Interview with Rose Chandler Johnson #2

About the Author

Rose’s devotional journal, God, Me, and Sweet Iced Tea: Experiencing God in the Midst of Everyday Moments won the Georgia Author of the Year Finalist Award in 2014. It was also awarded the Selah Finalist Award in the same year. Rose enjoys writing for her blog, Write Moments with God and engaging with her readers. My Father’s House, published in March 2016, is her first novel. A native Georgian, Rose has lived in a suburb of Augusta for the last thirty years. Before retiring from Georgia’s public school system, Rose taught English, French, and ESOL. She is currently an adjunct English instructor at a community college. In addition to reading and writing, Rose enjoys cooking, sewing, gardening, and spending time with her six children and their growing families. And yes, sweet iced tea is her beverage of choice.

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The Interview

1. What do you want readers to take away from your devotional, God, Me, & Sweet Iced Tea?
I pray that God will use my simple words to speak to hearts and that readers will be encouraged and strengthened as they face each new day. We are all on a spiritual journey. I pray as they read this devotional journal they will draw closer and come to know Him as a trusted friend, always there for them in the midst of every moment.

2. How did you come up with the idea to write this devotional?
When I decided to make Jesus the Lord of my life, in 1977, I starting reading a devotional every morning.  It was just what I needed to help me focus and structure my time. I’ve incorporated devotional reading in my quiet times with God for decades now. I think most people could benefit from that format.  The fact that I wrote a devotional comes back to my desire to be relevant and encouraging.

3. What authors inspire your writing?
Oswald Chambers; Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby

4.What are some of your favorite books and/or authors?  Are some of these the same as authors that inspire your writing?
I read non-fiction more than fiction, and books on religion and spirituality, in particular.  I like devotionals.  I love Oswald Chambers and have read his complete works. Man’s Search for Meaning is one of my favorite non-fiction books. The classics and the “must-reads” for the college bound were foundational for me.  Jane Eyre is my all-time favorite book.  I read novels by Daniel Silva and John Grisham, and occasionally a Stephen King novel.  All the Light We Cannot See is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

5. What did your writing process for this devotional look like?
My devotional, God, Me, and Sweet Iced Tea evolved from my own personal devotional time. I journaled about my personal experiences as I read and studied God’s word. It occurred to me I could turn those meditations into devotionals. The book is an overflow of my relationship and love for the Lord, and I wanted to share that with others in order that others might come to know Him and grow in their spiritual journey as well.

6. Which audience do you hope to reach with this devotional?
God, Me, and Sweet Iced Tea is uniquely appropriate for working mothers, but it’s also for anyone who wants to put their Christianity into practice in their everyday moments and go deeper into God’s word.  Men and couples are enjoying it as well.  This devotional is simple enough for the newest believer, yet deep enough to make a life-long Christian feel challenged to go higher.  There are 52 devotions followed by questions for journaling, suggested scriptures for further reading, a prayer, a sweet tea moment (thought for the day), and a prayer focus.  Those extra helps allow the reader to use this as a personal or group study.

7. What is the significance of “sweet iced tea” you refer to in the title?
I can’t ever do without God. He is a real and vital part of my day. On a lighter note, sweet iced tea is another thing I can’t do without each day. A sweet tea lover since childhood, I remember getting in trouble at the dinner table for drinking all my tea at once, then barely tasting the food on my plate. Still today, I have a glass of iced tea in my hand too much of the time. So, God, Me, and Sweet Iced Tea seemed like a light-hearted title for this devotional. For all intents and purposes, your devotional time is a time for intimate conversation, like chatting with a friend as you sip a glass of tea or cup of coffee.

Nothing is more refreshing than a glass of sweet iced tea, except those God moments to treasure.  I can’t do without the Lord who is with me through every moment of my day. And those moments where He shows Himself are the most refreshing.  The “sweet iced tea” says it’s personal.