Cindi McMenamin ~ Drama Free: Finding Peace when Emotions Overwhelm You

Bestselling author Cindi McMenamin has more than thirty years of experience ministering to and inspiring women. Besides speaking throughout the U.S., Cindi has made numerous TV and radio appearances on shows that include Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson, Moody Broadcasting’s Prime Time America and Midday Connection, At Home Live, The Harvest Show, 100 Huntley Street, Not Just Talkin’ the Talk, and His Love Extended.

Cindi and her husband, Hugh, live in the San Diego area of Southern California where Hugh is a pastor on staff at North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad. They have been married nearly thirty years and have a daughter, Dana, who is a graduate of California Baptist University.

What started you on your writing journey?

From the time I was five years old I loved to write. Books have always been on my heart, but I majored in journalism and worked for a newspaper for five years (as a reporter, bureau chief and editor) so I could write and make a living at it. When I had my first child, I quit my career job with the newspaper to stay home and I began writing and teaching Bible studies for women. My writing and speaking career then developed out of my experience discipling and teaching women the Word of God.

The Author and Creator of our lives often writes in a twist that ultimately blesses us more than our original plan. Have you ever experienced such a “Divine Detour”?

Oh yes, my life is full of the unexpected twists and divine detours that turn out to be God’s blessing and provision in my life. I am convinced today that when God says “no” it’s because He has something far better than I thought to even ask for. My detours included not marrying the man I thought I would, not being able to have a second child but birthing a writing and speaking ministry instead, and wanting my first book to be called “Pathway to a Prince” about how to find the perfect man, but writing instead a book called Heart Hunger about how only God can meet our emotional needs.

Let’s talk about your new book, Drama Free: Finding Peace when Emotions Overwhelm You (Harvest House, April 2017).

There are two kinds of drama: the drama that life brings through unexpected events that take us by surprise, and the drama we bring upon ourselves by how we react to circumstances around us. But we can be drama free when we accept God’s script for our lives and begin to respond maturely rather than react emotionally. In this book I show women how they can dial down the drama in their lives, respond appropriately to situations that would otherwise escalate, incorporate “scene changes” to eliminate inevitable drama and view high-maintenance individuals through the eyes of Christ.

What led you to write about this topic?

I constantly receive emails from women asking me how to balance their emotions in the midst of the drama they’re experiencing. And since I’ve often been called “dramatic” even though it’s the desire of my heart for Christ to have the spotlight in my life not me, I figured it was time to write about how we all can be drama free by letting Christ have center stage in our lives