Miss Kay Robertson and her daughter-in-law Lisa have a passion for empowering their sisters in faith to discover their true voices, build genuine sisterhood, and live their strongest, happiest, most fulfilled lives–all centered around the only One who loves perfectly: Jesus. In their new book, Sister Roar, they encourage every woman who wants to find her voice, build community, and experience a fulfilling life. Ultimately, Miss Kay and Lisa’s desire is to share the life-changing love and mercy of Jesus. It’s a grace to welcome Lisa Robertson to the farm’s table today…

Guest Post by Lisa Robertson

For years, I hid behind the mask of a preacher’s wife. 

I knew if people really could see me, they wouldn’t like what was there. My life was a mess, but it was disguised as a “happy, yet busy mom and wife.”

Inside, I was always waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. Yet I was thirsting for something I just couldn’t put my hands on. I hungered for a deeper relationship with people that I could tell my secrets to. Yet, fearful that I would be exposed as the damaged goods I was. Always fearful that the lies on top of more lies would be revealed.

I was hungry.

The Bible talks about hunger a lot.

The hunger of the Israelites in the wilderness.
The hunger of the five thousand who sat down to listen to Jesus and then got fed.
The disciples who figured out where the best fish were, thanks to Jesus’ instruction.
The disciples eating with Jesus by a beachside campfire after his resurrection.

And God regularly reminds us to feed the hungry (Isaiah 58:10)

“Meeting someone’s need for food is a good thing. But the Bible also talks about a hunger that goes way down deep in the soul.”

I’ve witnessed my mother-in-law, Kay, doing this more times than I can count. It’s a talent and a calling and part of her unique calling – her unique roar.

Meeting someone’s need for food is a good thing. But the Bible also talks about a hunger that goes way down deep in the soul.

“He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things” (Psalm 107:9 esv).

My soul hungered, longed for something. I didn’t know what it was until I encountered Jesus. 

“Jesus fulfills the soul’s longings for God. He promises that only He Himself will satisfy.”

Jesus fulfills the soul’s longings for God. He promises that only He Himself will satisfy.

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35 esv). Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus imparted to us the Holy Spirit—so that we will never be without God, not even for a second!

The hunger I described was the same kind of hunger that haunted the woman Jesus encountered in John 4.

“Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee – through Samaria. As he traveled, he tired and sat down by a well, it was around noon when they took a break.” (John 4:1–6)

I’ve never been to the Middle East, but the noonday sun can be uncomfortably hot in Louisiana, so I imagine that when Jesus was at the well that day, it was pretty hot. So, why would a woman come to draw water then of all times? Maybe she was trying to avoid crowds that gathered there in the cool of the morning. Maybe she was hiding, hoping to avoid the whispers. Or it could be that she’d slept in. She might have had a late night. Scripture doesn’t tell us.

Jesus saw her there alone and asked her for a drink of water.

She was surprised for a couple of reasons. She was an unmarried woman, and it was inappropriate for them to converse.

Also, she was a Samaritan and he was a Jew. Samaritans and Jews didn’t get along. What’s more, Jesus was a teacher of the law—a rabbi—and a respected member of Jewish society. Any drink she might have given him would have been seen by his peers as “ceremonially unclean.”

She called him out on this.

“You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (vv. 9–10)

Can you imagine her confusion? They shouldn’t have been talking, and yet what he said intrigued her. And honestly, she got a little sassy about it.

“You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” (vv. 11–12)

Is it me or does it seem like she had her back up here? It’s as if she was asking, “Who do you think you are, mister?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

“I have no husband,” she replied. (vv. 13–17)

“It hurts to have to say something like this out loud. To confess something painful, hurtful, and yet a reality.”

I can relate to this. It hurts to have to say something like this out loud. To confess something painful, hurtful, and yet a reality. But Jesus was not surprised. He already knew this and more. Look at what he said next:

“You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” (v. 18)

Whoa. That must have been disconcerting. Yet Jesus had the facts straight. She’d been living in sin and getting in deeper and deeper, with no prospects, no future. That kind of clarity must have taken her breath away. Jesus had her attention. I love this part.

“A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” (vv. 23–26, emphasis added)

“She was the spokesperson to the whole town based on one conversation with Jesus.”

Can you imagine? “I, the one speaking . . . am he.” This is the biggest news ever, and she’s the first to know! The woman with the past, the woman with no prospects, the woman avoiding company.

She got so excited she stopped what she was doing and went back to town to tell everyone. She even forgot her water jar. Back in town, she told folks about Jesus. The very people she’d been avoiding, she was seeking.

“Come and see!” she said. She was the spokesperson to the whole town based on one conversation with Jesus.

Jesus knew this woman was hiding and yet that her heart desperately longed to be seen. Their brief conversation must have fed her. Can you imagine how seen she felt? To be spoken to with respect and hope and love? The result was nothing less than complete transformation.

Their meeting was not accidental. It was arranged by divine design. Jesus, on his way to deliver the gospel to the Jews, stopped and loved one woman, and a whole bunch of other people were saved as a result. Isn’t that beautiful?

“At her lowest point, she met Jesus and stepped into her purpose: to deliver the gospel.”

At her lowest point, she met Jesus and stepped into her purpose: to deliver the gospel. Jesus knew this woman better than she knew herself. That’s always true, isn’t it? He knows what we need before we know it. He has plans that would blow our minds if we knew them ahead of time!

Because of her eyewitness testimony, many were saved. She’d multiplied her own salvation by being willing to share her story. What an amazing roar!

Jesus extends the offer of his living water to us as he did to that woman at the well. Check out this verse in Revelation, meant for you and me.

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”
Everyone who hears this should say, “Come!”
If you are thirsty, come! If you want life-giving water,
come and take it! It’s free!”

(Revelation 22:17 cev)

In their new book, Sister Roar: Claim Your Authentic Voice, Embrace Real Freedom, and Discover True Sisterhood, Kay and Lisa Robertson encourage you to live your strongest, happiest, most fulfilled life centered around the only One who loves you perfectly: Jesus.

Through faith-filled, poignant, and sometimes hilarious stories about the sisterhood they’ve built with each other and with other women they’ve met on their journey, Kay and Lisa’s Scripture-infused message in Sister Roar emboldens you to embrace how God can transform your voice into the powerful tool it was meant to be.

A love letter to the sisterhood of believers around the world, Sister Roar reminds you beyond any doubt that you have a voice we need to hear. Set aside your loneliness, your mistakes, your disappointed expectations. Nothing can take away the voice God gave you!

[ Our humble thanks to Thomas Nelson for their partnership in today’s devotion. ]