Growing Brave to Become More: Rebecca Bender and Patti Callahan Henry
Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith
Jesus Calling
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2020
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Fear of the unknown and fear of change are some of the greatest struggles we will ever face. How can we possibly leave behind what’s familiar to us? How will we know where to go next? What will happen to us and our loved ones? It can be terrifying, lonely, and confusing. Today’s guests share how they found the courage to make a change, which led them to freedom and joy like they had never experienced. Human trafficking survivor and activist Rebecca Bender opens up about the life she was manipulated into and how, by listening to God’s voice and the strong spirit that He gave her, she found a way out. Novelist Patti Callahan Henry shares how she left her job as a nurse to become a writer, and the story she wrote about C.S. Lewis’ wife, Joy, who also took a leap of faith that led her to a love that she never could’ve imagined for herself. If you’re considering making a change in your life, remember this: it is in the uncomfortable and the unfamiliar that we grow and have an opportunity to depend on God like never before. And He has plans for hope and a future for each one of us.
Links, Products and Resources Mentioned:
Jesus Calling: The Jesus Calling Magazine
Jesus Calling for Kids at Barnes & Noble (PINK and BLUE versions)
Rebecca Bender Initiative
In Pursuit of Love: One Woman’s Journey from Trafficked to Triumphant book
National U.S. Trafficking Hotline: 1 (888) 373-7888 to get help today
Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis book
Behind the Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis [Podcast]
C.S. Lewis
Yale Younger Poets Award
American Idol finalist Dave Pittman
Tourette’s Syndrome
Interview Quotes:
”I felt like an outsider, which pushed me, I think, even further away from wanting to be a part of a community of faith.” - Rebecca Bender
”You can't imagine going back to hopelessness, so you choose to look the other way because you really want the dream that's being dangled in front of you.” - Rebecca Bender
“I was so, so filled with knowing that I could hear the voice of the Lord, the voice of the Creator of the universe who chose to talk to me, and that really kept me through some of my darkest times.” - Rebecca Bender
“This is my favorite part about God: how He breaks off chains, He breaks up shame. He can completely redo our lives.” - Rebecca Bender
“You have to be real with God. He knows what you're thinking, and He knows even more than you do what's happening in your brain and in your mind and your heart. So just crying out to Him helps really shift and give you some revelation and helps you take your eyes off of your circumstance to see what He has in store.” - Rebecca Bender
“What I love about the work that God allows me to do today is not only do we get to bring justice for the victim . . . but I love that it's also creating constant change in the community.” - Rebecca Bender
”You know, Jesus loves girls like me—we’re all over the Bible. Put the shame on who should own the shame, which is the perpetrators.” - Rebecca Bender
“[My faith] transforms, and it transforms me. As long as it's always about the indwelling God, I feel fairly safe in my faith.” - Patti Callahan Henry
“I do believe that it was the first time Joy ever truly loved, and it's because she first found her true self in God.” - Patti Callahan Henry
”We might need to pack up everybody's expectations and everybody's demands and everybody's definitions of us.” - Patti Callahan Henry
“My favorite quote by Joy is, ‘If we should ever grow brave, what on earth would become of us?’" - Patti Callahan Henry
________________________
Enjoy these videos on Jesus Calling YouTube channel:
Audio podcast: https://bit.ly/2uCnNM0
Original Series video podcast: https://bit.ly/2WzFY0O
________________________
Connect with Jesus Calling
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Looking for the perfect gift for your little ones for Easter, |
| 0:03.3 | Jesus calling for kids has two new editions just for kids, |
| 0:07.5 | one in pink and one in blue. |
| 0:09.6 | You can find them in the religion and inspiration section of Barnes and Noble today. |
| 0:16.0 | I love the Book of Exodus when it says God could have taken the children of Israel the short |
| 0:20.5 | route, but he chose to take them the long road because he knew the first |
| 0:24.0 | time they faced a battle they would turn and flee and I feel like that's a lot more of it. |
| 0:28.0 | It's the long-term spiritual exercise that strengthens you for this battle called life. |
| 0:33.0 | Welcome to the Jesus Calling podcast. |
| 0:35.0 | This week we talk with two women who have known and seen what happens when we find the courage to make a bold shift in our lives. |
| 0:42.0 | Novelist Patty Callahan Henry, an activist and author Rebecca Bender. Rebecca Bender is the CEO and founder of the Rebecca Bender Initiative and is a survivor, leader, and author of In Pursuit of Love. |
| 0:57.0 | Rebecca thought she was going to have the life she had always dreamed of when she moved to Las Vegas with her boyfriend. |
| 1:01.0 | But the dream became a nightmare when her boyfriend became |
| 1:04.0 | her pimp at the age of 19. |
| 1:06.7 | Rebecca recounts how she was forced into sex trafficking for nearly six years, and how, during |
| 1:11.0 | that time, she could feel God pursuing her and slowly building the |
| 1:14.8 | courage in her that would eventually allow her to escape. I'm Rebecca Bender. I'm a |
| 1:19.9 | survivor of human trafficking but I'm more than just my story. I'm a wife and a mother. |
| 1:25.2 | I'm the CEO and founder of a nonprofit and I'm an author of several books, but my newest I'm really excited about which is in pursuit of love. |
| 1:35.7 | I grew up in a small rural town in Oregon about 3,000 people back then a little tiny |
| 1:40.8 | lumber town called Cave Junction, Oregon. |
| 1:43.0 | But I had a great childhood. I was an only child. I grew up skip in rocks, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jesus Calling, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jesus Calling and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.