9-1-1: Lone Star’s Sierra McClain Teams with Mercy Ships After Her Character Left Series to Work for Same Organization (Exclusive)

Sierra McClain is having a very full-circle moment.

A year after the 31-year-old abruptly exited 9-1-1: Lone Star after season 4, she is partnering with Mercy Ships, an organization that operates hospital ships to deliver free surgeries and other healthcare services to those with little access to surgical care.

The opportunity to partner with the international faith-based organization arose after her 9-1-1 character Grace left her job as dispatcher to join Mercy Ships, a plot line that was the result of McClain’s exit from the series.

The actress was “sad” about how her 9-1-1: Lone Star arc ended, so she says she’s “grateful” to have found such a “deeply personal” project with Mercy Ships as a result.

McClain tells PEOPLE that her “first real introduction to Mercy Ships’ work was actually when they reached out after they saw that my [9-1-1] character Grace left to work with them.”

“I connected to Mercy Ships in ways I didn’t first expect, and have been incredibly intrigued by how they themselves are impacted by their own work and the many ways this particular kind of service can evoke change from the inside out for everyone involved.”

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She admits she was “sad about the way [her time on 9-1-1] ended,but the fact that it led to this deeply personal devotional series and partnership with Mercy Ships is beautiful to me.”

“I’m grateful for that,” she says.

McClain has partnered with Mercy Ships to narrate a seven-day Thought of the Day series for Christian daily devotional app Glorify. In the series, she “invites listeners into her faith journey and explores the kind of spiritual honesty many are craving,” per a press release.

McClain says that recording the series made her feel closer to Grace, her 9-1-1: Lone Star character, again

“When Mercy Ships brought me the idea of a devotional – which is something I’ve never been a part of before – I was first inspired by the idea of sharing some of my own spiritual journey,” she says.

“But after speaking with them and listening to a few firsthand accounts from volunteers, I really wanted to learn more about what inspired the movement and mission behind Mercy Ships.”

Working with them on the devotional series “seemed like a special way to start,” she says, and it made her feel connected to her 9-1-1 character again.

“In the devotional, I talk about a few significant experiences I had during filming Lone Star that took me back a little bit,” Sierra, the older sister of Disney star China Anne McClain, reveals.

McClain says the work Mercy Ships is doing “really hit me” while she was recording the series

Mercy Ships, which is currently focused on areas of sub-Saharan Africa where data reveals that “at least 90% of the population lacks access to safe, affordable, and timely surgery,” is doing work that is “so extensive and personal,” the actress says.

“And there’s no compensation for their time. It made me feel as though they truly believe they’re living their purpose.”

When it came to recording the series, she admits she was “trying not to cry during every page.”

“Reading [and] writing about what I had learned about Mercy Ships and their patients and volunteers was one thing, but to speak about them in such an intimate forum caused the words to really hit me.”

The project, she says, will let fans “learn a few things about me, and even some about my family.”

“It’s personal for me in a way I’m not used to sharing publicly. They can also expect to experience Mercy Ships in a way they may not be able to just by reading about them.”