By Mark Ellis –
A daughter of missionaries, Gaylen Williams joined Wycliffe Bible Translators when she was only 20, the youngest person at the time serving with the ministry. After working with them for 16 years in Guatemala, she joined the Navigators.
Later, she and her father, Ken Williams, Ph.D., began to help fellow missionaries manage the conflicts, stress, and relational challenges of mission life, through an organization they founded, Relationship Resources.
Along the way they discovered that most people serving the Lord – especially missionaries – encounter heavy duty emotional challenges that can upend their ministries.
Their newly updated book, All Stressed Up and Everywhere to Go, contains practical, biblical tools for attaining spiritual, emotional, and physical balance.
“The book helps people understand what stress is, understand how stress affects them, and then to practically work through the skills to manage stress,” Williams told God Reports. “We need the skills to deal with stress, to deal with relationships, because life in the world is not getting better.”
“I love to be able to empower people in their relationships with God and others, and understanding God’s heart, but also giving people the tools they need to be the most effective in in their ministry, whether the ministry is with your family or a huge organization, or anywhere in between.”
Williams spends half the year in Israel, which has undergone significant upheaval since the October 7 attacks.
“Israel has been under massive stress,” she notes. “Right now I’m doing De-Stress your Life workshops by Zoom for people in Israel.”
“I’ve done workshops for people all over the world, over 50,000 people have gone through these workshops on managing stress, as well as workshops on relationships, building new relationships, and managing conflict.
When she first arrived in Israel, she lived in the heart of Jerusalem. “God planted me in the city of David in the House of Prayer there. I was there for quite a few years, I love worship, and so I was on the worship team and being there every day, worshiping, and then going up on the Temple Mount,” she recounts. Currently she spends half the year in a community south of Jerusalem.
Her book is filled with powerful personal stories that illustrate proven biblical principles. Rather than writing from a clinical perspective, Williams and her father honestly share their personal experiences, having each dealt with numerous major and minor stresses.
Gaylyn Williams is the executive director of Relationship Resources, an award-winning, internationally recognized author of 41 books, and a dynamic motivational speaker. She is passionate about empowering people to transform their relationships with God and others through powerful books and training.
Ms. Williams is best known for her practical, biblical approach to self-help. She addresses the stresses, disappointments and challenges common to all through her personal experiences. Her life journey includes abandonment as a child, the deaths of her six-month-old son and her fiancé, sixteen years as a single mom raising two rambunctious sons, overcoming cancer and betrayals by a close friend.
Reviews of book
Tim Westcott, Pastor of Idyllwild Bible Church, said, “These principles work! Because the principles flow out of God’s Word, they are timeless and relevant in any context. The principles are easy to grasp and easy to hand off to others who are in the ‘stress crucible.’”
Bob Creson, Former President and CEO of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, said, “Dr. Ken Williams and his daughter, Gaylyn, have teamed up to provide an excellent resource for believers who want to de-stress their lives through the application of God’s Word mixed with healthy counseling principles.”
George Stahnke, Director of Renewal Ministries, said, “All Stressed up and Everywhere to Go is a refreshingly simple book filled with usable, practical advice in dealing with the stressors of life.”
Laura Mae Gardner, D.Min., Former International Training Consultant for Wycliffe Bible Translators, said, “This father-daughter writing team has produced something profoundly useful for the Christian community. Authentic, soundly practical, occasionally funny, often heart-wrenching—you’ll love it!”
