Sunday

I Love Salvation - It's God's Love #17


This is just a simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.









I Love

Salvation

because

it is

the outpouring of God's Love,

Mercy and Grace on me

even though I did not deserve it


but I was free to reach out

and receive it

and say

"Forgive me Lord"







Even if we had never 

loved God

He still had sent Jesus

to pay our ransom.










If you want to know more about Salvation you might want to have a look at this video

















Wednesday

I Love Marriage - A Dose of Encouragement


Well I definitely have to say that

I agree with Marriage as God defined it.







Not only because that is the marriage that I undertook all those many years ago but also because I know that God only has what's best for us and so Marriage as He defined it is what is best for me and for everyone else He created.


I would tell anyone that I love my marriage and that I love the institution of marriage.





I have experienced marriage and what it has meant in my life.

I am not saying here that being married is better than being single. What I am saying is that my life would be different if I was not married as I see what God has done in my life through my marriage and it was the way He wanted to work in me.

God created marriage so it is a good thing, not always perfect because we are not perfect, but it is a good thing.

There is a great bond between two people in a marriage but also a bond between those two people and God.

I believe that Marriage can be an example of the security, hope and promise God has appointed for our eternal future with Him.

I Love the fact that God cares about all the ways we feel in relationships and He created marriage to be the true proper foundation for our romantic relationship.

I also believe the Bible is God's Word and it is truth so I agree with



























Many people will quote the first verse above in Colossians about the wives and forget about the others, simply because they want to pick on how women are to be treated and complain that it is not right for this day and age.

Then others will quote the first two in Colossians and say it is a two-sided thing submitting and ruling over.

Then others will bring in  Ephesians 5 v 25 where we have the advice to consider Christ and the church which is great because we see that unconditional love exemplified for us.

But how many will bring all of these verses into the equation?

All are wise and helpful to us but surely it is only when we take them all together plus the context of the passages surrounding them that we truly get the best marital advice. 




My husband also believes in Marriage as God intended it to be 

and in the three sets of verses quoted above 

and I am thankful for that because if he didn't 

then our marriage would have been very different.







You may enjoy some more Encouragement Posts at Sandra's Ark

















Sunday

I Love the Name of Jesus - It's God's Love #16


This is just a simple, short post each week

consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.








I Love

the Name of Jesus


because


His Name
 is the
most powerful name.


His Name 
is the
most beautiful name.







His Name 
is greater 
than any other name.


His Name 
is the only name 
we can call on for Salvation.








God 

loves us

so much that He gave us

Eternal Life through Jesus.







Do you have this Life through Jesus?Have you called on the Name of Jesus to be saved?If not, you can do so today.











You can call on the Name of the Lord Jesus whenever you can call on no other.

He will never turn you away.














Wednesday

I Love my Husband - A Dose of Encouragement


and indeed I do love my husband

and I could list a whole string of reasons why I love him

but that's not what I'm going to do today.







I have seen lots of books and blog posts written about how to have a better relationship with your husband  and how to love him and there is a wealth of information out there for people who need to see ideas as to how to get back that love they feel has dimmed but I'm not thinking in that way today.


I'm just thinking of how I am so thankful to God that I still love Fred and he still loves me no matter what or who may have tried to make a difference in that situation throughout our many many many years of marriage and the 4 years of boyfriend/girlfriend.


I'm thinking about the times when I look at him leading worship in church and just think "I love that man", or the times I see him helping someone with something and I think "I love that man" or when he is smiling in a conversation with a friend, or lying sleeping, or sitting reading, or playing the guitar (with his guitar stare) or when he has on that comical smile as he teases me, or when he walks into the house from a work trip abroad or when he wears a suit. 


Yes you were probably sitting there following those times I was talking about and sort of understanding but when I got to that last one you probably went  



"What???"


Well I have always loved to see Fred in a suit and I still get a special happy loving feeling when I see him in a suit.  I have also had many opportunities to feel like that because Fred mostly wears a suit to church and often has to wear one for work.

So hasn't God been good to me giving Fred a love for church and a specific job that means I get to see him in a suit lots of times?






I could go back to my list but I don't need to, I think you probably know that I simply mean that there is just that contented happy knowledge that we love each other.


So what do I do when I feel like that?


When he arrives home from a work trip I can hug and kiss him and talk about his trip and everything that has been going on at home and just spend a lot of time with him.

Similarly when he has that comical smile on his face.






When he's reading I can sit down beside him and tell him I love him.

When he's sleeping I can also tell him but he doesn't hear because I'll whisper and not wake him.

When he's helping someone or talking to someone else I'll just catch his eye and smile at him.

When he's leading worship I thank God for him - well it's not really appropriate to run up and give him a hug or a kiss is it?


Today I'm simply writing about that love we have which gives us the security in our relationship together.


The love that hasn't dimmed but it could dim if we let it.


That love which sometimes can be thrown out the window when there is a disagreement - but it shouldn't.


That love which sometimes can be forgotten about when we have to be apart often - but it mustn't.


That love which sometimes people just look on as a kind of contentment but instead it is the deep love which is cultivated by always remembering to share those feelings no matter how insignificant they may seem because they are not insignificant - Love is never insignificant.







Next time you feel "I love that man"  make sure you tell him at the FIRST suitable opportunity. 


Even if it is only in a whisper.










Sunday

I Love God - It's God's Love #15


This is just a simple, short post each week

consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.









 I Love God



Why?


because

He loves me







because

He created me,


because

He is truth,


because

He is the 
LORD
  the Most High God



But 

God demonstrates His Love for us in this:




God 

loves us

even though we are not worthy of His Love.



God loves us 
so much
that He sent Jesus to the Cross 
for us.








Do you believe this?

Have you responded to this offering of Love?

If not then the offer still stands - will you accept the sacrifice Christ made for you?











Friday

How to Make an Attendance / Chores Wall Hanging


Here is a simple tutorial for making an

                      Attendance / Chores Wall Hanging 

for your Sunday School class or a small Children's Church, which will cost very little to make.


It has been made so that it can be reusable by changing the simple decorating feature.


It can also be easily adapted to suit a Home Chores Chart







PLANNING



I got out my card table and some card and a ruler and pencil to brainstorm the first day.





I wanted something that the children could actively take part in each week as an attendance incentive and this is what I can up with.





Some form of card or light wood for the Header, ribbons representing each week hanging down in sections of the 4 months up to Christmas.

As you can see I sort of drew part of it out and then wrote down my ideas.

But as you will see later - I modified it!




PREPARATION



If you are like me you will have various leftover crafting embellishments from other projects so you can hunt them out to help with this one.






I got a sheet of A3 coloured card.
There was no choice of colour as it was the last sheet in that size.
(Just hoped the boys would not object)


Then I folded it in 3 lengthwise but with one end section slightly narrower than the other two.


Next it was off to the computer







and I used a nice thick Alpha from my digital scrapbooking files to use for the font of the Header and this was printed on to a white A4 Card.


I made 3 because I only needed the header to be less than a third of the width of an A4 card and thought I wouldn't waste the rest of the card and I would have two headers for future use.


Then I got out my embellishments





All three containers.






Next I got out the container with the odd pieces of ribbon.






I didn't need all the pieces of ribbon to be the same colour as this would have made the Wall Hanging rather bland so I was happy to use my left over pieces which gave me a nice variety of colour.







I also needed my container with two sided sticky tape because I didn't want to mess around with glue and the tape makes it all so much quicker to do.






The next stage was getting the pieces of ribbon long enough so I placed some ribbon down flat on the table and put the larger embellishments beside to measure how long to cut the ribbon.  I would probably have 12 children at the most in the class so it just needed to be long enough to hold 12 of those butterflies plus a little bit more to be stuck inside the card.






When the 15 pieces of ribbon were cut to the right length (15 because I was going to use it for attendance on 15 different weeks before Christmas) I then had to make sure they were all ironed flat because ribbon likes to curl round when it is cut.

So now that everything was ready it was back to the card.




PRODUCTION


I folded the card over from one side towards the centre and then the narrower section over on top of that.





Then came the two sided tape






I cut a length of the tape just slightly shorter than the length of the card and pealed off one of the coatings and stuck this down on the card in far enough from the folded edge remembering that the last section to fold on top was slightly narrower.






Next I peeled off the other coating from the tape but did not stick down the last section of card because the ribbons had to be put in first.






There were 15 ribbons so I was able to start easily with placing one in the centre and pressing it down to have it stick to the card.
I had of course taken a little time when ironing the ribbons, to consider the colours I had and worked out the arrangement I wanted to place them in.






So I placed all the ribbons in the right order of colour on the table and spaced them out evenly before I stuck each one unto the tape.






Then I folded the card over and pressed it down firmly.
I did not need to put any more tape on the last part to fold over because there was enough of the tape between the ribbons for the card to stick well.






Using my card and paper cutter I cut the header sheet into 3 pieces and put two away carefully to keep for another time.






Using more two sided tape I cut two strips and placed them along the two long edges on the back of the Header.

I peeled off the coatings, carefully lined up the Header on the Front of the Card and stuck it down.






Next I took the butterfly cut outs that I planned to use for the first week and cut small pieces of two sided tape to put on the back of each one and then tiny 2.5cm long wooden pegs were stuck to the butterflies so that the children could clip them to the ribbons.
(I had enough pegs to do for about 4 weeks but since then I have bought more on Ebay and they only cost around £2.97 for 100 pegs inc P&P)

Each week we will have a different shape and have different colours in each of the shapes so that the children can pick which colour they want.






Before the children clip their shape to the ribbon they will write their name on the shape.
Then at the end we can count each of the names and see who has attended best and there will be a small prize for that person.

All of the children will then get to take all their shapes home with them - so they will all actually get something.

Now all that was needed was to stick two other butterflies to the Card to decorate it and the whole thing could simply be used again by carefully removing the two decorations and adding two different ones (perhaps balloons, or animal shapes).







I hope you can try this out for yourself

or

use it as inspiration for something that might suit you even better.



Other Kids Resources can be found Here.


Plus

There are many Free Printables etc. in the RESOURCE LIBRARY