Brenda Rodgers

Author: Brenda Rodgers

  • Peace

    This, the second week of Advent, we meditate on Jesus as the Prince of Peace.
    I often think about what is the one, most important thing that I have learned most over the past several months.  What do I wish I could share with everyone I meet and have them truly understand it and experience it the way I have?  What does my heart ache for others to know about Jesus?  It has to be that He is the Prince of Peace.
    “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord in near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7

    I remember being confused in times past by “the peace of God which transcends all understanding” because I did not feel that peace.  I was constantly anxious about my future, my wants, my hopes, my dreams.  I continually prayed that God would give me this kind of peace.

    And then he did.  But not until after I surrendered to Him.
    It was through the surrendering that led me to be capable of experiencing His peace, and it was the circumstances He allowed that led me to experience it.  It certainly is the peace that has no understanding, no basis, no logic, no formula because it is supernatural.  It is from God himself living within me and me surrendering to that Life.
    His peace is amazing.  It allows you to wake up each morning not knowing what the sunset will bring and have hope that no matter what you will be perfectly fine in Him.
    I wish I could say that every one of my days is like some of those that I have experienced over the past several months, but they have not been.  Each day is a new challenge to surrender.  And then, only then, does the peace come.

  • Happy 4 Month Birthday, John!

    Happy 4 Month Birthday, John!!!

    As you can imagine, this holiday season we are experiencing more joy, hope, and thankfulness than ever before and than ever can be imagined. However, deep within we are also in a continued state of mourning for the life that was lost and the family that is having to endure this holiday without him. We know firsthand what that feels like with the loss of my mom, but we do not know what it is like from a sudden event of tragedy from a person who had a full life still to live. We are in constant prayer for his family and ask you to please pray for them, too.

    This past week John had another biopsy. The last one showed a one rejection, so we we were beyond thankfulness when the biopsy this past week came back as ZERO REJECTION! We just cannot believe how blessed we have been.

    John and I have had a full month. We went home to Georgia for Thanksgiving and for the GA/GA Tech game. It was my first game with John this season. He went to the TN game, but I was unable to go. It was a wonderful feeling being there with him. Last year, at the last home game, we walked in the stadium, and I started to cry. John asked what was wrong, and I told him I had a feeling that this was going to be our last game together. John was unable to walk to the stadium without stopping several times getting to those last games. I then knew he was seriously sick. So it brought me an indescribable, unexplainable joy to be at the game with him two weekends ago!

    On Thanksgiving day we took a walk around the neighborhood, and John ran a few blocks! He could have continued cardiovascularly, but his legs were what gave out. He’s still building those muscles!

    We sincerely wish each person reading this, and their family, a Christmas filled with peace, and we thank you endlessly for your prayers and support for us. Please pray for all of the people you know and don’t know who are chronically sick this Christmas and for all of the families who have lost loved ones.

    Merry Christmas!

  • Jesus Cradled Me

    I invite you on a journey into a time in my life,

    not too long ago,

    when Jesus cradled me in His arms,

    encompassed my being,

    became my every breath,

    my every muscle,

    my every thought.

    For if He did not I would lay down,

    lay down and curl up,

    and wither,

    wither into the fear.

    But He cradled me.

    Cradled me and swayed.

    Swayed back and forth.

    And peace.

    Peace overcame me.

  • Hope

    Today is the first day of Advent.  For four weeks we will prepare for Jesus’s birthday.  It is easy to prepare the house, buy the presents, and do the baking.  It is much harder to prepare my heart so that I truly understand the significance of what we will celebrate at the end of the month.

    As I opened our Advent devotional tonight to read and pray with John, I was reminded that this first week of Advent is centered around Hope – the very thing that my life has been centered around for the past six months.

    For several months Hope is all that I have had to hold onto.  Without it there would have been no reason to get up every morning.  To lay down my Hope would have been to give up my life.
    However, God continued to remind me daily of the Hope I had in Him.  I had Hope that he would provide for my daily needs and my temporal needs by giving me my husband’s life.  I had Hope that my mom was with Him in Heaven and that I would spend eternity with her.
    That led to my Hope that is beyond this earth – Hope that all of the injustice, sadness, and oppression that I witness each day will one day be no more.  Hope that Jesus will return to save me – us – from the grip that death of life has on this world.
    Tonight John and I read the following words from Jesus, and He reminded us once again of our Hope in Him.
    “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.  If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?   When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” John 14:1-4
    I meditate on my eternal life much more now than I ever have in the past.  It gives me peace.  It is my Hope.  Because after all of the heartbreak that I have experienced and will continue to experience throughout this life, to not dwell on God’s gift of Hope to me would be to give up – to deny His words – to not accept His Hope. 
    This first week of Advent I thank God for His Hope through His Son, Jesus.

  • A Mother’s Legacy of Gratitude

    This time last year my mom was here at my house in North Carolina.  We were celebrating Thanksgiving all together with my parents and John’s parents.  It was the first time for John and me to host Thanksgiving.  It was a lot of work and a lot of wonderful memories.

    A Mother's Legacy of Gratitude (more…)

  • Happy 3 Month Birthday, John!

    Today we celebrate John’s 3 month birthday from his heart transplant, and we remember the thankless gift from his donor’s family.

    Every day I am asked about John, and my first response is “He’s perfect!” And for the most part, that is true! It has been an incredibly blessed month for us. The best way to describe it came straight from John. He went to the grocery store by himself one day, and when he got home he said to me, “I almost lost it after walking to my truck. I got choked up.” I asked him what happened, and he said, “I just remember not being able to walk around the store and to the car. I can’t believe I feel this good.”

    John’s month has given him an indescribable appreciation for his new heart that he was told he would experience, but that took a little while to fully comprehend because recovery is sometimes no fun!

    Here are some of the things John’s enjoyed this month:

    ~ He’s back at work – full time! John’s company has been wonderful to us, and they were expecting him to come back even later than he did. I was so proud of him for going back so soon!
    ~ He’s been chipping in the backyard getting ready to play some golf again.
    ~ He went to the GA/TN game, and of course that broke GA’s losing streak!
    ~ He skips up the stairs two at a time.
    ~ He pressure washed some of the outside of our house.
    ~ He takes walks around the the entire neighborhood with me. He has never been able to do that since we’ve moved here.

    It has been quite a month!!

    On a slightly disappointing note, John’s last biopsy, this past Monday, came back showing that he is having a little rejection. His rejection level is 1 out of 4. This is very common, and what the doctors have always prepped us for, but because we have been so blessed with zero rejection since his transplant, we were a little concerned. John’s doctors aren’t nearly as concerned as we have been. They just adjusted John’s medications, and he will go back at the end of November for another biopsy. This slight rejection hasn’t affected John at all. He has just continued going strong.

    I remind John that a slight 1 rejection is nothing compared to where he’s been. We are trying to stay focused on our blessing of his new heart and to not be fearful. After all, God has already shown us that he is in control and will take care of us. We are now praying for continued good health and zero rejection next time along with the continued peace that I, especially, experienced over the past several months.

    We thank you so much for all of your continued prayers for John and for rejoicing with us in all of his blessings!! We look forward to what new adventures this next month will bring