THREE ANGELS BROADCASTING NETWORK DEVOTIONAL.
I Choose God.
By Elena Rodionova
May 22nd, 2026
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
I was born in Russia, and my parents, like many then, did not believe in God. I never had a single thought of God, but somehow, I heard about a holy book called the Bible, and I really wanted one. I searched for years but never found one for sale until 1991. But sadly, I couldn’t understand any of it, so I stopped with the book of Genesis.
When I turned 21, I kept company with a crowd that liked to drink, and sadly, this led to tragic consequences when a friend and I ended up in the same room with a crowd of drunken young people who took advantage of us. I was hurt so deeply I didn’t want to live anymore and decided to jump off the balcony, but a friend grabbed me at the last moment. I denied wanting to kill myself, but I really didn’t know what to do, so I continued drinking and hanging out with them in a desperate attempt to fill the spiritual emptiness inside.
As I look back, I see how God spared my life so many times. When I was 25 I was very sick and was diagnosed with critically low hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the cells. I was at risk of irreversible damage, but doctors couldn’t find the cause of my disease. I was very depressed, but a friend of mine began going to church where they studied the Bible, and invited me to come with her, so I did. I had so little energy that I barely made it. We sat at the back of the hall and I tried to listen, but I didn’t understand anything.
As I headed out of the hall, I felt a strange lightness; and for the first time in several months, I was not just able to walk, but ran to the bus stop! The following Saturday I returned and again sat in the back. I still didn’t understand anything, but that feeling of lightness was back! God continued to heal me each time I went back to church, and a remarkable recovery took place that no pills or procedures had been able to do for me. Every cell of the body felt regenerated, and my hemoglobin rose back to normal!
That year, I got married, and a year later, we had a son. My hemoglobin remained normal throughout my pregnancy, and... I stopped going to church. First, I stopped reading the Bible and praying every day; then I lost my desire to go to church. My husband drank and walked out on me, and I was starving and had nothing to eat. Oddly, my body produced enough milk for my child, and even though I left God, He did not leave me.
One day, I caught a bad cold, and as I laid in bed I realized that it had been years since I’d cleaned my glass doors to my balcony. I was disgusted as I looked at the dirt-smeared glass, so I decided I would wash it as soon as I felt better. However, the next day a strong wind blew, and the entire balcony of my fifth-floor apartment collapsed to the ground! If I’d started washing that door from the outside, I would have come crashing down with it! Once again, I thanked God for sparing my life as I looked down at the smashed glass below.
I decided to go back to church, but when I asked the pastor what I should do, he suggested I be baptized again, since I’d broken my covenant with God. That made me indignant, and I decided to never go to church again! By this time, I was divorced, and since my paycheck was so small, I got a second job at a factory in order to feed my son and me. Then the factory closed down!
I cried, and for the first time in recent years, I turned to God again. “Lord, please help me. I can’t live and provide for my child on just one job!”
I didn’t have long to wait, because God answered immediately, and two days later I got another job as an accountant—a job I have to this day. They gave me a good salary that amounted to more than I’d made in two jobs, combined!
I’d never forgotten my friends from church, and the day came when I felt a growing desire to come to worship with them, again. And that’s when I found out that they’d been praying for me to come back, all along. That year I was baptized again, and recognized that the Lord had brought me to the same church twice: first through illness, then through my friends.
I learned to hear God’s voice, read my Bible, and accept His call on my life. Today, I pray for God’s help and He answers me through the Holy Scriptures, through people, and through various circumstances. He pulled me out of a world of sin, vice, evil, violence, and death—and I don’t want to go there anymore. I understand why God says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15-16.
When I compare what I had from the world with what I have from God—I choose God’s world every time!
I Choose God.
By Elena Rodionova
May 22nd, 2026
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
I was born in Russia, and my parents, like many then, did not believe in God. I never had a single thought of God, but somehow, I heard about a holy book called the Bible, and I really wanted one. I searched for years but never found one for sale until 1991. But sadly, I couldn’t understand any of it, so I stopped with the book of Genesis.
When I turned 21, I kept company with a crowd that liked to drink, and sadly, this led to tragic consequences when a friend and I ended up in the same room with a crowd of drunken young people who took advantage of us. I was hurt so deeply I didn’t want to live anymore and decided to jump off the balcony, but a friend grabbed me at the last moment. I denied wanting to kill myself, but I really didn’t know what to do, so I continued drinking and hanging out with them in a desperate attempt to fill the spiritual emptiness inside.
As I look back, I see how God spared my life so many times. When I was 25 I was very sick and was diagnosed with critically low hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the cells. I was at risk of irreversible damage, but doctors couldn’t find the cause of my disease. I was very depressed, but a friend of mine began going to church where they studied the Bible, and invited me to come with her, so I did. I had so little energy that I barely made it. We sat at the back of the hall and I tried to listen, but I didn’t understand anything.
As I headed out of the hall, I felt a strange lightness; and for the first time in several months, I was not just able to walk, but ran to the bus stop! The following Saturday I returned and again sat in the back. I still didn’t understand anything, but that feeling of lightness was back! God continued to heal me each time I went back to church, and a remarkable recovery took place that no pills or procedures had been able to do for me. Every cell of the body felt regenerated, and my hemoglobin rose back to normal!
That year, I got married, and a year later, we had a son. My hemoglobin remained normal throughout my pregnancy, and... I stopped going to church. First, I stopped reading the Bible and praying every day; then I lost my desire to go to church. My husband drank and walked out on me, and I was starving and had nothing to eat. Oddly, my body produced enough milk for my child, and even though I left God, He did not leave me.
One day, I caught a bad cold, and as I laid in bed I realized that it had been years since I’d cleaned my glass doors to my balcony. I was disgusted as I looked at the dirt-smeared glass, so I decided I would wash it as soon as I felt better. However, the next day a strong wind blew, and the entire balcony of my fifth-floor apartment collapsed to the ground! If I’d started washing that door from the outside, I would have come crashing down with it! Once again, I thanked God for sparing my life as I looked down at the smashed glass below.
I decided to go back to church, but when I asked the pastor what I should do, he suggested I be baptized again, since I’d broken my covenant with God. That made me indignant, and I decided to never go to church again! By this time, I was divorced, and since my paycheck was so small, I got a second job at a factory in order to feed my son and me. Then the factory closed down!
I cried, and for the first time in recent years, I turned to God again. “Lord, please help me. I can’t live and provide for my child on just one job!”
I didn’t have long to wait, because God answered immediately, and two days later I got another job as an accountant—a job I have to this day. They gave me a good salary that amounted to more than I’d made in two jobs, combined!
I’d never forgotten my friends from church, and the day came when I felt a growing desire to come to worship with them, again. And that’s when I found out that they’d been praying for me to come back, all along. That year I was baptized again, and recognized that the Lord had brought me to the same church twice: first through illness, then through my friends.
I learned to hear God’s voice, read my Bible, and accept His call on my life. Today, I pray for God’s help and He answers me through the Holy Scriptures, through people, and through various circumstances. He pulled me out of a world of sin, vice, evil, violence, and death—and I don’t want to go there anymore. I understand why God says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15-16.
When I compare what I had from the world with what I have from God—I choose God’s world every time!
THREE ANGELS BROADCASTING NETWORK DEVOTIONAL.
I Choose God.
By Elena Rodionova
May 22nd, 2026
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
I was born in Russia, and my parents, like many then, did not believe in God. I never had a single thought of God, but somehow, I heard about a holy book called the Bible, and I really wanted one. I searched for years but never found one for sale until 1991. But sadly, I couldn’t understand any of it, so I stopped with the book of Genesis.
When I turned 21, I kept company with a crowd that liked to drink, and sadly, this led to tragic consequences when a friend and I ended up in the same room with a crowd of drunken young people who took advantage of us. I was hurt so deeply I didn’t want to live anymore and decided to jump off the balcony, but a friend grabbed me at the last moment. I denied wanting to kill myself, but I really didn’t know what to do, so I continued drinking and hanging out with them in a desperate attempt to fill the spiritual emptiness inside.
As I look back, I see how God spared my life so many times. When I was 25 I was very sick and was diagnosed with critically low hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the cells. I was at risk of irreversible damage, but doctors couldn’t find the cause of my disease. I was very depressed, but a friend of mine began going to church where they studied the Bible, and invited me to come with her, so I did. I had so little energy that I barely made it. We sat at the back of the hall and I tried to listen, but I didn’t understand anything.
As I headed out of the hall, I felt a strange lightness; and for the first time in several months, I was not just able to walk, but ran to the bus stop! The following Saturday I returned and again sat in the back. I still didn’t understand anything, but that feeling of lightness was back! God continued to heal me each time I went back to church, and a remarkable recovery took place that no pills or procedures had been able to do for me. Every cell of the body felt regenerated, and my hemoglobin rose back to normal!
That year, I got married, and a year later, we had a son. My hemoglobin remained normal throughout my pregnancy, and... I stopped going to church. First, I stopped reading the Bible and praying every day; then I lost my desire to go to church. My husband drank and walked out on me, and I was starving and had nothing to eat. Oddly, my body produced enough milk for my child, and even though I left God, He did not leave me.
One day, I caught a bad cold, and as I laid in bed I realized that it had been years since I’d cleaned my glass doors to my balcony. I was disgusted as I looked at the dirt-smeared glass, so I decided I would wash it as soon as I felt better. However, the next day a strong wind blew, and the entire balcony of my fifth-floor apartment collapsed to the ground! If I’d started washing that door from the outside, I would have come crashing down with it! Once again, I thanked God for sparing my life as I looked down at the smashed glass below.
I decided to go back to church, but when I asked the pastor what I should do, he suggested I be baptized again, since I’d broken my covenant with God. That made me indignant, and I decided to never go to church again! By this time, I was divorced, and since my paycheck was so small, I got a second job at a factory in order to feed my son and me. Then the factory closed down!
I cried, and for the first time in recent years, I turned to God again. “Lord, please help me. I can’t live and provide for my child on just one job!”
I didn’t have long to wait, because God answered immediately, and two days later I got another job as an accountant—a job I have to this day. They gave me a good salary that amounted to more than I’d made in two jobs, combined!
I’d never forgotten my friends from church, and the day came when I felt a growing desire to come to worship with them, again. And that’s when I found out that they’d been praying for me to come back, all along. That year I was baptized again, and recognized that the Lord had brought me to the same church twice: first through illness, then through my friends.
I learned to hear God’s voice, read my Bible, and accept His call on my life. Today, I pray for God’s help and He answers me through the Holy Scriptures, through people, and through various circumstances. He pulled me out of a world of sin, vice, evil, violence, and death—and I don’t want to go there anymore. I understand why God says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15-16.
When I compare what I had from the world with what I have from God—I choose God’s world every time!
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