This week’s guest is Peggy Bodde. Peggy is an amazing woman who overcame childhood trauma to become a successful business leader. She was adopted as a baby by a couple who abused her throughout her entire childhood and kicked her out of the house at 13 years old. But that brought relief rather than fear and Peggy made her way to a better life with the help of her church and one family who took her in. Peggy now has a ministry called Sacred Work, where she mentors and leads women in the corporate world. She also talks about how she struggled in relationships with men due to her childhood abuse and how friends told her her “man-picker’ was broken and what she did to overcome that and eventually find her prince of a husband.
Peggy did try to circle back and “fix” the broken relationship between her adoptive parents and herself as an adult, but the pattern of verbal abuse and emotional manipulation never changed. She finally put up a boundary and stopped all contact with them. Her adoptive mother died a few years ago. However, she was finally able to find her birth mom several years ago and she shares about that full-circle moment.
Highlight Quotes From Peggy
“God kept showing me who Jesus really is through these other peopled in powerful ways that I couldn’t deny.” – her journey to faith
“The lie has manifested itself in you that you’re not worth being treated well. So you gravitate toward people who will affirm that and make it true.” – referencing her troubled relationships with men
“A lot of Christian women who aren’t in ministry or are out of the home, they often feel that they’re less than–that they’re not good enough. God uses women in the marketplace just as mightily as He uses them in ministry., just as mightily as He uses them at home.”
“If you look at the book of Exodus, all the people that thwarted Pharaoh… all the people God used were women in different roles.”
“God is not the One who puts limitations on the roles women have.”
Resources and Scriptures From This Episode
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He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will… – Ephesians 1:5
See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children–and we are! – 1 John 3:1
Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. – Proverbs 15:22
Resource for those who have been through trauma: Safe People by Dr. Henry Cloud
If you or someone you love is a survivor of childhood abuse, check out Focus on the Family Counseling Services
If you’re looking for a reputable service to help find birth parents you can email JoAnne at adoptiondatabase@gmail.com or check out their website at adoptiondatabase.org
Connect with Peggy at the following links:
Listen to this week’s episode Adopted, Abused and Kicked out at 13 with Peggy Bodde