“Mondays With Beverly” Blog by Mrs. Hyles is Gone

Ecclesiastes 9:17, “The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.”

For those of you who have read my ministry blog for a length of time, you know that Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) is my hero of the Christian faith. I had the honor and privilege of attending and graduating from Hyles-Anderson College (1985-1993), which set the course for my life and ministry. I greatly miss Brother Hyles.

That being said, Mrs. Beverly Slaughter Hyles (1929-2017) started a blog in 2013 and wrote every Monday for a few years until she graduated to Heaven. Thankfully, I downloaded her entire blog and saved it, anticipating the day when it would likely disappear forever, and it now has. By God's grace I plan to continue her work, by reposting some of her blogs that are full of wisdom to benefit others.

Mrs. Hyles wrote the following words of wisdom on June 15, 2015. She didn't give titles to her weekly blogs. In this blog she writes about the necessity of experiencing tempest in our life in order to enjoy the calm when it eventually comes...

Happy Monday.

According to the weather reports for weeks, we are in a stormy season.

There are daily reports of tornadoes, thunderstorms, flooding, hail, and of all things, snow in places.

In Texas, May was the wettest month since records have been taken–over one hundred years.

But our long drought has ended!

And the upside of the storms is lush, green lawns, trees so beautiful, flowers blooming, and we are enjoying sunshine even more.

It seems like most of us have to go through the “dark” times to enjoy the “bright” days.

My husband said often, “He who knows no tempest knows no calm.” 

Perhaps you are in a tempest of your own today.

Psalm 107 describes such a time when the ships are out to sea.

God commands stormy winds that “mount up to heaven.”

The sailors are tossed and it says they come to their wits end. And then they cry to the Lord.

I love verse twenty nine–“He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.”

It seems to infer that only in desperation did they go to the Lord.

Isn’t that just like you and me?

We all love the results of storms. They do bring new life, freshness, and very often we see God’s signature promise–a rainbow.

Someone has wisely observed, “You want to see a rainbow? Then expect some rain.”

Years ago, during a stormy time in my life, I wrote these words.

It’s storming today, Lord.
I hear the raindrops on my roof,
Like falling tears on my window pane.
Will it ever stop, Lord?
The flowers are drooping from wetness
The trees have sagging leaves like coming death.

Is the sun still there, Lord?
I see only darkness filling my room
It invades my soul like deepest sorrow.

I see it, Lord–a rainbow!
It’s there, right there, and it bears your signature,
Your promise.
I’m persuaded, Lord, to commit
To you, once again the storm in my life
Knowing that you keep my safely in your hand.

Thank you, Lord,
The world has taken on fresh life.
A new song springs up from my heart
Like hope renewed.

–Beverly Hyles

I jotted down the quote that she shared from Brother Hyles: “He who knows no tempest knows no calm.” That is so true! You cannot be downstream until you've been upstream. Psalms 30:5, “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Mrs. Hyles is right that we have to go through the “dark” times to enjoy the “bright” days. No one can live on the mountaintop all the time. Most of the time we have to go through the valley beneath.

I am reminded of Dr. Hyles' beautiful sermon titled, “Imperfect People In Heaven,” in which sermon he teaches that we should continue the work of the saints now in Heaven. Mrs. Hyles spent several hundred hours preparing and writing her hundreds of blogs. She did it for Jesus Christ, to help and comfort and encourage others. Now that she is in Heaven and her blog is gone, I want to continue her work for Christ, for the benefit of others.

By God's grace, I have been doing the same thing for my long time ministry friend, Pastor Max D. Younce (1935-2023). I have been doing the same thing for Brother Hyles, Curtis Hutson (1934-1995), Harry Ironside (1876-1951), Hank Lindstrom (1940-2008), and other faithful free grace soulwinning preachers.

By God's grace, I am glad that I planned ahead by saving Mrs. Hyles' blogs. For many years now I have gotten into the habit of downloading, archiving and saving valuable internet resources, because things have a way of vanishing overnight. One day my own ministries will all be gone as well. That is why I encourage everyone to download my websites and blogs. One day the Lord will call me home and when the hosting plan expires, so will all my websites. That is why I made my stand alone blogs in recent years, which won't expire.

Kindly said, I wish that Mrs. Hyles had made a free blog, so that her articles would be preserved for the next generation. Her website expired after she went to Heaven. God willing I will turn 60 years old on March 5th, 2027. Wow, where have the years gone! I read something funny last week on the Banjo Hangout: “Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end the faster it goes.” Crude but very true! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Everyone has my permission to download anything from all my ministry blogs and websites, and use it freely for your own websites, books, blogs, social media, et cetera. I love sharing freely with others. No credit need be given to me; God knows my labors. I just want the truth to get out. I want to be a blessing for Christ. To God alone be all the praise, credit and glory (John 15:5).

Here is some more of Mrs. Hyles' wisdom. This blog was posted on April 27th, 2015...

We have been having spring storms recently. Maybe you have also.

But as the saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers.”

Do the stormy times in life work that way? It seems I am learning each day of tests and trials in friends’ lives. Loss of a spouse, death of a child, illnesses, brain cancer, and on and on.

I guess it makes us think of that age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Oscar Wilde said this, “What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.”

That is not easy to think about when the “storm” is raging around you. Instead we like to ask, “Can this go away?”

I thought of the old, familiar story of the woman who complained, “God, you have given me too big of a cross. May I exchange it for a smaller one?”

She was taken to a room where everyone’s cross lay.

She tried several.

Some were too tall, another too heavy, one too rough.

She found a small, insignificant cross, just the perfect weight, which she knew was the best choice for her.

When God saw her carrying it, He said, “That’s the cross you carried in.”

The lesson being, everyone has personal trials and tests…Remember, they are made just for you.

Victor Hugo stated, “Sorrow is a fruit. God does not make it grow on limbs too weak to bear it.”

There was quite a storm here last night, lightening, strong rains, and wind. Today, in the bright sunshine, the grass is greener, the trees beautiful. Truly, as my husband would say, “I saw God wash the world last night,” and it is a spectacular day!

In the little book of Nahum, chapter one, verse three, it says, “The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” A few verses later it says, “He is a strong hold in the day of trouble.”

Can we trust that He has His way in our storms? Yes!

A good thing to always remember is that there has never been a storm that didn’t end!

“May God give you–
for every storm a rainbow,
for every tear, a smile,
for every care, a promise,
and a blessing in each trial.”
–Irish proverb

Dr. Hyles said in a sermon, “Life is a veil of tears.” It sure is dear friend, it sure is. I enjoy reading the biographies of people, famous and non-famous alike. Today I was reading about Hollywood actor John Cazale (1935-1978). John starred in the movies: The Godfather, The Godfather 2, The Deer Hunter, et cetera. He was a chain smoker which took his life ate only age 42 from lung cancer. So sad.

The studio refused to allow John to play a role in The Deer Hunter when they learned that he was dying, because the insurance cost was very high. Actor Meryl Streep (14 years younger) had been dating John for two years from 1976 until his death in 1978. Miss Streep revealed decades later that Robert DeNiro had paid for John's insurance, refusing to be in the film unless the studio included John in it too. That's a true friend!

“What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.” —Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

I couldn't find out what John's religious beliefs were. I don't know where he went in the afterlife. While playing his role in the 1978 film, The Deer Hunter, John and all his co-stars knew that he was dying of lung cancer. That must have felt surreal to all of them. Life is so short.

I want to share one more blog by Mrs. Hyles from April 20th, 2015, which I enjoyed reading...

Happy Monday.

Last weekend, I had a rare privilege of taking a road trip to Arkansas with some of my family. It’s a perfect time of year, because the wild flowers were in bloom.

There were fields of blue bonnets, some Indian paint brush, and fields of breathtakingly beautiful yellow flowers, (they were not dandelions) but I haven’t found what they are—just a delight to the eyes.

I’m still relishing the beauty and appreciating the fact that they would be considered “lilies of the field,” totally at the mercy of God’s hand. He waters them with the rain, gives the sun they need, and all they do is just bloom!

Jesus told us to “consider the lilies,” to take a lesson in knowing that God is the husbandman who knows our needs in every season of life, and cares.

I could not help but think of one of our former president’s wife, Lady Bird Johnson, wife of Lyndon B. Johnson.

During their tenure in the White House, one of her projects was beautifying the landscape of our country with flowers.

Since she was a Texan, she saw to it that blue bonnets, the state flower, would be planted prolifically in Texas and nearby areas.

Though her death was in 2007, her legacy lives on in the enjoyment so many have while posing for pictures among the blooms or just taking it in with our eyes.

The fact is each one of us will leave something of ourselves to those who follow.

Ecclesiastes 1:4 says, “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh.”

I happen to be among those who followed what has been called “the greatest generation.” They were great and we owe a debt to pass it on.

Perhaps we should pause and ask, “What will I leave that will bring meaning, hope, and even beauty?

In his song, Jon Mohr puts it so succinctly:

“Find Us Faithful”

“After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone,
And our children sift through all we’ve left behind,
May the clues that they discover
And the mem’ries they uncover
Become the light that leads them
To the road we each must find.”

Chorus:

“O may all who come behind us find us faithful;
May the fire of our devotion light their way.
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey.
O may all who come behind us find us faithful.”

We may not leave anything as spectacular as fields of flowers. But we can be faithful.

I like that Bible passage from Ecclesiastes 1:4 says, “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh.” My mother's Mom went to Heaven in 1977 at age 77. She was born in 1900. My Mom and Dad are gone onto Heaven to be with the good Lord. It's my turn next. I am now living in the third and final act of my life.

To be honest, I'm ready to go! I suffer every day with burning neck pain, burning nerves throughout my upper body, the entire right side of my body feeling half asleep, I only have half the pain medications I require due to doctors being afraid of the government, and being lonely without a wife, et cetera. I feel the same as Paul in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” I just want to go home to Heaven, but until that blessed time comes I am going to continue preaching THE TRUTH.

God is faithful (1st Corinthians 1:9).