Beverly Joy Roberts

Many years ago, when my children were young, I remember standing in the swimming pool with my arms extended trying to coax my frighten child to jump into my waiting arms.   Throughout the years, this scenario played out with each of my children, as they stood on the side of the pool contemplating whether they would trust me.  I can still hear myself trying to gain their confidence as I spoke reassuringly, “I will catch you. I won't let you fall.  You won't go under. Trust me."   Some children need more assurance than others as they tremble at the edge of the pool mulling over the idea to trust or walk away.  Eventually, most children will take the leap into their parent's waiting arms choosing to trust even when they don't fully understand how the whole thing is going to play out.  In our relationship with the Lord, we can be like that scared child on the edge of the pool.  The Lord is staying,  "Trust Me in this situation!  Even thoug

I keep looking out my kitchen window at the grass in my front yard.  It's been more than a week since I last mowed, and even though it has rained a bit off and on, I'm not seeing any growth. In the dry season, we expect growth to come to a screeching halt, but why hasn't my grass started to grow with the little bit of rain we've had the past few days?   I've had dry seasons in my spiritual life like this.  Where it seems everything is fine, but I'm really just going through the motions.  When this happens, I can inevitable look back and see that the busyness of life has come in and dried up my times of spiritual refreshing like a scorching, hot sun.   Sure, I go to church on Sunday.  I teach my preschool class on Wednesday nights.   I pray with people here and there, but my spiritual ground has grown dry and the little bit of spiritual rain I may be getting isn't enough to sustain continued spiritual growth in my life.   Nature tells me t

When I was a teenager, I loved to write little quotes in my Bible.  Every blank page was filled with my youthful collection of meaningful nuggets, sermon notes or memorable poems. In the many years since my youth, I have often wished I could read some of those poems and quotes that are fading from my memory.  Every once in a while, these little gems will surface and make for a perfect illustration.      There is one of these quotes that I've been pondering a lot of late, I first jotted it down over forty-five years ago in my Bible.  This is the way that I remembered it:  “A cup full of sweet water no matter how violently shaken can only spill out--sweet water.”  Jesus said it another way, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” I can recall a little too quickly, a few times in my life when the water that spilled out of my cup was anything but sweet.  Still, I am ever thankful for the gentle working of the Holy Spirit in my life.  He gently reminds me

 A h aircuts can be an amazing confidence booster or an epic fail! I love going to the salon.  It's my chance to sit back and enjoy a moment of pampering.  However, there is one thing that is always daunting for the person in the chair.  Recently, I strolled into the hair salon, I was feeling pretty good about myself.  I had applied my makeup to perfection, and I was soaring high at the thought of a new hairstyle, until I sat in that chair. The stylist draped my body with a black shawl and positioned me directly in front of the mirror.  On three sides, the mirror was framed with intrusive, glaring-- lying lightbulbs.  I glanced up at the ceiling and shielded my eyes from the huge fluorescent light.  That overhead light, along with the lights on the mirror, were not being kind to my aging face. Looking back at me from the brightly illuminated mirror was a ghostly white person with no visible signs of one bit of makeup.  Let me add that the person in the mirro