About Soul Refreshers

Hi! I’m glad you’re here. Are you, like many of us, in need of some refreshment? Something more than a glass of iced tea on a hot day? More than a day or even a week of vacation? In this chaotic, tension-filled time, we long for refreshment deep within our souls.

If refreshment for your soul is something you’re longing for, I’d like to point you to the “living water,” (John 4:10), the “water in the wilderness,” “streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:20). In other words, to God’s Word, the Bible. Psalm 19:7 tells us that “the law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.”

Soul Refreshers is here to help bring refreshment to your soul. Knowing that true refreshment for our souls can only come from our creator, Soul Refreshers will once a week give you a look at a passage from His Word.

Why just once-a-week refreshment and not once a day? Because it is my most sincere desire that you begin to study the Bible on your own and let God refresh you directly instead of using me as a conduit. To that end, each Sunday Soul Refreshers will give you a start looking into a specific Bible passage. Then, at the end of each post, you’ll find “Soul Refreshers for your Week,” ideas to take you deeper into your understanding and application of that passage: other verses to study, suggestions for prayer, things to do… These will give you a chance to on your own look deeper into God’s Word throughout the rest of the week. Rely on prayer and on guidance of the Holy Spirit, God’s gift to every believer.

Ready to dive into that refreshing Word? Let’s get started.

About Me, Lisa Roettger

As someone brought up in a mainline denomination, I had a surface acquaintance with the Bible. I even had my own black, leather-bound Bible, given to me at confirmation. But it wasn’t until I was at college that I was introduced to its author. I was invited on a date by a British exchange student; he took me to—drumroll—an evangelistic rally. (True story.) In the weeks after, I learned more about what it really meant to be a Christian, that it was more than attending church; it was an entirely new life. And, when I was confronted with the words “Not to decide for Christ is really to decide against him,” I chose to be for him. (Check out Luke 11:23.)

That took me to Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), to group Bible studies, and to the idea of daily time in the Word. Don’t get me wrong; it was a looong time before I was anywhere near a daily time—and I still miss some days. But to me it was a weekend IVCF that most led to my lifelong spiritual growth and maybe even to my future career. Through a simple exercise covering ten verses, I came to see just how much there is in the Bible.

That in-depth look at the Word led me to a deeper love of the Word. I was blessed to marry a man who also loved God and His Word. Together we attended Moody Bible Institute’s Advanced Studies Program, joined Wycliffe Bible Translators, and went to Africa to translate God’s Word for a language group that didn’t yet have access to it.

It’s been my privilege and pleasure to lead Bible studies in Sudan, Nigeria, and in many of the states where God led us. I love the joy of not just facilitating studies, but also teaching people how to study the Bible on their own. At the end of one study series, a woman came to me in tears: “I’ve been in church my whole life, and no one has ever before taught me to study the Bible. Thank you.” That simple statement floored me. My training had come from Inter-Varsity, and from the reading of many great books on studying God’s Word. But in the adult Sunday school classes I’d attended, we’d talked about finances and marriage and parenting and…

So that leads us here. That encounter led to the idea of a book and then to a website and this blog: Soul Refreshers. If I can share with you the excitement—and the challenges—of studying God’s Word through our weekly times together and, along the way, give you some tools to help you learn from the Bible, I will be thankful and, I pray, you will be blessed and God will be glorified.