Beverly Joy Roberts

Young children have a way of speaking truth.  Life hasn't turned them callus or made them self-conscious.  They just let it fly.  Sometimes, parents can be mortified by the truth of a child's words, and other times, it can become a devotional like today.      I recently took a trip to visit my grandchildren out of state.  The youngest one who just turned seven said some funny stuff while I was there.  One day, when I rode along in the car to pick this grandson up from school, he got in the car and closed the door behind him.  Then he blurted out, "It smells like Grandma in here." I laughed and asked, "Is that a good smell or a bad smell?" He replied, "It's a grandma smell." My son quickly tried to smooth things over when he said, “I think he's talking about your perfume, Mom." Humm?  I decided not to press the subject.   The scripture says that our praise is like a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God, but when

I have tendencies towards being territorial.  It's a reality that requires my constant attention--always.  I laughed the first time I heard this saying, what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine .  Yet, in all seriousness, my heart thought...me likey!  Most people are a bit territorial whether it's money, possessions, time, relationships, even opinions.       A few years ago, two of my grandchildren spent a day with me. (actual photo) They were playing together in a very small sandbox in my backyard.  A few territorial disputes required my intervention during their playtime.   Finally, this peacemaker had had enough, so I drew a line from one corner of the sand box to the other and gave them instructions not to crossover into the other person's territory.   (I love the expressions on their faces in the photo.  Priceless.) At first, my sweet little grand-babies sat frozen on their separate sides of the sandbox.  They were mesmerized by the line that div

I am notorious for  not  following the directions.  I often look at a recipe more like a list of suggestions for my consideration.  I am always looking for short cuts and substitutions in all my cooking recipes.  And yes, there have been some disastrous cooking fails in my lifetime that have come from cutting the corners.  The one pictured is not one of mine, but it could have been. In the past, I’ve said the following: "I'm not stirring this pudding continually for twenty minutes.  Who does that?" "I don't think the butter needs to be cold.  Who wants to work with cold butter?"   "The dough needs to be chilled?  I don't think so..." Usually, as I'm scrapping my epic fails into the garbage disposal, I wonder what might have happened if I'd just followed the directions step by step.   Directions are meant to be followed, after all, someone who came before me perfected the recipe through trial and error.  In Roman

29-years ago, a church in Grand Blanc, Michigan prayed for a young missionary family in the Philippines.   The attached photo shows the front and back of the bulletin from New Life Christian Fellowship on April 2,1989 .   On that date, my husband and I along with our three children were living on an island in the central part of the Philippines.   We were that missionary couple that New Life prayed for all those years ago.    It's almost humorous that when this congregation was praying for us, little did any of us know that those prayers were for their future pastor.  My husband's first Sunday serving the congregation of New Life in Grand Blanc, Michigan was July 8, 2000, nearly 18 years ago. The burden to pray for someone at a certain time in a certain place is no coincidence.  When the Lord directs us to pray, we don't always know the full ramifications of our prayers.  We simply pray and invite the Lord to have His way.   Many years ago, my husband and I began pray