Brenda Rodgers

Category: Faith

  • Rest for My Soul

    Join me today for 5 Minute Friday with The Gypsy Mama where we write for five minutes on a given topic. No editing. No criticism. No worry. Today’s topic is: Rest

    Yesterday I was running.  Running for the race of my dreams.  Running so I would be prepared in a few weeks to cross over the finish line after 13.1 miles.  Four miles earlier strength and speed were my friend.  Now they were just reminding me of how truly weak I am.  My legs were weary, but my soul became wearier.

    In my ears I hear a story, coming straight from the pastor on my IPod, of a man named Elijah who God gave strength, protection, and nourishment.  But at the end of the day Elijah was weary too, and yelled out, “Please, take my life, God.  I am weary and no good!” 

    As my legs continued to pound on the pavement toward my dream, I did not look back at the four miles God had brought me through, I just looked ahead at the miles that I still was not. 

    And my soul was weary.  Weary from always striving be more without looking back at who I once was and from where God has brought me.

    As the story goes on, Elijah stops.  He sleeps and eats under a tree, and he stops.  He stops striving, he stops pondering, he stops fretting.  He finds rest in his soul through the rest of his mind and body.

    For the remainder of my run I no longer looked forward.  I looked back at the strength God had already given me.  Then I found rest with my soul. 

    Scripture Reference:  1 Kings 18-19
    Photo Credit:  Creative Commons

    Where do you find rest for your soul?

  • What is a Quiet Time?

    Last week I wrote a short, two part series on How to Become a Morning Person and the Benefits of Becoming a Morning Person. One of the greatest benefits for me to get up early is having time alone with God – often called a “quiet time”.

    Throughout my life I have heard things like,

    “Have you had your quiet time today?”,
    “I didn’t get my quiet time in.”,
    “I need to do my quiet time now.”,
    “What are you doing for your quiet time?”

    So what is “quiet time”?

    When people ask me why I get up so early my first response is to drop my head and mumble, “to have my quiet time.”

    “What? What did you say? Quiet time? What’s quiet time?”

    Quiet time literally means “uninterrupted time focused on God in prayer and in His Word”. However, when I use the phrase “quiet time” it sounds more like some mystical event that I’m trying to keep a secret!

    My quiet time should more appropriately be called my loud time! This is the time I spend being loud – talking, laughing, crying, arguing, begging, pouting, and praising – with God. It is also God’s time to be loud – teaching, showing, directing, perfecting, and loving – with me.

    Quiet time does not need to be “quiet” at all, and it does not need any other expectations tied to it. When actions become linked to expectations, then they no longer flow from love. God wants us to love Him, not to be obligated to Him.

    My time with God is often, but not always:

    • early in the morning
    • a time of prayer for my family and a few people I scheduled for that day
    • reading one chapter from one book from the Bible
      • I alternate from reading a book from the Old Testament and then a book from the New Testament, but I go through each book entirely reading only one chapter a day. For example, right now I’m reading 2 Samuel. There are 24 chapters in 2 Samuel, so for 24 days I will read 2 Samuel, and then I will begin reading a book from the New Testament.
    • maybe time for journaling about what the chapter I read was about or taught me

    No longer do I use the term “quiet time”.  What do I do in the mornings?  I spend time with God.  Does that mean that the rest of my day is not with God? Absolutely not! I talk to God throughout the day and sometimes read scripture online or blogs, etc., but my morning time is just focused time in His Word and in prayer. The more I set aside time alone with Him, the easier it becomes to talk to Him throughout the day.  He becomes more of the friend that He is.

    Photo Credit: Creative Commons

    What does “quiet time” mean for you?

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  • The {Un}Answered Teenage Prayer

    The application for the Africa mission trip was due on Tuesday. It was Friday, and I still had not looked at it. I was driving with both hands on the steering wheel and my heart was beating so fast it felt like I could just reach in and grab it. I knew the deadline was close. I knew I had to make a decision.

    When I first saw the Word on the screen at church several Sundays before, God took me back to my teenage self. I remembered a prayer that I prayed as a seventeen year old girl. I don’t know what made me pray this prayer exactly except that back then I wanted nothing more than to be like everyone else. I didn’t want to be different, even though I knew I was, and I tried really, really hard to live both lives – the Jesus life and the world life. So I prayed this prayer in these words:

    “God, whatever you do, please don’t make me a missionary. I do not want to go to Africa.”

    I never thought any more about it.

    Eighteen years later I still want to be like everyone else. I don’t enjoy being different. But my heart falls more in love with Jesus the more time I spend with Him, and about five years ago I began praying another prayer that I have continued to pray up until now.

    “God, do whatever you have to do. Break me however you need to. But please use my life for something big to bring You glory.”

    So the Friday before the application was due I sat in my car and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

    I did not want to go to Africa.

    What would I eat? Where would I sleep? What if I get hurt? What if I die?

    Then the real question slowly poked up through all of the surface words.

    What if I’m changed? What if I come back different?

    Putting the superficial fears aside, it came down to this. I am afraid of being changed. I am afraid of being different. And I know that there is no way of escaping it. I cannot go to a country and see God’s world, His people, people He loves, through His eyes, and not be changed. I still want to be like everyone else.

    Later that day I went home, sat down, and began writing my application. The words came up out of me and my heart poured onto the pages. This is what came out:

    “I do not know how I can help people who are in need of so much. But I do know that I ask God continually to fully sanctify me so that I can serve Him wholly and completely. I want to see the world and people the way He sees them. I want perspective like His. I ask for this so that I can fully love people in my every day life like He has called me to love them, so I can serve people like He wants me to serve them, and so that I can continue to have an eternal focus.”

    God is sending me to Africa to answer my prayer.

    Has God ever allowed something to happen in your live that you didn’t expect in order to answer a deep,  heart prayer?

  • The Secret to an Unbroken Life with God

    There is a quiet secret that sits snugly inside the pages of Ecclesiastes. It is the secret of having a life that is not easily conquered and broken by the trials of this world. Trials that can leave us feeling worthless and insecure and depressed.

    It is not much of a secret at all really, but these words often go unnoticed even though they tell us what we truly need. They are the words that explain a Triple Braided life.

    What is a Triple Braided life? Triple Braided is more than the name of this blog. It is the formula for a life that can stand up against all the craziness this world brings.

    Me + Community + God = The Triple Braided Life

    “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”
    Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NLT)

    In a Triple Braided life there are three cords.

    • Cord One: Each of us as individuals
    • Cord Two: The community of brothers and sisters in Christ
    • Cord Three: A relationship with God

    This verse shows us our need for community AND God. We can do o.k. when it’s just us and a community of Believers around us, but the braid is the strongest when we have a community of Believers AND a personal relationship with God.

    There is no doubt that this world is going to bring us dips and peaks. When the dips are a reality they are really, really deep.  We strain and pull just to have our eyes peak over the side.  And when the peaks are a reality they are really, really high.  We put one toe over the edge just knowing we can fly.  Through the dips and the peaks we want to conquer and remain unbroken. This is found in a Triple Braided life.

    My vision for this blog is 1.) to discuss what a Triple Braided life looks like for women in every season of life: single, married, widowed, with children, without children, empty nester, worker outside the home, homemaker, homeschooling, not homeschooling, and so on and so on, 2.) to encourage women to live in community with all of these groups of women, not just the group that best describes our stage of life, and 3.) to promote an intimate relationship with Jesus as the Third Braid in our lives. 

    To read more about a Triple Braided life, please read The Third Braid.

    What do you think about a Triple Braided life?

  • Older Body, New Mind

    Join me today for 5 Minute Friday with The Gypsy Mama where we write for five minutes on a given topic. No editing. No criticism. No worry. Today’s topic is: Older

    They felt like they were turning to sandpaper, in the beginning stages only twenty years in.  Hands that hadn’t touched too much yet were already showing signs of exhaustion while my mind was bouncing in and out of dreams making me who I was meant to be.

    Seven years later I inherited my first strand of silver.  Right there in front among all the dark brown hair where everybody could see.  If I was forty years down the road it would have been my trophy, but my mind was now digging roots, deep roots into those dreams of who I was supposed to be.

    The sun’s toll took over a short time later.  She kissed my forehead with her warmth, and now I will remember my days with her in my youth forever.  Time making its mark on this body while my mind releases me into who I was created to be.  

    Photo Credit: Creative Commons

  • The Word . . . A Revelation

    All I wanted that morning was to go to church, sing to the band jamming out, hear once again how much God loves me, and go home happy . . . and peaceful . . . and satisfied.

    Sitting there, waiting to get my feel good tune-up for the week, the word flashed on the screen.

    I looked at it, and then my heart started. No, no God! Not now! I’m not in the mood to be stretched. I’m not in the mood to be obedient. But the thumping continued. I knew what that meant.

    Over the next few weeks the word continued a subtle persistence – creeping into my mind as I brushed my teeth, tied my shoes, and walked to the mailbox.  Like a good Christian I rationalized it away and tried to convince myself that it probably wasn’t God’s voice. It was probably some subconscious desire to prove something or just to say I have been on a mission trip.

    But I know His voice. I knew what was coming.

    So I prayed. O.k., o.k, so I’ll send an email to get some more information. That’s all. Just an email. Then it will go away.

    Except that the word didn’t go away.

    A few weeks later I was running and listening to a sermon on my IPod. My husband was following along behind me on his bike. The words I was listening to were about fear and stepping out in faith and obeying God. As I went around the curve in the cul-de-sac my husband caught up next to me. Barely able to get the words out of my mouth I said to him, “God wants me to go to Africa.”

    I said it, and it hurt. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay here and be safe. Safe in my little neighborhood where every fourth house is the same and our problems are disguised as what new car we’re buying next or where we’re going on vacation.

    As I tried to keep the rhythm of my runner’s breath tears rolled down my cheeks. I was revealed – this heart that is still so far away from God’s heart.

    Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

    When has God given you a word that you didn’t want to hear?