Beverly Joy Roberts

I teach a preschool class at my church on Wednesday nights called “Rainbows.”  I’ve been teaching this class for 15 years.  These little humans who have only been on earth for 3-5 years have taught me many spiritual lessons.    Sometimes I wonder how will a child respond when corrected.   Will they immediately stop what they are doing or will it take a few verbal attempts to bring about the appropriate behavior.  Here are a few things I’ve said over the years in my Rainbow class... more than once :   “Don't throw that wooden blocks at your friend!” “Stop running.” “Use your inside voice.” “Give that toy back.  She had it first.” "Please sit down." It’s interesting to watch and see who will respond on the first request.     Guess what?   Some kids don’t listen the first time—which promptly brings about this question… Did you hear me? A verse I read in Hebrews 3 reminded me of this little scene.  It says,  “If you hear God speak today, don’t be

I have a Fitbit.  It was a gift.    I'll be honest--I was a bit s k eptical in the beginning.  Would I really use it?  But, as I said, it was a gift, so I had to give it a try.   Once I began using my Fitbit, I loved it.   It was always right there on my wrist spurring me on, e ncouraging me to press on and take a few more steps each day.    Then I upgraded to the one that has the watch, heart rate and a few other gadgets—bringing all this important information just a finger tap away.    For those who are Fitbit wearers—you know the thrill it is to have that band vibrate on your wrist telling you that you’ve reached your daily goal.   The Fitbit is an excellent reminder to put forth my best effort physically every day.     Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a Fitbit available for our spiritual well being too?   I’d be first in line to buy that.    What if it could remind us to read the Bible and pray?  What if the band vibrated as a reminder whenever the Gi

I’ve been known to be indecisive at times.  Mostly when I don’t really care about the outcome or the event such as: Husband:  “Where do you want to go out to eat?”  Me :  “Oh, I don’t care.  You pick."  Sound familiar--to anyone e lse ? However, there are t imes I feel very strongly about things like--directions. Me:  “Turn left here.  It’s shorter and there is one less traffic light.”   The car goes straight.     Me:  “Why didn’t you turn?  You just added 45 seconds to our trip!”  (Yeah!  A little window into life with me—so much fun.) For the most part, when my mind is made up and I know what I want …get out of the way.  That’s what happened when, at the age of fourteen, I realized God had something more available to me.  It was a gift that is available to all Believers.   The Lord filled me up with his Holy Spirit at salvation but there was more and I wanted it.   The Spirit that dwells within me was waiting for the

For "My Girl" who turned 30 yesterday! When my daughter was four years old, a dear friend in the Philippines bought her a ring with her birthstone.  The ring was so tiny on her chubby hand and looked so sweet.  I was extremely proud of that ring.  So, of course, I put it away so she wouldn't lose it. I told her it was only for special occasions. A few days later, she had a little friend over, and she ran inside the house so proud and announced to me, "I have a buried treasure." "Oh, really.  What is it?"  I innocently asked. "I burie d my ring."  Her face beamed with accomplishment. The next moments were one of those times you wish you could have a " do over !" I scolded. I huffed. I puffed. I had her show me where she buried the ring.  Then I frantically searched in the dirt, but I couldn't find the tiny ring.   I knew it was lost forever. A few weeks later, a joyous little girl came running into t

Before! A few years ago, I decided it was time to do a kitchen remodel.   While my husband was at work I thought I’d just pull up one small, tiny inconspicuous ceramic tile.  No one would ever know!  The test tile came up with ease--so--I tried just one more. When my husband came home that evening the whole kitchen floor was removed, and I had partially taken down one of the kitchen walls.       What seemed like a great idea at the time—turned out to be a four month ordeal washing dishes in the bathroom sink and sometimes the bathtub, cooking all our meals in the microwave ( okay, maybe we do that all the time ) but I did developed a serious cough from the dust that lasted until the end of the remodel.    Normally, a person would plan ahead before the demolition--I did not!   I had not per-ordered cupboards or counter-tops, each of these can take weeks to a month to arrive.  I did not have a construction person lined up.  Nor did I prepared for the rubbish that needed