Beverly Joy Roberts

Have you ever met someone who's hope seems gone?   When people are in despair often your words go unheard.   This year marks 40-years of ministry for my husband and I.  Over the course of these years we have ministered to a number of people who have lost hope.  For some it lasted only for a short time, but for others it was days, weeks or years. I am a person of faith who has devoted my life to ministry, yet I too have tiptoed around the field of hopelessness.  Even the homes of those in ministry will be touched with sickness, discouragement, death, bad choices, personal struggles, family issues and times when it seems nothing goes right.   When Hope Seems Gone , we have an abundance of questions, but what we want are answers.      In times like these, we may feel ready to buckle under the weight of the unanswered questions, but Jesus didn't.  In fact, Biblegatyeway.com states that Jesus asked 307 questions in the Gospels, but HE only answered 183 of those

The child said in a demanding voice.   "You Promised!"  What parent hasn't heard those words and that tone.   Have you ever noticed how kids remember certain promises and fail to realize there is a condition attached to the promise?   A parent says something like this, "We'll stop and have ice cream,  if  you behave in the store." Parents know that promise means bad behavior equals no ice cream.  While children lock in on the ice cream and forget the  IF  that is attached to the promise. For example in John 8:31(TLB) It says, ... Jesus said to them, “You are truly my disciples  if  you live as I tell you to..." We hear...Awesome...we're disciples of Christ, but forget the part about living as He tells us to.   Maybe kids aren't the only ones who want to ignore the " IF " requirement.   Promises that contain an “If” require some form of obedience before we can expect the benefits of the promise.  The &qu

Confession:  I'm a dieter.  I think I've tried them all.  Here's just a sampling of my past fails!  Maybe you will identify with some of these... Low carbs with high protein.    Hello, kidney stones!   Measuring all foods to the exact amount. Boring and starving!  The Cabbage Soup Diet...Don't do it.  Things get ugly fast. The balanced food group diet.  Okay, this is healthy but where's the cake?  There must be cake! And once I did that diet where you only eat when you're hungry and stop when you’re full.   Insert photo of me doubled over in laughter!    I gained weight on this one.  It just seems obvious to me that someone struggling with their weight doesn't pay attention to "full"..just say'n.     All these diets have one thing in common...they didn't seem to truly satisfy.  They left me wanting more.  For the rest of my life I'll probably have a front row seat on the diet roller coaster.   It's the ride where you'

When our second son was little, my husband and I swore he had hearing loss... ...He didn't. He had selective hearing and our shouts and occasional screams seemed to go unheard. I still have vivid memories of my six year old zooming by on his bike heading for the road.   I can recall with ease the image of  my boy pedaling his bike with determination.  He was leaning forward gripping the handle bars, head down like the mean-neighbor-lady f rom the Wizard of Oz.  (Can you hear the music?  You're humming it aren't you!) This little bike episode was not the only dangerous situations one of my children faced.  Throughout their young lives, I shouted my warning, "STOP!"  Sometimes they heard me and sometimes they didn't. I know of another parent who shouts His warnings.  Let's call him God the Father.  His words sound something like this... "I tried to warn her.  I gave her every opportunity.  Still, she acted like she didn't hear a word I