Beverly Joy Roberts

I hate shopping with indecisive friends.  They can't seem to make a decision about what to buy, and they keep looking and looking and looking.  They refuse to settle for less than what they want.     Once I went shopping with a friend who was looking for shoes.  It was unbearable.  After two hours, we left the mall without shoes.   My favorite pair of shoes are from a garage sale for .50 cents.  I love those shoes.   Some people are unwilling to settle for anything except exactly what they are looking for, or in other words—they won’t compromise.   I’ve compromised plenty in life.  I shop at secondhand stores, dumpster dive, Craigslist, Marketplace and on garbage day I'm super excited at the thought of finding some free trash at the curb that I can repurpose.  After I haul the broken thing from someone's garbage home, two weeks later, it's back out to the road because--IT WAS TRASH!  Of course, I would rather have new and perfect, but I’ve learne

In June of 2000, we bought the house that we live in now.  Once the ink was dry on the dotted line, we took possession of our property.  It felt good to walk into our home all those years ago, knowing it was ours.  I can still remember unpacking dishes, putting them away and saying, "I don't ever want to do this again."   At that time, we had moved, I'm estimating, over 20 times.  These moves took us places like Florida, Boston, North Dakota, Missouri, and different locations in Michigan on the westside, eastside, south, and north.   That number doesn't even count the moves we made during our seven years in the Philippines. Now, the very thought of packing up a house and moving actually sends a lightning bolt of fear coursing through my veins.  Over the past 20-years, we have discussed downsizing, but nothing ever materialized from the many discussions except the inner panic I felt at the very thought of it. In Joshua 1:11, the children of

A week ago, my three-year-old grandson along with his three older siblings stayed with us for 7-days.  Our normally quiet house was transformed to accommodate four more little humans with various needs and temperaments.   It was a full house with plenty of action, bursts of noise, sounds of laughter and sometimes there were tears. Even though it's been over a week since they left, I  can still hear my youngest grandson calling, "Grandma, where are you?"   There were times, while he was here that I left the room he was playing in to put a load of laundry in the washer/dryer or step into the garage to get something out of the freezer for dinner.    Almost, every time I was out of his sight, I heard his sweet voice calling out to me, "Grandma, where are you?"   My response would inevitably be, "I'm right here."   And with those words, I would quickly come to his side.  Once he saw me, his face would form a sweet smile and he would go ba

Have you ever heard a child pray?     The words of their prayers are so precious and sincere.  Nothing about a child's prayer is showy or flowery in speech.  Their prayers simply state their need and believe the request has been heard by a person they trust.   A child will pray with equal faith no matter if a friend has a boo-boo or the food needs blessing.   A child believes they can ask whatever they have need of, and God will hear their prayer.  Maybe that’s why Jesus told us that we should be as little children. In the Bible, from cover to cover we find many kinds of prayers for numerous situations.   The Lord's Prayer in the Gospels is a teaching prayer.  Jesus said, pray in this way,  “Our Father, which art in Heaven…” The prayer of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4 is a prayer of faith.  He prayed, “…Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!...” David prayed in Psalms 51 from a heart of repentance, “Have mercy on me oh God according to your unfail

I've always found the whole birth order thing interesting.  The 1 st  born who are traditionally the “rule followers” and the 2 nd  born who are the “fun-loving social butterfly types.”  Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule just an observation on a percentage basis, I presume.   You know, there is something to be said about the “rule follower.”  After all, Jesus was a firstborn...and a “rule follower” too.  When I think of rules, I think order, smooth sailing and a peaceful existence.  If everyone would follow the rules life would be so good. God set up rules from the beginning.  Adam and Eve had one rule—ONE and they broke it. God gave Moses the 10-commandments.  Ten rules and in his anger, he cast the tablets down and broke them all. In the Bible, when I think of rules, the book that comes to my mind is Leviticus.  This book is jampacked full of rules for things no one would ever guess a rule was even needed for, but none the less—the rules are rec