An author and film producer who has starred alongside Selena Gomez says she has discovered that fame and money mean nothing unless you have a "deep sense of purpose" in life.
Raquelle Stevens, the co-author of the new Christian book The Sunshine Mind (Zondervan), is known in Hollywood as one of Gomez's best friends. She starred alongside Gomez in HBO Max's Selena + Chef and in the Apple TV Plus documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, for which she was an associate producer.
Gomez has promoted The Sunshine Mind on her social media accounts.
"I think there's this idea in the world that's ingrained in us from a young age that somehow if you have all the money, and you have all the fame and all the success – that somehow that equates to happiness," Stevens said on the latest edition of the podcast Hearing Jesus, which is a production of LifeAudio.
"For me, getting to live life close up with all of these people that have achieved the height of success and experiencing all that comes with that and realizing that unless you have a deep sense of purpose, and internal happiness, and security, none of that really means anything," Stevens added. "In fact, it will just make you more and more miserable and empty. But if your inner life is strong, and you do have that deep sense of purpose, then you're able to use all of those things as a resource to do good, to help others. So there's nothing wrong with money, fame, success – any of those things. But if you are not grounded in your purpose, and in peace, then it will actually just spiral you into being very unhappy. And I've lived that up close."
Stevens said she went through a party phase until she realized it was unfulfilling.
"And then when I moved to L.A. when I was 18, and I was, you know, pretty quickly… right in the middle of the entertainment industry and whatever, and just experiencing so much, I really realized that I needed my faith, I needed Jesus in my life," she said.
Her new book, The Sunshine Mind, helps readers discover their purpose in God, she said.
"The only way to really live a life that's free is to understand true love of God," Stevens said.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Amy Sussman/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
