Saturday

Christian Songs for Kids - He's Alive!



Do you find it hard to get visuals and recordings for different kids songs?





I have always found this a problem so I am now sharing songs that I have used with children providing you with

Visuals 
(Powerpoint or Picture or details of how you can make one) 


Words   
(chords also available)


Recording  
(mp3 or video to learn the song) 


Then if you would like to download the visual of the song there will be a link provided to my creation, or I will direct you to where else you can find it.   



This month I am taking the theme of



EASTER


I want to do an Easter song now in advance to give you time to prepare.



The song I have chosen is 



He's Alive



Although I first learned this song as part of adult worship I love to do this with the kids groups as they always enjoy clapping to the beat and they need to know that 
Jesus is ALIVE!


My husband is a worship leader but also accompanies the children a lot on the guitar and he will go up the keys while playing this with the kids just as he would in church worship time.






My original visual for this was made many years ago and was a large piece of pink card see below.






This original visual was hand written on A1 card and then covered in clear sticky plastic to help protect it and it did a good job because that visual can still be used today if necessary.


Then more recently I redesigned it on Powerpoint to be projected and also to be printed out on A4 cards




POWERPOINT









Click to download your free visual of this song for projection and printing if you have not already subscribed to Sandra's Ark

It is available in A4  &  Letter size

(your download will be clear of the watermark)



If you have previously subscribed to Sandra's Ark then you will find the link for all my Resources in any of the emails you have received from me.




WORDS

He's Alive, the stone's been rolled away
He's Alive, He's no longer where He lay
He's Alive, I can hear the angels say
Let all the earth rejoice He's Alive.



To Download my free printable of these words with chords for guitar or piano click on 
He's Alive - Words & Chords  if you have not already subscribed to Sandra's Ark.


If you have previously subscribed to Sandra's Ark then you will find the link for all my Resources in any of the emails you have received from me.










ACTIONS 

We always clap throughout this one.





VIDEO

My husband and I have created several singalong videos of Kids Songs and this song is included in that playlist.  
  

 


Our Kids Song at the Ark playlist can be found at HERE on YouTube 



AUDIO RECORDING





Special "Thank You" to my husband Fred who looks after the Recordings and Chords




Notes:
I have found some versions of a song with this as a chorus except the words are very slightly different and we have always sung it to a different tempo as well.
I have also found the chorus part on it's own attributed to

Shawn Craig

1985 Above And Beyond Music

CCLI Song # 98767






I Hope you enjoy the song and this is a help to you.




DON'T FORGET
If you are interested in finding out about more 



Christian Songs for Kids 



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Wednesday

What are You Putting into Your Mind? - A Dose of Encouragement


Disclaimer:
There is an affiliate link in this blog post.



Are you a book lover?

Have you ever been involved in a Book Club?

When we lived in Belgium I joined a Book Club organised by mothers from the school our daughter was attending.








I really enjoyed meeting up once a month, having snacks and discussing the book we had all read.

In fact several times I was pleased to have been in the club because I was introduced to books I would normally have not particularly thought of reading.


For example


The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.







AND



The Time Traveller's Wife.






Both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

(Click on the book titles or pics above if you would like to know more about these books)



I am also the type of person who seldom leaves a book unfinished even if it does not always keep my attention and takes me months to actually finish it because I will go off and read other books in between spurts at the boring one.


However during my time in that book club there were two books which I did not finish.




The Life of Pi.

This just seemed to me to be rather boring.
My daughter's then boyfriend was also an avid reader and we would talk about the books we were reading when he would be round at our home finding that we enjoyed a lot of the same books but we just could not agree on this one.  He kept telling me that I had to persevere and get to the second half of the novel and then I would enjoy it.
I could not see the point in that because I did not anticipate any more of my interest being grabbed when it was so dull so far, plus I had heard about an imaginary tiger in a boat so no it was not my scene.

I have still never read the book and don't believe I ever will as there are always more books I want to read than there is time to read them.



The Kite Runner

To me this one was just simply disgusting.

I got to a certain point in the story where I knew I would never finish this book and at that precise moment I was in a Tram from Brussels to Tervuren with my daughter (who also adored The Time Traveller's Wife).  I closed the book and told her I was not going to read any more and also told her that I hoped she would never read that book.

Then when I was about to throw it into the bin at the tram station I stopped and took it on home with me.

Had I changed my mind?
No, I decided to take it home to dispose of rather than have the chance of being the person responsible for someone else coming along and picking it up to read.

I have still not read the book and I know I never will.



When I told the others at the Book Club that I had not finished the book and never would because I felt disgusted by what I had already read their attitude was one of complete amazement.
I was immediately told that the purpose of reading this book was to be able to recognise the mentality, attitudes and behaviour of people in Afghanistan at that time.  It was stated that I would not be able to understand the culture and what it is like to live there.  It was even implied that I was burying my head in the sand and did not want to know what was happening in the world.

These women were wrong.
I knew more about the country than they thought as I knew people who were actually working there.



From that Book Club I learnt that I don't have to finish a book.



If that book doesn't really interest me or is poorly written or is about a subject that I do not want to read about then I can just close the book or even destroy it.



It is my decision what I read.






What we put into our minds affects our thoughts and words and actions and emotions.


It is better to put good wholesome things into our minds.


I have a choice as to what I ALLOW to go into my mind.


Yes the word allow is exactly the word I mean here, it is my mind and I need to take responsibility for what enters it.


I want to take good care of my mind 
and I am sure you want to take good care of your mind.


What you allow into your mind affects your thoughts and your words and your actions and your emotions.



I want to take good care of my mind 
and I am sure you want to take good care of your mind.



God has given us the responsibility to take care of every aspect of our lives and our minds are important to Him as well as our bodies.







You have a choice as to what you ALLOW to go into your mind.


Let's be encouraged that we can make a difference in our thoughts, words, actions and emotions by taking the responsibility for what we allow into our minds and seriously consider what we are reading or looking at or listening to or talking about on a daily basis.


In Philippians 4  verses 8-9  we read the words of the Apostle Paul

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  
The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Lot's of times we only think of the first of these two verses.

But look at the the second one:

Paul says do the things we have been taught, seen and heard - take heed of God's Word.
The result will be God's Peace.

If I had read the rest of that book The Kite Runner, I would have absorbed imagery and language into my mind that would have stayed with me forever. 

That is how serious it is to be careful of what we put in our minds.







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Sunday

Songs for Worship #7

Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






So I'm following the weeks of Why We Worship from last year and I hope you will follow along with me.









                         Looking today at 



God is Eternal









Everlasting God 



Strength will rise

As we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord



Strength will rise

As we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord



Our God, You reign forever

Our hope, our strong deliverer



You are the everlasting God

The everlasting God

You do not faint

You won't grow weary



You're the defender of the weak

You comfort those in need

You lift us up on wings like eagles



Strength will rise

As we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord



Strength will rise

As we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord



Our God, You reign forever

Our hope, our strong deliverer



You are the everlasting God

The everlasting God

You do not faint

You won't grow weary



You're the defender of the weak

You comfort those in need

You lift us up on wings like eagles









If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below













Wednesday

Memories of Love - A Dose of Encouragement


I have been thinking about memories on and off for a while because I have been sorting out old photographs and scanning negatives. (A long, long job)


I have found at different times that my memories don't always match up with the photographs.


Have you ever discovered that or is it just me?






For example when I was 12 years old I went to Barcelona and because that was a very long time ago I only had a few photos and they were in black and white.

I had not looked at them for a couple of decades and unfortunately when I came to the packet the photos were missing and only the negatives remained.  Perhaps later I will find the photos mixed in with some others and perhaps I will never find them but at least I could scan the negatives.

How surprised I was while scanning to find that one of the pictures seemed to be the opposite way round but on checking the strip of negatives I confirmed that I really did have the strip the correct way in the scanner and was not now looking at the reversal of the photo.

I had always remembered that Monte and her mother were standing to the left hand side of the doorway and facing to the right

but in reality



they were standing in the centre of the doorway and facing left.


In the same strip of negatives there were two pictures of the Cathedral in Barcelona,
one of the top




and one of the bottom




Yet I had always thought I had a photo of the full front of the cathedral.

So it just proves that my memories are not always accurate.


Then just this past Saturday Fred and I went for a walk beside a Lake not too far from where we live and at one point we took a path that was rather steep so laughingly Fred got behind me and pushed me up the slope.

As he did so he said         "Does this remind you of anything?"

I immediately answered        "Slieve Donard"


Now a quick summary is in order here:

I met Fred in the early 70's but we were just friends.
A few years later we were both at a Christian Summer Camp.
One of the days we all went to a town called Newcastle to walk up a mountain
called Slieve Donard.
Without going into too much detail, 6 of us were walking along together when we came to a steep part and the 3 girls laughed and said we were too tired so the boys would have to push us.  They said they wouldn't but in the end
Fred did push me up the steep part.



On the slope of Slieve Donard I'm between the two Freds
the one in the centre of the picture is the one I married

So Saturday's reference was to that event in 1975 which will be 40 years ago in July this year.  (I have written about the same summer camp in a blog post last year called    What a Face )


Now back to Saturday.

We both laughed and probably both thought I was a lot lighter when he pushed me up Slieve Donard but at least he didn't say it.

Then I asked him  

 "Do you actually remember pushing me that day or do you just remember me
 talking about it throughout the years?"


And his honest answer was
     
"I think I remember a memory that I have formed because you have talked about it"


Now I had two choices here.

I could have taken the "huff" and been annoyed at him for not remembering something that I had from all those years ago.


OR


I could just accept that we had different memories from that day.

I chose the latter because I know that Fred does not always remember things the same as I do because he doesn't always see things the way I do and vice versa.

Yes even though so many of our memories have been formed together over all these years we each remember some things the same and some things differently.

Even things to do with our relationship?      YES!

Even things to do with our love?    YES!

Does this matter?     NO!  but sometimes Yes.

It shouldn't matter because it is just the way we were made; we are both different people and each day is different to each of us even if we share all the events of that day.

We have to accept that each of our memories of our love are different.
We have to accept that each of us will forget certain things about our relationship.
We have to accept that each of us will notice things in our lives differently.

Why?     Because our memories and our love are not perfect and neither are we.







However there is a love that is perfect.

The love of God is perfect because God is Perfect and God is Love.

God remembers every single part of our relationship with Him and his memories are perfect.

God will not forget about us, He will not forget how much He loves us.

God's memories of us will be perfect and when He reminds us of something it will be true.

God also knows exactly how we remember things and how we have felt through all of our life.

God knows how we feel right at this very moment.


God's memories of Love are unforgettable and you know what 

to God you are unforgettable too.







Is this not the way you want to be loved?


If you don't know this love of God please take a little time to watch the 3 2 1 video on the sidebar.




Sunday

Songs for Worship #6


Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.

At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






So I'm following the weeks of Why We Worship from last year and I hope you will follow along with me.



                         Looking today at 



God is Faithful








Faithful God 


Faithful God, Faithful God.
All sufficient One I worship you.
Shalom my peace,
My strong deliverer.
I worship you
Faithful God.











If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below















Friday

Easy Kids Heart Banner - With FREE Printable


I decided to make a Banner for the PreSchool Age Sunday School Class for Valentine's Day



Of course this could also be simply used as banner at any time of the year and is something a child could make or be helped to make for a friend as a craft at home or at Sunday School.


Basically I wanted something simple & quick to make and for which I would not need to buy extra supplies.


So I came up with this "Jesus Loves Me" banner.




MATERIALS REQUIRED

Computer
Printer
White A4 card
Remnants of Ribbon (or long piece of string)
Staples/Glue
Scissors


The link for the Free Printable for this banner can be found at the bottom of this blog post.




STAGE 1

First thing was to get on the computer
(so difficult for me as I am never ever on the computer - sarcasm here)

I used Ipiccy to make pictures of the hearts with the letters inside them.
Some of the letters are repeated in the phrase so I did not have to do every single letter.




I left the original blank one in case I decided I would like to use the same heart outline for another project.



STAGE 2

This depends on how large you actually want your letters to be.

I felt for the smaller room that it would be big enough to have each heart less than the size of an A6 card so that meant that I could have 5 to each A4 card




Then I used Powerpoint to set out the letters I needed on an A4 sized slide and printed out all the letters involved including 3 blank hearts - never waste space and they can always be used later if not needed now.



STAGE 3

The cutting out was the most tedious part but I normally do that while I'm watching something on TV so not so bad and of course never waste time.






STAGE 4

I hunted through all my remnants of ribbon to see if I would have enough pieces to put together to form a long ribbon to which I could attach all the hearts.
Spacing out the hearts to see how long this ribbon needed to be.

Thank goodness I have a long kitchen table.





STAGE 5

Then I chose the thicker longer ribbon but I could have used the thinner off white ribbon pieces and glued them together behind hearts to make it long enough.


There were 3 reasons for choosing the thicker ribbon
          1.  long enough without having to piece lengths together
          2.  thick enough to not have to be so precise with the glue
          3.  it was actually decorated with little hearts too


Simple Heart Banner Kids Craft - Quick & Easy to make With FREE Printable

So I placed all the letters carefully alongside to get the right spacing before pressing each letter against the glue dots on the roll of dots.




Each heart got some glue in two places (the tops of the curves)




Before I pressed them all unto the ribbon.

As you can see I used glue dots because they make this type of thing so easy, neater & much quicker than using my glue gun.








Don't forget to download your free printable for the "Jesus Loves Me Heart Banner" HERE  if you have not already subscribed to Sandra's Ark


If you have previously subscribed to Sandra's Ark then you will find the link for all my Resources in any of the emails you have received from me.


Or pin this for later:







Don't forget to let me know if you try it out.






Wednesday

What Do You Believe In? - A Dose of Encouragement


This word

Believe 

         
                   is on the lips of everyone around us.






It is

    Printed in Wall stencils.

        Found on free Printables.

            Cropping up in digital scrapbooking.



There are many home decor shops sporting  "believe" plaques - and I have one in my bathroom which I have mentioned in two previous posts
  5 Little Touches  &  Happiness, Happiness








On Facebook I see this word often.



People use it to encourage others.



But my question today is








The definitions of the word BELIEVE is



accept that (something) is true, especially without proof,  
 to trust (in something)




So the answer to my question is  NO  it doesn't make sense on its own.

It is dependant on something else with it so that we can have a proper understanding.

Any time I sit and look at my plaque I am challenged to consider what I believe in, what words I would add.


Now what would you rather have with it?


What comes with the word believe is important, not just anything will do.

We can't just glibly say we believe in any old thing now can we?


I have a piece of word art for digital scrapbooking that says







I also have a butterfly plaque in my ensuite which says Believe in Miracles.








I know which of these I would rather choose to believe in.



Do you?



And I am happy & joyful that I know this.



I want to encourage you today to think about what you really believe in, what you trust in and what you would stand up and be counted for.



I believe in God the Father, 

Son and Holy Spirit 

and
 His Word, the Bible.









I'm glad I know who I believe in and that I can depend on Him and His Word.


Let's stand up and be counted for believing in


What is True and Dependable