Sunday

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 95


Today I'm looking at Psalm 95 

This is one of Encouragement to come to God with Praise and Worship







This Psalm falls into 5 parts:


V. 1-2
A Call to Praise

V. 3-5
The Reason Why

V. 6
A Call to Worship

V. 7
The Reason Why

V. 8-11
A Prophetic Word of God


"The way to go deeper with God"



A Call to Praise.
The way to come and approach The Lord: singing, joyfully, knowing He is our rock, thankfully, remembering our Salvation.



The Reason Why.
He is a Great God.
He is a Great King.
All of the Earth is His.
All of the Sea is His.
Everything is His.






A Call to Worship.
The way to go deeper with God: with reverence, humility and awe of our Creator.



The Reason Why.
We are His People and He is our God.  He is the one who protects and cares for us.



A Prophetic word of God.
A Reminder not to be like the Israelites in the wilderness when they hardened their hearts, tempted God and looked to themselves and not God.




The first part of the Psalm seems to be the instruction of how we are to pursue 
our relationship with the Lord


The second part is how not to have the right relationship.



















Tuesday

Peril at End House - Book Review

Disclaimer:
There is an affiliate link on this blogpost.



I am reading through the novels of Agatha Christie in the order in which they were written and writing a review on each one.








Peril at End House 



1932



Description



Nick Buckley was an unusual name for a pretty young woman. But then she had led an unusual life. First, on a treacherous Cornish hillside, the brakes on her car failed. Then, on a coastal path, a falling boulder missed her by inches. Later, an oil painting fell and almost crushed her in bed.
Upon discovering a bullet-hole in Nick’s sun hat, Hercule Poirot decides the girl needs his protection. At the same time, he begins to unravel the mystery of a murder that hasn’t been committed. Yet.









My Thoughts



This is the 15th book by Agatha Christie and the 7th Poirot Mystery

The clues are always there.  No matter what they say - the clues are always there.

That is exactly how it is with this book which means that once you have read it (and no doubt missed some clues) you will enjoy reading it again later even though it is one of those books that you will remember who the murderer is.

But would anyone other than Poirot have solved this one?   In fact I actually think Miss Marple would also have spotted the very deviousness of this murderer.

A clever thought out murder mystery with a clever and vile murderer.

Great read.  Great deduction.



If you would like to know more about this book then click on the title or picture above.


 Here is a link to a list of her novels on Amazon
Books by Agatha Christie


If thinking of reading this book in the future why not pin this pic to go back to later.

















Disclaimer:
If buying through Amazon via the link above I get a little commission but that does not mean any extra expense to you.

Wednesday

Where's YOUR Name? - A Dose of Encouragement


In my last Dose of Encouragement  I talked about how we personalized Christmas and today I want to tell you about the Personalized Bookmarks I started to make many years ago.






There were 3 different designs:
2 for girls names
and
1 for boys names.


For the girls names I chose hearts and butterflies and if you have read much of this blog these choices will not surprise you as I Love Hearts and I Love Butterflies.


I have recently written about a simple little Heart Recycle, previously I had done a kids craft post for a Heart Themed Valentine Banner  and in an earlier Dose of Encouragement I shared about how I was Missing the Butterflies in the garden of my new home.






For the boys names I chose books and it is obvious by the Book Reviews on this blog that I Love Books.






Now often when I would be at a Craft Fair or other event selling the bookmarks I would hear children and adults talking to each other and saying


 "Where's MY Name?"



There always seemed to be some expectancy in that question.


Mostly this was simply from someone who wanted to see their name on a bookmark not necessarily to buy one.  But because I also had the meanings of the names on the bookmarks it was sometimes from people who were just interested in knowing the meaning of their name.  This part of it would attract their attention.


"Where's My Name?"



Then there was another question they would ask me


     "Have you got MY name?"



There was always a bit of hope in that question but not always any expectancy.


This would be from the people who really felt they had little hope of seeing their name on any personalised items but it was worth a try.
Like people who had a different spelling of the name compared to others or their name was a very unusual one.


My sister is called Averil and because it is spelt with an "e" she could never find anything with her name, in fact people would often write her name without the "e" thinking they were correcting it. Then she named her daughter Clair without the "e" and they both ended up rarely finding anything personalised for them.

I know that my sister and I had often looked through stands of personalised items in shops just in the hope that one day we would be able to buy something for Clair many years ago when Clair was young, now over the years the odd time we have managed to find Clair's name but not Averil's.


When I heard that question at a craft fair I would ask the person what their name was and help them find it in my bookmark stand or explain that I was sorry I did not have their name but perhaps they would like me to take their name and address and I would make one specially for them.

For the people with names that could never be found this was quite a surprise and also a pleasure to know that someone could offer them something they had as yet never been able to find.
I could simply have said "sorry I don't have that name" and have left it like that but of course that would not have been so good for me trying to sell my items or so nice for the person who had already felt rejected over their name.



Today I was thinking on these two questions and the offer I could make to people.


Then about the question so many people ask themselves with some hope but no expectancy


"Will I go to Heaven?"


"Will I go to Heaven?"



I'm glad that I have the hope and expectancy of my home with Jesus in Heaven.


I'm glad that the Bible tells me my name is written in Heaven.







I'm glad that when I die I will not have to ask

"Have you got my name?"


with some hope  but not with any great  expectancy.



I'm glad that when I die I will not have to hear God say

"sorry I don't have that name"



Because I will be happy as I ask

 "Where's My Name?"

full of  expectancy  to see my name written in the
Lamb's Book of Life



I could make the offer to create a personalised bookmark if the person was willing to buy it.

God has already made us the offer of a life with Him in Heaven and He says we don't even have to pay for it, it is free for us because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.


But why does it have to be through that sacrifice?


Well have a look at John 3:16  "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have eternal life"


Briefly
  • God loves us and doesn't want us to be forever apart from him and suffer in hell because of our sin
  • He made a way for our sins to be paid for by Jesus taking on our punishment
  • He offers us full reconciliation with Him 
  • We have only to trust that He means what He has said and will keep His promise, but then if He didn't why would He let His own Son suffer

(see the 3,2,1 video on the sidebar for a fuller explanation)



It's an offer of salvation but we have to accept it.


Now I have a question for you.


Where's YOUR name?







If you have read this far then either you have already accepted God's Salvation and you share that hope and expectancy with me or you are in the place of knowing that you want this gift but have as yet not made that step of accepting it.


Please don't hesitate any longer.


It's an offer you have to accept.


"It's an offer you have to accept"


If you want more help on this please watch the  3 2 1 Video in the sidebar




Monday

Think Twice! - Coffee & Conversation


Have you ever had the feeling that someone was annoyed at you for something that you had done or said or written that was not what you had actually done, said or written but they just thought it was?

I was on the Hometalk Website one day and decided to leave a comment on a kid's craft someone had shared.

I mentioned that I loved their idea and it had given me an idea for something to make for my SS kids.

A few days later I noticed that I had a notification that someone had replied to my comment.

In I go to see if someone was asking me what my idea was, or if the author of the post was saying thank you for the comment only to be really taken aback with what I saw.






The reply to my comment was a sharply written one which basically was asking


What did you mean by SS?




I was very thankful that someone else had already seen it and replied with


 "I'm sure she means her Sunday School Class" 


and I then replied to confirm that was indeed exactly what I had meant.



Glancing at the location of the person who had asked the question I saw we were writing to a lady from Germany.  Obviously she had taken another meaning for my abbreviation.


How many times do we take for granted that people will know that we mean?


How many times do we just assume that people will understand because we know what we mean?


Perhaps I should have known better because I had lived in Belgium for over 6 years and in that time conversed with many different nationalities on a regular basis and there were times when there were misunderstandings just to do with phrases used in one language and how they translated to another language.


I have also lived in the US for 3 years and remember an instance where something I said could easily have been misunderstood when shopping with an American friend one Christmas



Looks like we need to think twice before we write!








I teach English as a Second language each week and I need to think carefully how I say things to the students  -  so I should be good at this.



"Looks like we need to think twice before we write!"







Do you think twice before you write?



Have you ever written something that someone misunderstood completely?



Sunday

Pondering The Psalms - Psalm 27



Each Sunday I choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 27 


This is one of the Psalms of David.





This Psalm falls into five parts:

V. 1
Declaration

V. 2-3
Confidence

V. 4-6
Praise

V. 7-12
Teaching

V. 13-14
Hope


Declaration.
We need to physically say these words.
We need to speak forth the truth, to truly grasp that we need not be afraid
       
                        He is our Light

                              and
                                        He is our Salvation 

                                              and
                                                        He is our Stronghold


Confidence.
The speaking out as in the last two verses and the knowledge that there is no need to be afraid leads on to being confident about what we know God has promised  -  this makes me think of Psalm 34 
He has promised that He is on our side.







Praise.
The result of seeking God, wanting to live in His ways and being in His Shelter can only lead to us giving Him all the praise and thanksgiving we can.


Declaration, Confidence, Praise, Teaching, Hope.


Teaching.
Crying out to God, seeking His face and accepting His gracious help leads us to listen and pay attention to Him to learn what is the good and acceptable will of God   (Romans 12:2)
All because we are not leaning to the way of others or to our natural instincts but we are being focused on His way.


Hope.
Knowing God's promises, having gained confidence in knowing God's will and His way and being prepared to wait on Him has all come to the point where we know we have hope for now and for the future.







A Lighthouse and a Lifeboat

illustrations

of 

His Love stretched out to us.

















Saturday

Christian Songs for Kids - Rolled Away

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


Each month I am going to share 
one or two songs with you providing  

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.   




Also don't forget you can go to the top of this post or to the sidebar on the right and sign up for an email reminder of my posts. 

Then you will know when the next song is posted.


This month I am taking the theme of


Forgiveness of Sins



The song I have chosen is 



Rolled Away

This is one of the most enjoyable choruses for the kids to interact in as they love to do the actions and sing it faster each time trying to keep up with the actions and not get mixed up.

When they are enjoying it they are still picking up the concept behind it and it is also the type of tune that just sticks in their heads.

I have been using this song for over 30 years and all the children over all those years have had fun with this song.





POWERPOINT

More recently I made slides and pictures to print out for this song














Here is a powerpoint show with music from Hebron Outreach so have a look at it and if you go to their website you can copy it freely.







WORDS

Rolled Away, 
Rolled Away, Rolled Away, 
And the Burden of my heart Rolled Away, 
Rolled Away, Rolled Away, Rolled Away, 
And the Burden of my heart Rolled Away, 
Every sin had to go
'Neath the cleansing flow, Hallelujah
Rolled Away, Rolled Away, Rolled Away, 
And the Burden of my heart Rolled Away.


To get a copy of the words and the chords 
CLICK HERE






ACTIONS

Rolled away   -  roll your hands around each other and flick them over your shoulder  x3
And the burden  -  rest both hands on your shoulder
Of my heart  -  move both hands to your heart
Rolled away  -  roll your hands around each other and flick them over your shoulder
Every sin had to go   -  repeated flicking of hands over shoulder
Neath the cleansing flow  -  raise hands and ripple fingers as you bring your hands down in front of you
Hallelujah  -  nothing
Rolled away   -  roll your hands around each other and flick them over your shoulder  x3
And the burden  -  rest both hands on your shoulder
Of my heart  -  move both hands to your heart
Rolled away  -  roll your hands around each other and flick them over your shoulder








Notes:
I cannot find any information on the author or the copyright for this song.
I have read online that the arrangement of the song is credited to R.R. Brown
If anyone can help me with this information please leave a comment below or contact me by email which you will find on my About Me Page





Tuesday

The Sittaford Mystery - Book Review


I am reading through the novels of Agatha Christie in the order in which they were written and writing a review on each one.








The Sittaford Mystery. 


1931  



Description


In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a small round table foe a seance.

Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message:
Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? 

The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. 
Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snow drifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot...

         'Captain Trevelyan...dead...murder'









My Thoughts

This is the 14th book by Agatha Christie and the First to be what I would describe as a stand alone murder mystery.  

It features none of Miss Christie's previous detectives or sleuths and none of the characters in this book are found in any of the later books she wrote.
This story is based in the countryside and in the depth of winter making travelling difficult and that is essential to the whole book.

There are a small cast of neighbours but of course our writer is not confined to just these few to weave her story but also takes us far away to see that others may have had some influence in it all.


I really enjoyed this story and do believe that this title is the better title for the book than the American one of "Murder at Hazelmoor".    Yes the story is of a murder but definitely in this Christie novel it is the mystery that we need to solve.



Of course a detective/policeman is needed to solve the case but even that is not exactly as it seems at first and in my eyes this is another good example of the Christie use of Red Herrings.
A good read and a simple solution but just not simple until explained.








 Here is a link to a list of her novels on Amazon
Books by Agatha Christie




Sunday

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 136


Each Sunday I choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 136 





This Psalm falls into 5 parts:



V. 1-3
God


V. 4-9
Creation


V. 10-22
Redemption


V. 23-25
Love


V. 26
Hope


This Psalm starts and ends with two almost identical verses - verse 1 and verse 26


However they are each placed specifically at those important points.


We Start with God's Goodness



God.
He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords.
 He is Good, He is Merciful and He is Love and His goodness, mercy and love will never end.
 How could we not be thankful?





Creation.
He is full of wonder and creative power.
All that is on, above and around the earth was made by Him.


Redemption.
He provided our Salvation right from the start.
Our lives should be a witness to that.


Love.
He is the one who always sees, cares, and acts on behalf of His people.


Hope.
Even though we have not seen Heaven or can properly understand Heaven we believe in God so we believe in Heaven because we know His love is not going to end.









The Psalm is a portrait of our lives with Him.

 How He is good to us and draws us 
through our knowledge of 
His Greatness, Salvation and Love 
to the culmination of a 
Home 
perfectly prepared for us by Him.



We end with Heaven.








This is a Psalm which some might say is simply repetitive.

But

this is really a Psalm of recognition on our part of how worthy God is to be praised 
over and over again.


This is a Psalm which uses the history of the world to highlight the Love of God
to His people

and

to lead us to 

the Eternal Hope we have in Heaven - our home with Him! 













Friday

A Simple Little Heart Recycle



Preparations coming up to Christmas and having family here over Christmas doesn't leave a lot of time to declutter or tackle any jobs I might have on my list but even getting a little thing done is helpful.






As I was sorting out some of the many things that had accumulated around my desk (which I have been gradually working on for ages) I came across two hearts.

They were from our niece Joanne's Wedding over 2 years ago and had been our place names at the wedding reception.






I like black and white and was sure that I could find some way of using them on a project so had kept them, but up to now I had not thought of how to use them.


Then now after two years I see them and suddenly have an idea.



If you have read previous blog posts of mine about my study and about things I love then you will know that I really do love hearts and have quite a few hearts around the study and the house.


In fact on the bathroom door and the back toilet door I have hearts to show what the room is






I had got these on ebay and loved them so I also later contacted the lady selling them to see if she had ones with study and office on them but she didn't.


Well I know that these hearts are not the same but I just thought I would use them anyway and all I needed was some blu tac and a pair of scissors.


I snipped off the long parts of the black ribbon just leaving the little bows on each heart, then stuck them to the doors with some blu tac.






I didn't add the words study or office because I would not be able to match the special calligraphy already on them but the names would do just fine as the study is mine and the office is Fred's.


Heart to Heart - table to door - a simple recycle.



How simple a recycle was that?


Can you find something that could be as simple a project as this?







Well now to look at the final results of work for this.

Very easy and took little time and of course I like the end result so more like FUNWORK than HOUSEWORK