids, work, illness, and a silly-but-debilitating fitness-inspired injury—you name it. Even though I’ve been trying hard to breathe, to rest in the presence of my Creator, and give all my concerns to the Lord, the fact remains that I’m doing too much, not giving myself enough downtime, running on empty, not getting quite enough shuteye, and it’s been taking a toll.

As I write this, I’m also knee-deep in preparations to head off with my husband on a one-week mission trip to help hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. And ironically, I know deep down the trip, more than anything else I could possibly do, is my ticket to stress-busting.

See, I know it’s not going to be easy. We’ll be staying in the mountains in rather rustic conditions with no electricity, and the work will be grueling: tarping, tear-out, roofing, rebuild.

But if I’ve gleaned one bit of wisdom in my life so far, it’s that pushing myself aside to focus on others is probably the best stress-reliever is existence.

We all know that Jesus said the two greatest commandments are, first, to love God with everything we are, and second, to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:35-40). But what we might not know is that the secret to bliss also has everything to do with keeping those commandments. In today’s me-driven secular society, we get so many mixed messages about happiness. We’re told we need to prioritize ourselves and do what feels right.

But as Christians, I think we need to ignore that and instead focus on turning ourselves over to the Lord in whatever way He calls us to do. Sacrificing—our time, our money, our material possessions, our very lives—helps us become one with God. Why do we think Jesus taught that it is more blessed to give than receive? I think He knew that relinquishing control and worry over ourselves and our needs was a consuming, ever-downward-spiraling track to despair. His path is the one we are to follow: the way of truth, love, and humble service with God at the center.

The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:1-4, NIV).

Loving others, for me, is serving others. And whether that service is through reading to kids, cooking a meal for people in need, being a shoulder for a friend (or stranger), being a cheerleading encourager, or hopping on a plane for a weeklong mission trip to Puerto Rico, you can be sure of one thing. Putting myself on the backburner to engage in some love-filled Christian service is a balm to the soul.

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Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning journalist, Christian author, editor, blogger, and writing coach. 

She is the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate (AdvocateSC.org), the oldest continuously published newspaper in Methodism. 

Learn more about her fiction and read her blog at http://jessicabrodie.com/

Interview featuring Rose Allen McCauley, author of "Better Together Than Apart” novella

Welcome a familiar face to the blog today! Rose Allen McCauley returns to share insights from her new novella "Better Together Than Apart" which is a story in this book:

Read on to find out how K-LOVE (radio station) inspired this story, among other fun facts!

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Interview with Rose Allen McCauley, author of the “Better Together Than Apart” novella in the Destination: Romance (Five Inspirational Love Stories Spanning the Globe) story collection

Alexis: K-LOVE is my favorite Christian radio station! I am delighted to see that you wrote a book set on their K-LOVE Cruise. What inspired you to write this story “Better Together Than Apart”?

Rose: It is my husband and daughters’ fave station, too. I usually listen to books on CD in the car because I have so little time to read since I started writing. Kim Sawyer had been on several K-LOVE cruises, and while visiting us one year, invited us to go on one with her and her husband in January 2016. The saying “Better together than apart” is something I wrote on the back of my picture when my husband and I were dating in college, and it is still true forty-nine years later!

Alexis: Jamaica is a beautiful island! Why did you choose to feature that island in your story instead of another place?

Rose: It was one of the two stops our K-LOVE Cruise made last year. Our oldest daughter went there twice on mission trips while she was in college. Our oldest granddaughter went on a mission trip while in high school. And I have been on three mission trips, so it seemed like a good tie-in since the K-LOVE Cruise actually takes passengers on a one-day mission trip if they sign up ahead of time.

Alexis: Natalie Brooks is the heroine of your story. Tell us about her personality, looks, fears, flaws and deepest desires.

Rose: Natalie Brooks is based on the granddaughter I mentioned in the last answer, and physically they look alike with brown hair and eyes, although there are also some differences such as what colleges they attend, and the whole romance is entirely fictional. But, my fictional and real Natalie are both oldest children and very responsible. They are both strong Christians with desires to help people, especially children through the legal system.

Alexis: Ken Worth is the hero of your story. Describe his looks, heart, strengths and weaknesses.

Rose: Ken is entirely fictional. His heart is for God and others, and that is a big strength. His background of growing up on the mission field sometimes kept him from understanding those who grew up differently, and that can be a weakness and also it can be a strength.

Alexis: Give us insight into the history that Natalie and Ken have together. Why did they become friends as teenagers?

Rose: Although meeting a mate should not be the reason for going on a mission trip, I do believe it can change a young person’s life forever. When my oldest daughter came home from Jamaica she wanted to go back again and did the next year. She told me she had no idea people could live without running water and other luxuries and still keep their children so clean. It gave her a whole new perspective on the rest of the world outside of Kentucky! I see the fictional Natalie as having her eyes opened to those kinds of realities, too. It was originally a teenage crush, and she and Ken corresponded for several months until he wanted her to choose some other vocation than lawyer so she could come back and help on the mission field. In the end, God uses Nat’s desire to be a lawyer to bring them back together as adults. I think it shows how God can use all things in His perfect timing!

Alexis: Why are Natalie and Ken “Better Together Than Apart”? 

Rose: God can use Ken’s mission experience and Natalie’s law degree to serve the orphans of Jamaica and other Caribbean countries better as a team than singly.

Alexis: As the author of this story, was it a challenge to create obstacles and scenarios to keep Ken and Natalie apart? 

Rose: Obstacles are often a challenge to me as I like my own life to be smooth sailing! But, I know God can use many things to teach us life lessons and draw us closer to Him. Why or why not? The differences in location and life goals helped to build conflict and obstacles, and also gave ample opportunity for my characters to trust more in God to work things out rather than trying to do it all themselves. 

Alexis: What role does faith in God play in this story?

Rose: Both the main characters have to have faith to trust God when they can’t see a way. And to ask Him to help them follow His leading.

Alexis: What role does Natalie and Ken's passion for mission work play in this story?

Rose: When they were younger it drove them apart, perhaps because God knew they weren’t ready to be together until later. But in adulthood, they are wiser and willing to trust Him to work it out.

Alexis: Where do Natalie and Ken see themselves in the next five years and how do their career goals affect their romance? 

Rose: I hope they will have a child or two by then (that could be a whole other story) and will still be serving God better together than apart!

Alexis: What’s the moral of this story? 

Rose: God knows the beginning from the end, and He can work things out perfectly when we get out of the way!

Alexis: Have you ever been on a K-LOVE Cruise in real-life to research this story? 

Rose: I’ve been on other cruises but this was my first K-LOVE Cruise, and I hope not my last. Kim and I had talked about writing a book together someday, so this was a great chance to do that after we did the cruise, and even brainstormed some story ideas while on the ship.

Alexis: Thanks for the interview, Rose! Do you have any closing comments? 

Rose: Thank you, Alexis, for hosting me and for doing so much to promote other authors!

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Author Bio:

Rose Allen McCauley started writing over a decade ago when she retired from teaching school to write the stories of some of the characters roaming around in her head. 

Since joining ACFW in 2002, she has been published in several non-fiction anthologies and devotionals, and now is happy to announce “Better Together than Apart” in the collection Romantic Destinations as her sixth novella. 

She has been happily married to her college sweetheart for over four decades and is also mother to three grown children and their spouses and Mimi to five lively grandkids. 

Rose always enjoys hearing from her readers at rosemccauleywrites@gmail.com.

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Buy Rose's book on Amazon and B&N (Barnes and Noble)

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Connect with Rose:
Website - www.rosemccauley.com
Facebook - http://on.fb.me/1LrXNoS
Twitter - https://twitter.com/RoseAMcCauley