Brenda Rodgers

Category: relationship with Jesus

  • 5 Bible Verses for When You Just Want to Be Chosen

    I was a terrible person to break-up with when I was single. I had three significant relationships before I got married and in every one of them I did everything short of get on my hands and knees and beg the guy to choose me. Just think of the girl on The Bachelor who doesn’t get the rose, gets into the limo, and then hyperventilates through her tears. Yep, that was me. I was a broken girl. One day I’ll tell you more stories about that girl – stories that will shock you and embarrass me.

    I’ve been thinking a lot about why I acted the way I did when guys broke up with me. It’s painful to think that I begged guys to choose me. But you know what? I’m still that broken girl.

    Photo Credit
    Photo Credit

    I wish I could say that I’m free from the bondage of begging to be chosen, but I’m not. On Wednesdays I go to Bible Study Fellowship (which I highly recommend to you). There are a group of “cool moms” there. They’re young, in their late twenties/early thirties, they wear leggings and scarves and knee-high boots, and they all sit together. I smile at them and they half smile back probably wondering why I have a big cheesy smile on my face. I so want to be a part of their group. But at 37 I’m just not. It doesn’t matter that I have a 15-month-old too. I sit there with a jealous knot in my stomach hoping one day they’ll choose me.

    Then there’s the online crowd. Out here in blog world there is an in-crowd just like in “real life”. The Christian women bloggers who chat over Twitter. I’ll send a tweet to one of these ladies then check my phone every two minutes to see if they tweeted me back. But nothing. My heart sinks.

    My desire to be chosen also sits closer to home.  My mom passed away three years ago. Since that time I no longer have a mom-figure in my life – no one who is in my corner always. I hear these stories of older women going up to younger women and saying things like, “God just told me that I was supposed to be your mentor.” I wish an older women would choose me.

    The stories don’t end there. For most of my life I’ve just wanted to be chosen.

    Today is Valentine’s Day, and you may feel the same way. More than anything you just want to be chosen by someone. You want someone to reach out his hand to tell you you’re accepted and loved and special.

    I know that feeling, and I also know the thoughts that accompany it. “What’s wrong with me?”, “I’ll never find anybody!”, “Nobody will ever just like me for me.”, “I’m going to be single for the rest of my life!”, “Maybe I’m too . . . (you fill in the blank).”

    Sometimes I struggle with writing truth to you because I hate pat answers, and I don’t want to give you a roll-your-eyes, “that’s what everyone says” answer too. But in this case there’s only one way to say it.

    Those thoughts you’re having about why you’re not chosen? They’re straight out lies from the enemy. Bold-faced lies to destroy you.

    And it’s time to bind them up and throw them out.

    If you have to sit and read these verses over and over to yourself tonight or this weekend or any day after this, then I want you do it. Let God’s Word sink in and transform your mind.

    Because you are chosen. Chosen by almighty God himself. If you were the only person on earth, He still would have come to earth to die on the cross. For you. Just for you. He loves you that much.

    Whether single or married or somewhere in between, there will always be times when we are not chosen by this world and the people in it. But if we remember God’s truth, then we will not make decisions out of the feelings those times bring. Instead we’ll stand up and say, “I’m not chosen by this world, but I’m chosen by God, and God is where my home lies.”

    Bible verses so you know you’re chosen:

    “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

    “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love” Ephesians 1:3-4

    “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

    “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” John 15:16

    “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 14:2

  • IF:Equip {A Community of Women Reading the Bible Together}

    A few weeks ago I wrote about How to Start Reading the Bible because if we want a relationship with Jesus it’s best to go straight to the source – His Word. And that is what we all want, right? We want to know Jesus intimately and personally. That’s His desire for us as well. The Bible is His love story to us and He wants us to read it.

    But reading the Bible isn’t easy. I won’t pretend like it is. It can be quite intimidating. So I wanted to give you some practical ways to start reading the Bible and some ideas that have helped me.

    IF Gathering

    This past weekend IF:Gathering hosted the first conference in Austin, Texas and all over the world in local gatherings. I didn’t go to Austin (but how awesome would that have been) or attend a local gathering, but I’ve been frantically trying to watch the online livestream of the talks. They are disappearing after Monday, so by the time you read this they’ll be gone. However, you can buy the download copy here. Some of the speakers were Christine Caine, Ann Voskamp, Rebekah Lyons, Bianca Olthoff, Jennie Allen, Jen Hatmaker – and others.

    But today is starting something new with IF. It’s IF:Equip. This is the next step to learn more about Jesus, to become more like Jesus, and to serve others with the love of Jesus. The process is simple. All the details are right here. They’re starting in the book of John.

    So if you haven’t started reading your Bible yet, now’s your opportunity – with a community of women who are seeking the same thing you are – Jesus!

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  • How to Start Reading the Bible

    Last week I shared with you the one reason you need to read the Bible – to claim God’s promise of an abundant life. Most of us agree that Jesus came to earth to give us eternal life, the first part of John 10:10b that says, “I came that they may have life”. But it’s the second part of that verse that we doubt – the part that reads, “and have it abundantly.”

    Jesus came to earth so that we can experience abundant life NOW! We experience abundant life through a relationship with Him, by knowing His character, and understanding there is a bigger, eternal story He is writing.

    Photo Credit: Creative Commons: Brett Jordan
    Photo Credit: Creative Commons: Brett Jordan

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  • The One Reason You Need to Read the Bible

    I followed Jesus a long time before I started reading the Bible. That is before I read the Bible on my own outside of Bible study and Sunday school and church.

    In college I sat on my bed one night with my Bible open to some random book. I had no idea what I was reading, but I just knew I should be reading it. My roommate walked in, and even though she was a Christian too she looked at me in a peculiar way communicating, “Why are you doing that?” Even in Christian circles reading your Bible was just not done. It was almost faux pas. You were definitely crossing over to the Bible-thumping side.

    The One Reason You Need to Read the Bible 2169114132_bb475d15d4_z
    Photo Credit: Creative Commons: Brett Jordan

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  • 16 Bible Verses for When You’re Lonely

    Weekends were brutal.

    Sometimes I would go into my apartment after work on Friday evening and not come out until Sunday. Having talked to no one. Having seen no one. Then I would go to church and even though I talked to a few people it didn’t make a difference. My lips moved but my soul still ached. I knew that in a few short minutes in would be over. I’d be back in my apartment again – alone.

    Nothing reminds you that you’re single like weekends do.

    After I moved inside the city (before I lived outside of Atlanta), I became more involved at church, and my community grew. There were less desperately lonely moments, but they never went away totally.

    No matter how big your social circle there are going to be lonely times when you’re single. The choice is whether you fall into them or resent them. I pray you fall into them.

    Image courtesy of Sira Anamwong/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
    Image courtesy of Sira Anamwong/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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  • Coffee Talk with Jesus: Intimate Chats with the Savior {A Review and Giveaway}

    I have to tell you, I’m a full-on morning person. My very favorite time of day is 5 o’clock in the morning. I come downstairs, black still covering the pre-dawn air, my big overstuffed chair with tufted buttons waiting for me, and of course, the coffee already brewed.

    After pouring that first cup, and sitting deep into my chair, legs folded up criss-crossed, my chatting begins. I talk to Jesus, there in the silence, sometimes even out loud. Then I open my Bible. And He talks back. (more…)