Beverly Joy Roberts

Many years ago, a very excited friend gave me a carton of plastic eggs and told me that the eggs were called Resurrection Eggs.    She told me that my preschool kids would love these for Easter.    I opened the carton and looked at the unimpressive, colored eggs then closed the lid without further examination.  I stuck the carton away in my supply cupboard and forgot all about them for many years. Then one day, I decided to take a closer look at the Resurrection Eggs .  I opened the carton and read the little paper that was enclosed with the eggs.  I  peeked inside each numbered egg and quickly realized what a treasure these eggs would be in helping young children understand the Easter Story. The next Wednesday night, I used the  Resurrection Eggs for the first time.   I let the children come up and select an egg from the carton and instructed them not to open their egg until their number was called.  Each child held their plastic egg like something magical was inside.  

It was more than a year ago that I planned a one-month vacation to Florida.   I’d never been on a vacation for this long in my entire life.   In the planning of this escape, I searched the internet for the best location to stay with the best price.   I landed on a sweet little condo in a tropical resort community southwest of Orlando.   Thus, I began to make plans for this extended holiday. What attractions would we visit? What special local restaurants would we find to eat out at?  What items would we need to bring with us to make our trip more comfortable?     The curious thing about making plans for the future is… we don’t know what the future holds. I didn’t know that three weeks before our trip my husband would have a 7-hour surgery to repair 5-hernias and this vacation would give him the restful time he needed to fully recover.   I didn’t know that my daughter’s family would be moving to Florida and I’d be able to spend time with them, see their new ho

Front of picture Back of picture Years ago, I decided to take up the hobby of cross stitch.  I found it very satisfying to create something beautiful from a blank piece of fabric.  During those years, I made some wonderful pieces of artwork.  Some I kept, and some I gave away.  One very special cross stitch picture I did was of my daughter when she was 10 years old.  As the picture began to take form, I was more surprised than anyone that it was a perfect likeness of the photo I used to made the pattern.  At least the front of the picture was.  The back was a mess of treads and knots. When I compare the front of this picture against the back, it reminds me of the life of an Old Testament Bible character.  Her life was definitely a knotted up mess.  She had a lot going against her and some of the mess wasn't even her fault.  After all, she was forced to marry a man who didn't love her.  A woman in those days would have found it nearly impossible to disagree wi

A few summers ago, I bought the grandkids a little plastic bow and arrow set.  It was cute to  watched the little ones pull back the string on the bow and try to balance the arrow in their tiny hands.  In the learning process, there were lots of arrows that fell to the ground before one took flight.   I probably should have led with this--the tips of the arrows had suction cups.  There were no children hurt in the making of this illustration.   As I watched numerous grandchildren take a turn at archery, each one had to pull back the string to propel the arrow forward.  To the casual onlooker, the string of the bow being drawn backwards might look like a setback.  But the backward motion is what gives the arrow the ability to soar.   Paul the apostle faced setbacks in his life.  Some may have though he was out of God's will or that he had made a mistake.  People may have thought that Paul wasn't hearing from God.  Paul certainly felt the tug of the bow string when he