Brenda Rodgers

Author: Brenda Rodgers

  • Elevator Pitch for My Book

    The one question I was asked last year, over and over, during the forty-three days my husband was in the hospital was, “How are you so strong?”

    My answer, “I’m not.  Jesus is.”

    In those days I told God that whether my husband lived or died, He would be glorified through the story of His provision in our lives.  I am writing a book to share this story – the place I found peace in the midst of possibly losing the one thing I always wanted – my husband. 

    In my efforts to learn how to be a writer, I have come across amazing writers of God, who also share His story in their lives.  One of those writers is Brooke McGlothlin who is releasing her new e-book Notes to Aspiring Writers this Tuesday, July 19th!  I can’t wait to read it, and I feel blessed as her blog and insights encourage me as an aspiring writer! 

    Recently Brooke has challenged aspiring writers to write an elevator pitch for their book. Below is my elevator pitch for the story of my quest for peace.  Seeing God work through me in this way is humbling, and I have an intense desire for everyone to experience His peace in the way I did. 

    My desire is to share with other women where I found Jesus’ supernatural peace – between faith and surrender.  As a single woman, peace was something I never felt and only looked for in a future husband. Then God gave me a husband – a husband dying from Cardiomyopathy – and peace was not there either. This is the story of my quest for peace as my husband underwent heart transplantation, and I laid his life down at Jesus’ feet.

    Please feel free to leave your honest and truthful thoughts on my elevator pitch. Any spare prayers as I continue this project are also so humbly appreciated!

  • How to Look Out for Footholds

    I try to keep his feet out. Well, I try to keep all of him out but especially his feet. His feet are what he uses to get in. His foothold is the prerequisite to the rest of him. When he’s in and and his feet are firmly planted he becomes something stronger. He becomes a stronghold.

    How do we keep Satan from creating a stronghold in our lives?  It starts with keeping his feet out.

    In 1 Corinthians Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, and he said, ” ‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but I will not be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV).

    Some Christians, after understanding that they were saved by grace and not works, thought that they could do anything they wanted. However, Paul quickly rebukes this thinking by explaining that just because something might be sinless doesn’t mean that it is beneficial. Why? Because it may cause a foothold.

    So what? So it causes a foothold. What’s the big deal in that? Paul goes on to say that we are not to be mastered by anything. The foothold makes the stronghold possible.  The stronghold is the master. We become the slaves.

    Let’s play this out with a common and legitimate example.

    On Monday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. So I have a glass of wine.
    On Tuesday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine two days in a row. So I have a glass of wine.
    On Wednesday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine three days in a row. So I have a glass of wine.
    On Thursday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine four days in a row. So I have a glass of wine.
    On Friday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine five days in a row. So I have a glass of wine.

    A month later I realize I have had a glass of wine every day for the past month. I like the wine, and I realize I look forward to it. I plan for it. I rearrange my schedule to get it. I get irritated when I can’t have it.

    Now I have a new master, and I am slave.

    The days were footholds that in time turned into something stronger – a stronghold – that no longer just has a foot in my life, but has its whole body it my life.

    How do I look out for footholds in my life?

    1. I “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NASB). Throughout the day I am talking to God even about the most minor and seemingly unimportant things. Why? Because the smart comment I made to my husband could lead to something stronger. The anger I felt towards the cashier could lead to something stronger. The jealousy I have about my friend’s blessings could lead to something stronger.

    2. I ask God to show me my weaknesses (Psalm 139:23-24 NIV). There are things that I struggle with that other people may not.  They have their own struggles.  So for me it is best that I not be involved in situations that will perpetuate those struggles even though they might be quite all right for someone else. I ask God to search my heart and show me where I need to be careful.

    3. I monitor my desire to “sit at His feet” (Luke 10:38-40 NIV). Sometimes I don’t feel like praying. I don’t feel like reading my Bible. I don’t feel like doing my Bible study. This is when I try to perk up and pay attention because I know I am highly vulnerable. I try to be very intentional with the time I spend with Jesus.

    “and do not give the devil a foothold” Ephesians 4:27 (NIV)

    How do you look out for footholds in your life so that they don’t turn into strongholds?

  • God, What is Your Assignment for Me Today?

    Yesterday I followed a bit of advice from someone I do not know, but who seems very wise, Lysa TerKeurst, the author of several books including Made to Crave and the president of Proverbs 31 Ministries.

    The question to her on Twitter was, “What is your advice for a woman starting a ministry?”

    Lysa responded, “Ask God for your assignment each day and start with what’s in front of you.”

    Since Lysa has started a ministry before I am thinking this is great advice! So as I sat in the big, fluffy chair where I meet God each morning I said to Him, “God, today I am asking you to please give me my assignment for today”, in a sweet, sing-song voice as if His assignment was going to be one in which I could just sing my way through, check off my list, and go to bed feeling like a better person.

    I didn’t think any more about it.

    About an hour later I went to the computer and opened my email expecting to see the same old things I get every morning – a few emails from friends, Facebook notifications, newsletter subscriptions, etc. – and there it was. My assignment from God.

    Suddenly my arms got heavy feeling like they were dragging the floor. Nerves welled up inside me causing me to shake. Fear overcame me.

    God, I didn’t mean this! This? I can’t handle this! I’m not good enough for this! What are You thinking?

    I was almost paralyzed.

    After God got a hold of my mind, I realized, “Did I really think asking God for an assignment would be anything that I could handle on my own?”

    A popular saying is “God never gives us more than we can handle”. We assume this is in the Bible because we say it so much and hear it so often. In actuality this statement is not in the Bible. The verse that this statement tries to emulate is “He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (1 Corinthians 10:13). So in regards to temptation, yes, God does not give us more than we can stand, and He always shows us a way out.

    But I wasn’t being tempted. I was faced with a task that I did not feel adequate enough to handle. God does give us tasks that we cannot accomplish on our own, especially when we pray bold prayers and ask for them.

    Why does He do this?

    The very next thing I did yesterday morning, after God got a hold of my mind, is I prayed. I went to God and told Him that I am not wise enough, strong enough, spiritual enough to handle the assignment He had given me. Then I asked Him to please work through me, use me, be my hands, give me my words, so that His purpose could be accomplished.

    If I was able to accomplish this on my own, then I would have no need to turn to God. I would carry out the actions that I thought needed to be done, and I would receive the credit, ultimately putting myself higher than God. See, God’s tasks require the supernatural – supernatural wisdom, supernatural strength, supernatural patience, supernatural endurance.

    Then when I’m asked questions such as:

    “How are you so strong?”
    My answer is: “I’m not. God is.”

    “How do know that?”
    My answer is: “I don’t. God does.”

    “How do you get through this?”
    My answer is: “I can’t. God can.”

    God gives us more than we can handle so that He can show us His power, His sovereignty, His grace, and His love through us. We see His majesty, and we have faith that He is who He says He is and that He does what He says He is going to do.

    “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

    What do you do when you feel like an assignment from God is too much for you to handle?

  • Hearts Against Hunger – Please Join Us!

    What can $1 do?  One dollar can provide a week worth of meals for a hungry child!!
    Please join Melanie at Only a Breath, the host of Hearts Against Hunger, to help children who are hungry right here in The United States! Click here for more details!
    The challenge for our online community is to raise $1500 which will provide 10,500 meals!
    No amount of money is too little!
    Please click here to donate your $1 to Feed America. 
    If you would like to help a child or donate to children worldwide, please visit Compassion International. 
    Together our online and blogging community can make a difference and reach our goal!
    Help promote this virtual food drive, too!
    Just email Melanie at Melanie(at)OnlyABreath(dot)com and let her know that you are spreading the word on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.!
    Melanie also has a Heart Against Hunger button for you to use to promote on your blog!

  • My Decision to Quit {Get Off the Ferris Wheel} – Again

    I felt like I was on a ferris wheel that never stopped going around and around and around. 

    Or like the famous movie quote that my husband likes to say to me a lot, “Look, kids, there’s Big Ben!” 

    Or even more embarrassingly like that disgusting Proverb, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness” (Proverbs 26:11).

    By the middle of my third year I knew something was wrong.  I knew it wasn’t for me.  It was like fine grit sandpaper beginning to slowly rub against my soul.

    But I used to design my classroom in my mind when I was a little girl.  I used to collect old textbooks that my teachers were throwing away so that I could teach my dolls everything I was learning.  Wasn’t that sure enough of a sign?  Wasn’t that God showing me what He meant for me to do?

    I got off the ferris wheel once before.  It was fun.  It was exciting.  Getting on planes every week flying all over the country teaching adults instead of kids.

    Except that the sandpaper didn’t go away. It still rubbed against my soul – the fine grit replaced with a medium grit.  What I wanted I could not have yet.  What my soul truly desires what not mine to have. 

    In desperation I returned to my vomit, and the cycle started over again.  The sandpaper rubbed harder and deeper, now with a course grit that after twelve years was leaving a mark, a hole, on my soul.  The person God intended me to be I was not.  I was bitter, angry, resentful.  I saw the world for all of its ugliness instead of all its blessings.  I did not even recognize myself in the mirror.

    So recently He told me it was time to get off the ferris wheel. 

    But . . . but . . . but . . .

    I still don’t know!  What did you design me to do?  I have two degrees in education!  What about my husband?  What if he doesn’t support me?  What if I can’t do it?  What if I fail? What if I get back on?

    Just get off.  That’s all you have to do.  I am telling you it is time to get off.  Let me take care of the rest.  Are you going to trust me?

    So I got off the ferris wheel.

    Just last night someone asked me, “So why did you resign?”

    I still don’t know how to answer that question.  It is so complex.  But what it comes down to is that God told me to get off the ferris wheel, and I am trusting Him.

  • Independence – Without Strings

    One of God’s greatest gifts is the gift of choice – the gift of freedom – that He gave us from the beginning.

    “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Genesis 2:15-17 (NLT)

    Even Jesus was given the gift of freedom.

    “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:17-18 (NIV)

    Although the capability of every choice I make ultimately comes down to God’s provision, sometimes my choices give God more opportunity to show His blessing upon me.

    “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.” Deuteronomy 30:15-16 (NLT)

    Except for the blessing of living in the United States of America. This blessing has nothing to do with my choices.

    It is by pure grace and mercy upon me that God chose for me to be born here – here – in America – the Land of the Free – the Home of the Brave – here.

    Right now I could be one of these little girls in India enslaved and forced into the sex trafficking trade (As Our Own). I could be one of these children in Africa or Guatemala or Indonesia who live in poverty (Compassion). Or I could be a woman in Burkina Faso, the third poorest country in the world, with no clean water to drink (Engage Burkina).

    But no. God blessed me with The United States. A place where I can live in peace. A place where I am treated with human worth. A place where I can dream without seemingly impossible obstacles to overcome first. A place where God’s original gift of freedom is realized.

    There is nothing I did or do to deserve it. It is the blessing of Independence with no strings attached to me – just to God.

    Thank you, God, for the blessing of this country, The United States of America, and for every man, woman, and child who went before me to give me my freedom, and for every man, woman, and child who right now is sacrificing their peace, their security, and their families for me. I know that “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required (Luke 12:48). Please help me, O Lord, to never take for grated this country or my independence. Help me to use your blessing to your glory. Amen.