Beverly Joy Roberts

  I don’t think anyone has ever said, “Lucky you.  You’re on a diet.  Wish it were me.” Nothing is exciting about being on a diet.     It's neverending and hard work to resist unhealthy foods. In one more day, we will be entering a new year, many people in the United States will be considering lifestyle or spiritual changes in their life.  Maybe you've made the decision to exercise more, read the Bible through, make a greater effort to pray, or maybe drop a few of those extra holiday pounds. When it comes to resisting holiday treats, I freely admit, this year, I struggled.  I didn’t do well walking away from the Christmas cookies, candy, chips, or second helpings.   I should have done better.  I knew better.  I could have resisted, but I choose not to, and now I'm paying the price.     When it comes to struggling with the strength to resist, no one did it worse or better than Peter.   You could say he was two different people.   He was the disciple before the crucifixion th

I want to run and hide when someone says, "Have you heard this joke?" If the joke is at all complicated, the humor will be lost on me.   Then I'll have to fake laugh to not hurt the person's feelings. There's a phrase that comes to mind when this happens.  It's " left in the dark ."  When I'm the one   left in the dark , it's not fun and especially not when those who may try to explain something to me are a little bit condescending.  You know who you are! It's interesting that only a few days before Christmas, in our area, it's the darkest day of the year.  But Christmas is coming, and with it comes the light.  In John 1:4-5, this verse says... In Him was life, and the life was  the light of men .  And the light shines in the darkness ,  and the darkness did not comprehend it.  Every Christmas, the whole world celebrates the birth of Jesus, the   light of man   that came into the world.  All humanity does not look at this day as a cel

"And how did that make you feel?"   This is a question our friends who are Christian counselors often ask.  We tease our counselor friends that they fill their time with clients answering a question with a question.     "And how did that make you feel?"   I know when I'm asked that question, I could talk for an hour non-stop.   In the book of James, the author uses the trick of the counselor when he asks these questions.  What causes fights and quarrels among you?  Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?   (James 4:1) James could have sat back after those two questions and got an ear full. These questions which begin the chapter of James 4 are actually connected to the meaning found in chapter 3.   James continued a single thought from chapter 3 comparing the results of living by the wisdom of heaven versus living by the wisdom of the world. Worldly wisdom tells us that to be happy we should identify what we want and then go after it at all cos

  In July of 2020, my son's family moved into our home due to being displaced from Covid.  Within moments of their arrival, my then three-year-old grandson was relentless in asking me to play with him.  Every time he saw me he'd say, "Grandma, will you play with me?"   I'm not kidding.  He'd ask 10-20 times in a matter of a few hours. A few weeks into this madness, I decided to set some boundaries for my own sanity.   I decided four times a week after dinner we'd play for 30 minutes the game or activity of his choosing.  Then before we started to play, I'd speak into my Apple Watch and say, "Set timer for 30-minutes." The setting the timer action had gone on for months, then out of the blue the other day, this funny little boy looked at me, put his wrist to his mouth, and spoke these words, "Set timer for 30-minutes." I couldn't stop laughing.  Don't ever think the people in your life aren't watching you.   In Hebrews 13

I'd like to believe every time a person has the courage to tell someone they are sorry, that the other person will be humble, merciful, and forgiving.   But that's not always the way the, "I'm sorry," happens.    When a sorry is coming, sometimes it’s good, if a little groundwork is laid beforehand.    At least that’s what Paul did in the book of Philemon.    He prepared the ground for Onesimus to seek forgiveness.    The New Testament book of Philemon is a small, one-chapter book made up of 22 verses.  This book tells the story of a wealthy landowner named, Philemon and his runaway slave, Onesimus.   In those days, the Roman Empire had given slave owners the power to put their runaway slaves to death.   Paul's letter to Philemon paves the way for the runaway slave, Onesimus to return to his master to make things right. There are three main characters in this story.   ·        Paul, the writer of the letter. ·        Philemon, the one who was wronged. ·       

   I get coupons in the mail and at the store all the time.  These coupons are for food items or things as large as furniture.  Whenever I get a coupon, I look them over and make a decision to redeem them, save them for later or toss them in the garbage. It doesn’t matter to me that the coupon has value.      If I don’t want that item, the coupon isn’t remotely enticing to me.      On the other hand, I hate it when I save a coupon, and then I forget about it buried in my purse somewhere and find out later that it’s expired.   I missed out on something of value that I wanted or needed.   There is a small verse, in a small book, in the New Testament that sorta reminds me of a  “spiritual coupon.”   In Titus 2:11, the ESV says this,    For the grace of God has appeared,  bringing salvation for all people.   If this verse came in the form of a  “spiritual coupon”  it might say something like this,    ·        Available for centuries.  ·        Expires at death or the Rapture. ·        When

I'm all about getting what I deserve.  Let me clarify that…if what I deserve is AWESOME!  But, if what I deserve isn't so wonderful, I'll take a hard pass on that. There’s something about that word deserve .  It can depict a reward worthy of something good...or bad.  When I think of deserving, my mind usually goes to the good, not the bad.   "Hey, wait a minute.  I deserve ice cream too." When I was a child...you know this isn't going anywhere good.  I may have rightfully deserved discipline on, let's say, many occasions.  There were five children in my family.  We rushed on the scene in less than 7 years.  I was number four in the birth order but held first place in naughtiness.    I could go on and on here listing all my childhood infractions, but they are probably nothing new to your own childhood misbehavior.   If, you also skipped school in the 1st grade and spent the afternoon alone at the park--multiple times.  Or at the age of nine, you took a blac

You know, sometimes there are people we don't really jive with.   Maybe they are a bit irritating, or they don't follow social boundaries.  Maybe they never learned the art of listening without sharing a one-upper.    And by this I mean, if you had a flat tire on the way to work, they had all their tires slashed once at the mall.  You know that person. You don't want to be unkind, but really, those people will never have a place in your inner circle.   Right?   You'll be kind.  You'll be polite, but they will never be the one you invite over to watch a Hallmark movie, go out for lunch, or go on a girl's weekend out. In 1 Timothy  2:1-2, from the NLT we are given a pass on having to include the people I mentioned above in our inner circle.  You know, the ones who are disagreeable, ornery, or can't seem to ever live up to our high standards.    Well, guess what?  You don't have to go out to dinner with them or spend the weekend doing puzzles in front of a

Not everyone wants to follow directions.   There have been times I have ignored directions or fought against them.   Maybe some of these will sound familiar to you as well.     ·        Tossing the written directions aside when putting a toy together on Christmas Eve ·        Ignoring the directions on a recipe ·        Discounting someone’s overbearing step-by-step directions, when you are the one cleaning up the mess.  "Do it like this.  Do it like that." ·       The over-complicated math directions, when you can get the answer way faster doing it on your own.  ·        **And what about when you are the driver and the directions are flying at you from the passenger seat and if you show any weakness the back seat will pipe in too.   ** Disclaimer:   When I'm in the passenger seat or back seat I have an excellent view of everything and my directions should be listened to.   When directions are given, something can rises up in the one receiving the directions and resist.