Pauses for the Vacationing Soul--A New Devotional for your Summer:

Today I’d like to let you know about a newly released devotional, Pauses for the Vacationing Soul, a Sensory-based Devotional Guide for the Beach a Sensory-based Devotional Guide for the Beach by my friend, Cathy Baker. 

I asked Cathy a few questions to let you, my readers, know a bit about the book before you buy it. Here’s what she said.

What made you decide to write a devotional?

Too many years I returned home from the beach with my Bible unpacked. My intentions were good but I felt as if I’d missed out on something while on vacation—and I had. Perhaps this is why when the idea for the devotion came to mind one morning while on the beach, I felt sure someone else could write it better. But the following summer, the same idea came to mind but this time, with more details. When I returned home from vacation that year, God confirmed that I was in fact the person who should write it.

I love that it’s specifically about how to experience God at the beach. Why the beach? 

It seemed the natural place to begin since I feel God gave me the idea while sitting on the beach. I don’t know about you, but seeing the vastness of the ocean and smelling the salty air seems to draw me closer to our Creator.

One of the book’s most unique features is how you take the reader through each of the 5 senses.  How did you come up with that idea? 

I taught adult Bible studies for over twenty years and often shared sensory items to drive home a particular truth. I love how God takes certain desires and displays them in different ways years later for His glory. It was during our second year at the beach that God gave me the idea of experiencing Him through each of our senses. Each day in the devotion, the reader will focus on one particular sense – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching. A brief scripture reading and devotion coincide with the sense of the day.

What do you want people to take away from this devotional guide?

Throughout the Bible, we see where God chose to share powerful stories that included sensory details (for instance, the Temple). He wired us to be able to draw closer to Him through our senses, and that is my prayer for the readers of this little book.

Is there anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to tell our readers?

Yes! The beach devotional guide is just the first in a series of guides that will include other vacations like the mountains, lake, staycations, camping, and hopefully, Disney. There will also be devotional guides for the holidays. If you would like to stay updated on all the happenings of the Pauses devotional guides, subscribe to my site at http://www.cathybaker.org. In the June newsletter, I’ll give my community of subscribers a sneak peek of the new book covers and more.

Cathy Baker is a Bible teacher and an award-winning writer who delights in observing God at work in the nuances of life. Her recent release, Pauses for the Vacationing Soul: A Sensory-Based Devotional Guide for the Beach is the first in a series of books created to draw readers closer to God through our five different seasons. A variety of vacations, as well as holiday celebrations, will soon follow.

Her work has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Upper Room, and Focus on the Family’s Thriving Family. Her poetry has been published in two anthologies. She and her husband, Brian, live in the foothills of the Carolinas where she one day hopes to raise miniature Pygmy goats.  

What Difference Can It Make?

I read the following story by Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen and it encouraged me to persevere even when the results aren't obvious. 


One At A Time

                                                                                                   Starfish from mizmak

A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he  kept hurling things out into the ocean.

As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed upon the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water.

Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said, "Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you are doing."

"I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right now and all of these have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they'll die up here from lack of oxygen.

"I understand, " my friend replied, "but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can't possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don't you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can't you see you can't possibly make a difference?"

The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as they threw it back into the sea, he replied, "Made a difference to that one!"

Perhaps it would give us a better outlook if we keep this in mind. What do you think? I'd love to hear from you.