Change Makers EPS 54: Bonnie Gray on Sweet Like Jasmine, Chinese-American Stories, Growing Up in San Francisco, and a Journey of PTSD
09/22/21 • 60 min
Bonnie Gray is an author and inspirational speaker based in Northern California. Bonnie has developed a global following of readers who come to her for inspiring Christian living content written in her authentic, unique voice. Bonnie’s moving, soulful stories challenge believers spiritually and connect deeply at a heart level.
Raised by a single mother in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Bonnie worked alongside her mother to make ends meet. While speaking only Chinese at home, Bonnie became fluent in English at school, excelling in her studies. Bonnie’s hard work earned scholarships for college, which she knew would enable her to provide for her mother and younger sister.
After graduating UCLA with a computer science and engineering degree, Bonnie worked as a high-tech professional in Silicon Valley for 15 years – as well as a missionary to Asia and a ministry entrepreneur in the U.S.
Bonnie’s publishing career launched in 2014 with the release of her first book, Finding Spiritual Whitespace: Awakening Your Soul to Rest. Her next book, Whispers of Rest: 40 Days of God’s Love to Revitalize Your Soul, released in 2017. Bonnie’s writing is featured at her blog and in numerous Christian media outlets such as Relevant Magazine and Christianity Today.
Bonnie’s new book, Sweet Like Jasmine: Finding Identity in a Culture of Loneliness (Harvest House, October 2021) is her most personal to date. A moving memoir about uncovering family secrets, finding true worth, and witnessing brokenness made beautiful, Sweet Like Jasmine celebrates what it really means to belong.
Growing up as an American-Chinese daughter of a mail-order bride and a busboy working in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Bonnie never truly felt beautiful or beloved. But at 39, a long-forgotten birth certificate in an old file cabinet sparked a curiosity she couldn’t ignore. Bonnie embarked on a journey that led to soul-shaking discoveries about her identity, human kindness, and what it means to be loved.
As an inspirational speaker and podcast host of Breathe: The Stress Less Podcast, Bonnie touches thousands of lives every year using storytelling, soul care, and prayer. She speaks passionately on topics of women’s wellness, spiritual growth, prayer, meditation, healing, storytelling, creativity, and finding God in the daily grind of everyday life.
Bonnie Gray (thebonniegray.com) lives in California with her husband Eric and their two sons. Readers connect with her on social media @thebonniegray.
The A World of Difference Podcast is brought to you in partnership with Missio Alliance.
Stay In Touch: Connect on Facebook and Instagram with thoughts, questions, and feedback. Rate, review and share this podcast with anyone that would love to listen. On Clubhouse @loriadbr. Find Us Online: @aworldof.difference on Instagram and A World of Difference on Facebook on Twitter at @loriadbr https://linktr.ee/aworldofdifference or loriadamsbrown.comInterested in one-on-one or group coaching on how to live a life that makes a difference? Check out: https://www.loriadamsbrown.com/coaching
If you are facing some big decisions, here is a pro tip that helps.
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Bonnie Gray is an author and inspirational speaker based in Northern California. Bonnie has developed a global following of readers who come to her for inspiring Christian living content written in her authentic, unique voice. Bonnie’s moving, soulful stories challenge believers spiritually and connect deeply at a heart level.
Raised by a single mother in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Bonnie worked alongside her mother to make ends meet. While speaking only Chinese at home, Bonnie became fluent in English at school, excelling in her studies. Bonnie’s hard work earned scholarships for college, which she knew would enable her to provide for her mother and younger sister.
After graduating UCLA with a computer science and engineering degree, Bonnie worked as a high-tech professional in Silicon Valley for 15 years – as well as a missionary to Asia and a ministry entrepreneur in the U.S.
Bonnie’s publishing career launched in 2014 with the release of her first book, Finding Spiritual Whitespace: Awakening Your Soul to Rest. Her next book, Whispers of Rest: 40 Days of God’s Love to Revitalize Your Soul, released in 2017. Bonnie’s writing is featured at her blog and in numerous Christian media outlets such as Relevant Magazine and Christianity Today.
Bonnie’s new book, Sweet Like Jasmine: Finding Identity in a Culture of Loneliness (Harvest House, October 2021) is her most personal to date. A moving memoir about uncovering family secrets, finding true worth, and witnessing brokenness made beautiful, Sweet Like Jasmine celebrates what it really means to belong.
Growing up as an American-Chinese daughter of a mail-order bride and a busboy working in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Bonnie never truly felt beautiful or beloved. But at 39, a long-forgotten birth certificate in an old file cabinet sparked a curiosity she couldn’t ignore. Bonnie embarked on a journey that led to soul-shaking discoveries about her identity, human kindness, and what it means to be loved.
As an inspirational speaker and podcast host of Breathe: The Stress Less Podcast, Bonnie touches thousands of lives every year using storytelling, soul care, and prayer. She speaks passionately on topics of women’s wellness, spiritual growth, prayer, meditation, healing, storytelling, creativity, and finding God in the daily grind of everyday life.
Bonnie Gray (thebonniegray.com) lives in California with her husband Eric and their two sons. Readers connect with her on social media @thebonniegray.
The A World of Difference Podcast is brought to you in partnership with Missio Alliance.
Stay In Touch: Connect on Facebook and Instagram with thoughts, questions, and feedback. Rate, review and share this podcast with anyone that would love to listen. On Clubhouse @loriadbr. Find Us Online: @aworldof.difference on Instagram and A World of Difference on Facebook on Twitter at @loriadbr https://linktr.ee/aworldofdifference or loriadamsbrown.comInterested in one-on-one or group coaching on how to live a life that makes a difference? Check out: https://www.loriadamsbrown.com/coaching
If you are facing some big decisions, here is a pro tip that helps.
Mentioned in this episode:
Do you want to go deeper?
Join us in Difference Makers, a community where we watch and discuss exclusive content that truly makes a difference. Give us $5 a month (the price of a latte), and join in on the conversation with our host Lori and others who want to make a difference. We'd love to have you join us!
Join Difference Makers
Join us in our membership community for exclusive content for only $5/month at https://www.patreon.com/aworldofdifference. We go deeper with each guest, and it makes such a difference.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Previous Episode
Change Makers EPS 53: Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim on Invisible, Asian-American Women, Intersectional Theology, Model Minority, Walking Targets, Racism in Canada, Sexism in the Church, Confucianism & Patriarchy
Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and is Professor of Theology at Earlham School of Religion. She is the author or editor of 20 books, most recently, Hope in Disarray; Keeping Hope Alive; Reimagining Spirit and Intersectional Theology, and Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalizing the Church and Renewing the World which she co-wrote with Dr. Graham J Hill.
Dr. Kim's newest book Invisible is available for pre-order.
Kim is a Series Editor for Palgrave Macmillan Series, “Asian Christianity in the Diaspora” and has served on the American Academy of Religion’s Board of Directors. Kim writes for Baptist News Global, Sojourners, Faith and Leadership and Wabash Center and has published in TIME, The Huffington Post, Christian Century, US Catholic Magazine and The Nation.
She is the host of madang podcast and is an ordained Presbyterian Church (USA) minister. More of her writing and work can be found on her blog site https://gracejisunkim.wordpress.com/
The A World of Difference Podcast is brought to you in partnership with Missio Alliance.
Stay In Touch: Connect on Facebook and Instagram with thoughts, questions, and feedback. Rate, review and share this podcast with anyone that would love to listen. On Clubhouse @loriadbr. Find Us Online: @aworldof.difference on Instagram and A World of Difference on Facebook on Twitter at @loriadbr https://linktr.ee/aworldofdifference or loriadamsbrown.comInterested in life coaching? Check out: https://www.loriadamsbrown.com/coaching
If you are facing some big decisions, here is a pro tip that helps.
Mentioned in this episode:
Do you want to go deeper?
Join us in Difference Makers, a community where we watch and discuss exclusive content that truly makes a difference. Give us $5 a month (the price of a latte), and join in on the conversation with our host Lori and others who want to make a difference. We'd love to have you join us!
Join Difference Makers
Join us in our membership community for exclusive content for only $5/month at https://www.patreon.com/aworldofdifference. We go deeper with each guest, and it makes such a difference.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Next Episode
Change Makers EPS 55 : Doni Aldine on TCKs, CULTURS magazine, Diversity & Inclusion in Media, Growing Up Afro-Latina on 5 Continents and a University Curricula for Global Culture Identity
Doni Aldine is a globally mobile Afro-Latina and first-generation North American who, by age 19, lived in seven cultures on five continents. She is passionate about creating community for cross-cultural populations. She has presented around the globe as a Keynote, at conferences, universities & in media as a lifestyle expert focused on entrepreneurship, marketing & cross-cultural identity. With this background, she developed university curricula for global culture identity.
Aldine uses her global, multi-cultural background, academic training, and career experience in media, management and business to position CULTURS as the first-ever digital-first print publication & product marketplace that addresses global and mobile cultural identities, with emphasis on hidden diversity.
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Most recently, she consulted on culture for Warner Brothers Studios and Turner Network Television, with Wonder Woman Director Patty Jenkins, and worked with NBC/Universal to feature cross-cultural casts for "New Amsterdam," and "Bluff City Law."
Doni mentioned on the podcast that she would love you to contribute your story. TCKs, expats, global nomads, diplomatic kids, etc. Culturs is home for a global audience of culturally mobile people. Their audience embodies hidden diversity rather than visual diversity. They have spent their formative years in between cultures and in doing so, have adopted a separate culture altogether, uniquely their own. They are looking for content which speaks to this group’s interests and experiences. They focus on lifestyle topics of interest to this population including entrepreneurship, travel, education and human connection.
The A World of Difference Podcast is brought to you in partnership with Missio Alliance.
Stay In Touch: Connect on Facebook and Instagram with thoughts, questions, and feedback. Rate, review and share this podcast with anyone that would love to listen. On Clubhouse @loriadbr. Find Us Online: @aworldof.difference on Instagram and A World of Difference on Facebook on Twitter at @loriadbr https://linktr.ee/aworldofdifference or loriadamsbrown.comInterested in one-on-one or group coaching on how to live a life that makes a difference? Check out: https://www.loriadamsbrown.com/coaching
If you are facing some big decisions, here is a pro tip that helps.
Mentioned in this episode:
Do you want to go deeper?
Join us in Difference Makers, a community where we watch and discuss exclusive content that truly makes a difference. Give us $5 a month (the price of a latte), and join in on the conversation with our host Lori and others who want to make a difference. We'd love to have you join us!
Join Difference Makers
Join us in our membership community for exclusive content for only $5/month at https://www.patreon.com/aworldofdifference. We go deeper with each guest, and it makes such a difference.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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