Corella Roberts

Does parenting, leading, or teaching ever feel like a massive responsibility? It does for me, but Jesus is slowly reshaping how I view my role in it. Read Good News for Worn Out Shepherds here:

Good News for Worn Out Shepherds In my years as a missionary teacher, I’ve come to resonate deeply with the idea of shepherding. Me enthusiastically: Okay, everyone! It’s time to move! My kids/students/humans in general: *eating …

It's been more than a minute, but I just wrote a new blog post!
Have you ever had God reveal something unexpected about the state of your soul?

Free from the Terror of the Night - Corella Roberts When God uses nightmares and trees to reveal my hidden control of others and my output, I need to own these practices to be free from fear.

The phrase God dropped in my heart early this summer that I continue to meditate on is this: Jesus is better.

There is neither sorrow nor joy on earth that can compete with the love of Christ.

The apostle Paul, a man closely acquainted with both suffering and contentment, summed it up for us in Romans 8, and I’d like to offer my own paraphrase of verses 38-39:

Finally, I think I get it. Nothing that happens on this earth can shake me loose from Christ. He’s holding me whether I live or whether I die.
He’s far better than watching a sunset of fiery oranges and smoky pinks over the cascading jungle hills from the deck of an idyllic getaway spot with my husband.
He totally overshadows the heart-rending pain of sitting helplessly by a friend in the ICU as their kidneys fail and their body bloats and all they want is for me to sing them a song about Jesus.
There’s no earthly or spiritual authority higher than His. He’s the very King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Nothing that happens today, whether good or bad, and nothing that happens tomorrow, is outside of His perfect love for me.

You can have all this world with its tragedies and triumphs … just give me Jesus.

11 years ago this month we landed in Thailand as a family for the first time. Here I remember both the hard and the hospitality of those significant early days.

Are You Ready to Welcome New Missionaries . . . Again? Finally, on the last of four plane rides, after over thirty hours of sporadic naps during travel, our three-year-old slumped into a deep sleep. I would have rejoiced, except I knew we’d have to wak…

That’s a wrap for the 2024-25 school year! It was my first time teaching at the high school level, and I LOVED it. I closed out 10th grade Language Arts today with a blessing over them, but really they were a blessing to me. 💕

This year has had many special moments, and I haven’t shared many on socials, but here are just a few highlights:
- silly dress-up days
- Chanan becoming an Eagle Scout
- celebrating the graduation of a very special group of seniors
- and sending off dear friends who are called elsewhere for a year or more

I’m thankful for the memories, the challenges, and the opportunity to serve here again next year. Best school in the world!

I've been wrestling with the idea of contentment lately, and I'm not entirely sure I like the conclusion I've come to about how true contentment is developed. 😅 Please read my ponderings and share your thoughts! What is the "secret to contentment"?

The Surprising Secret of Contentment - Corella Roberts I yearn to know this recipe for happiness, this secret of contentment, don’t you? Drifting across glacial lakes or sunbathing on tropical sands are rarely accessible to me.

Is Someone Holding Out on You? I’ve discovered a strange kind of hypocrisy in my heart: I’m two-faced when it comes to money. For one person, I’ll choose a quality gift that should last; for another, I’ll rummage through second-…

In a season of days that have burned by like tissue paper touched by a match, I came into last weekend’s silent retreat exhausted and scattered. As this was my first attempt at a 24-hour stretch of intentional silence with others, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t even know what to ask God for. But as I slumped on the floor during a pre-silence time of worship, I felt one prayer arise from my depths:

“Oh God, I want to see you.”

The lone guitarist transitioned into a new song, and my chest tightened at the familiar lyrics:
Oh Lord, You’re beautiful
Your face is all I seek
And when Your eyes are on this child
Your grace abounds to me.

He’s called to me before with that simple yet profound invitation, “Seek My face,” but somewhere in the past month I’d looked away. Looked at my computer, my watch, my calendar, my lesson plans, but not at my Jesus. Here He was now, gently lifting my chin toward His face again. I melted into tears of wonder and gratitude and a cavernous yearning.

The next day, a friend dropped a torn paper in front of me with only a Bible reference – Mark 10:51.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

There it was again. The invitation to turn to him and cry out for sight. The Son of David ready to shower mercy on me. The eyes like flames of fire, almost daring me to gaze into the intensity of their holy love.

In the hours of silence and communion with God that followed, I didn’t have any visions of His glory, nor did I dream of His beautiful face. But I walked through my day with a distinct sense that Jesus was with me. The eyes of my heart could see Him, and my spirit reverberated with words of love from Him and to Him.

He restored my sight.
And I pray that He will do the same for you.
Only turn to Him and cry out.

I’m moved by this Valentines prayer by Pete Greig, so I want to offer it the you, as well. Whether it’s a day of joy or heartache for you, you’ll find yourself covered in his words:

A Prayer for Valentines Day — PeteGreig.info Tricky day Valentines. Obviously, if you're all loved-up - enjoy. Have fun! But if you've been secretly dreading today, well, here's a little prayer, poem thing...

I had fun writing this little piece as a remembrance of Y2K, but more than that it was good for my soul to reflect on the One who is solidly in control of all things.

25 Years After the End of the World Who remembers Y2K – that epic turn-of-the-millennium moment when all of the world’s computers crashed, power grids failed, and we had to live off of the five-gallon buckets of beans and rice stored…

A Christmas prayer from my heart to yours.