Jesus Loves You....a salvation message for kids

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Today let's talk about a very very important thing that we need to always remember. It is equally important for children as it is for grown-ups. Do you think you know what that is?...It is that Jesus loves you! Jesus wants to live with each of us here on earth and then someday he will take us home to heaven to live with him there. 

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Each one of us has done some things we shouldn't have. Can you think of some bad things that we do? Maybe tell a lie, or say an unkind word, maybe we took something that didn't belong to us, or maybe we didn't obey our mom or dad when they told us to do something, or maybe we have not been nice to our brothers and sisters and even hurt them. When we do these kinds of bad things, it makes God very sad, and it puts a barrier of separation between us and God. But God loves us very much and He wants that we always love him too. That is why God sent Jesus to die on the cross. Jesus died to save us from our bad things and and to bring us back to God. Jesus died for each one of the sins that we have done. So now, when we believe that Jesus died for us, and we ask Jesus to forgive and save us, He saves us and we become children of God. We are friends of God! Then God walks with us and talks with us here in this life and someday we will live in heaven with him. Heaven will be the best ever!!

Here is a prayer that you can pray to ask Jesus to save you. I really hope and pray that you will ask Jesus to be your Saviour today.

prayer from wwwjesussaves.cc

New Blog for Children

I just want to let everyone know that I have started a new blog. It is especially for children. I know that many children are on the internet and could be blessed by it. The stories are also suitable to be read out loud to children. The blog is Bible Stories for Children  My goal is to tell and post many more Bible Stories to children - I will write as I feel led of the Lord, and I want to be accurate as the Bible tells the stories.  Please share this with parents and children in your life. Please link to the blog for children here:

Bible Stories for Children



God bless you and your children!

Parenting Advice - Raising Children

Proverbs 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Parenting can be a very challenging experience but it is a great honor. We are very blessed to be entrusted with these precious children to raise up to love and serve the Lord. We all come into it unexperienced so it is always a time of learning for both the parents and the children as well.
It is very important that we live our lives intentionally - that we do what we do because we are making an intentional choice. We do not want to live in regret for having made unwise choices when emotions run high in difficult circumstances. So that is why it is important to set up some goals for oneself in life and that would include parenting.
I was listening to Back to the Bible recently and in the program Woodrow Kroll shared some of Susanna Wesley's parenting advice.  I jotted down a few notes and so I would like to share it with those of you who come here to my blog.
Susanna Wesley is the mother of the well known brothers Charles Wesley and John Wesley. ( Sometime ago I wrote  a post on the life of John Wesley - link to post here:  http://sharingthefaith-northernsparrow.blogspot.ca/2012/08/heroes-of-faith-john-wesley.html  )
Susanna Wesley was married to Sammuel Wesley and they had 19 children. So we can see that Susanna Wesley had a lot of practice at parenting over the years.  Susanna Wesley would take 1 hour per week for each one of her children individually to have one on one time with them to talk about spiritual matters with them. She was truly a great woman of faith.

Here are Susanna Wesley's Six Rules for Raising Children
1) Subdue self will in a child and thus work with God to save him.
2) Teach a child to pray as soon as he can speak.
3) Give a child nothing he cries for, and only give him what is good for him and he asks for politely.
4) To prevent lying, punish no fault which is freely confessed, BUT never allow a rebellious sinful act to go unnoticed.
5) Command and reward good behavior.
6) Strictly observe all promises that you have made to your child.

Note - for more parenting tips please read my post titled  "Snippets from my Fridge - Family Rules and Discipline"  link to post here
 http://sharingthefaith-northernsparrow.blogspot.ca/2012/10/snippets-from-my-fridge-family-rules.html 

Turning 50! ...Part 2

In my earlier post titled  Yep I'm Turning 50 Part 1 (  http://sharingthefaith-northernsparrow.blogspot.ca/2012/10/yep-im-turning-50-part-1.html ), I shared how my family surprised me with a birthday party two months early. I want to be able to look back here on my blog and remember the party and the gifts my Mom and sisters came up with for the "50 gifts for your 50th birthday box!"
So I took some pictures in order to help me remember everything:

I will call this one "My Fifties Stuff"

There is a jar of  Over the Hill Pills, a bottle of Niffty Fifty Pills, a nice coffee cup, a bit of "aged" honey from the farm-but not 50 yet!, a jar of 50 mints, 50th napkins, lens eyeglass cleaner, a keychain that says "people born on this day are great perfectionists. They enjoy being with family and relatives. People who like to set high standards. They can be wary of strangers."

Next is my "Heaven is Best" collection -

The note with the teapot reads as follows:
Just a little bit of advice-"some gold"
For times you are feeling kind of OLD-
Sit down and have a cup of tea
And remember " The BEST is yet to be!"

The kitchen scrubber holder is a cow to remind me of milking our dairy cows on my parents farm in my growing up years. The note there says - Did you ever see such a sight in your life - A far cry from what you used to milk!

Next is my "Purple Collection"

I was told at the party that an old lady like me should wear purple - so they gave me a purple scarf, a purple necklace, a purple wallet ( with a nickel and a penny inside! LOL) , a vase with purple flowers in it, another vase saying "Forget me not", and a couple of books - "My Jesus is Everything" by Anne Graham Lotz and  "Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life" by Charles Swindoll.  Along with my purple collection was a poem which I will share here:

Warning

 (by Jenny Joseph)

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me

And I shall spend my pension on summer gloves

and satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

and pick flowers and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and set a good example for our children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple!

Next - A Purple Hyacinth bulb, A phonebook to read in my sparetime, and everything to make Lemon Tarts

and knitting needles and yarn so I can start knitting!

Childhood Memories

Our Old Teddy Bear says :

I've had a lot of lovin' in my younger years-

But I sure wouldn't mind a bit more in these

Olden GOLDEN Years!

More Childhood Memories

When we were kids, my sister and I used to make purses out of cereal boxes just like this when we would play so my sister made a purse for my 50th birthday!

An old ball and a rubber ball with notes to go with:

Rubber Ball note - This rubber ball reminds me of our childhood days- only it still has it's color on it - ours usually did not keep the color very long. We used them for 7-up, catch, baseball at times or even to play Anti Anti Over ( in Low-German we would shout - anten, anten sant soa dumm de fracten hoava) 

Other Ball Note-It will be interesting to see
If you still remember me

Bouncing around was so much fun

 In the shade or in the sun!

Who or what do you think I am?

The Everything Else Gift Collection

So to all my family Thanks very much for making this a Thanksgiving day and birthday party a day to remember!

A Beautiful Song - The River

In our home during my years growing up, our family had an old pump organ. One of my sisters was very gifted on the organ. As a child, I wished that I could play like she did and I would often stand by the organ and watch her play. I watched her fingers move across the keys and slowly with time I began to memorize the movements of her hands and I tried to play as she did.  She tried to teach me and I was able to learn to read some of the right hand notes while the left hand notes remained more of a struggle for me.  As I continued to try to learn, I was able to learn to play many hymns from our old hymn books, reading some notes and playing some by "ear". One of my favorite songs to play was Shall we Gather at the River. It is a song written by Robert Lowry in 1864. Robert Lowry was  a baptist pastor. Now as I have matured more in my faith and my longing for heaven is ever increasing, I realize even more that I love this song.
So with that, I would like to pick up a few highlights and thoughts from the song.

Revelation 22:1,3 - And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb... ³ And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

Shall We Gather at the River   
Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod,
With its crystal tide forever                     
Flowing by the throne of God

As Christians, we look forward to the day that we will be with the Lord in heaven - no more sorrow, tears or pain.  We will worship Almightly God at His throne in His presence. We will be walking where the angels have walked for so long a time before us.

Refrain:
Yes, we'll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river;
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.

Together with the saints of the Bible days, the saints who have lived in the past, those living now and those still to come - together we will gather by the river that flows by the throne of God.

On the margin of the river,
Washing up its silver spray,
We will talk and worship ever,
All the happy golden day.

Isn't that a blessed thought to think that we will talk and worship all the happy golden days! To be with Jesus forever- Oh what an exciting blessed thought!!

Refrain

Ere we reach the shining river,
Lay we every burden down;
Grace our spirits will deliver,
And provide a robe and crown.

We lay down our burdens at the Cross and Jesus bears our burdens, our sins. Jesus shed his blood on the cross for us and by his grace we are saved. Through Jesus death on the cross we receive the righteousness of Christ. We are robed in His righteousness and we will worship Him. The crown belongs to King Jesus!

Refrain

Soon we'll reach the silver river,
Soon our pilgrimage will cease;
Soon our happy hearts will quiver
With the melody of peace.

Years go by so quickly and it certainly won't be long till we reach that beautiful shore. Like one of my favorite preachers, James MacDonald, often says - it will seem only like ten minutes till we all get over there. Time is very short. Peace and lasting joy will be ours eternally.

My Dad, a man of God

From time to time I want to share stories here about people and events that have impacted my life in various ways. This will include my parents, family, friends, school, church etc. Many times it is the little things that have happen that create the special memories in our lives. It is my hope that if in years to come my decendants will want to know what their ancestors were like they can look here on my blog and find some stories of things that have happened in the past. Today I want to share a bit about my Dad and I am sure much more will follow in the days to come. My Dad passed away in 2004 after a courageous battle with cancer. There are many life lessons we can learn from our parents, some of the lessons would be spoken words and others would just be from what we have observed from them over the years. Proverbs 1:8,9 says -
 ⁸My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
 ⁹For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

As I think about my Dad, I wonder how he became the gentle, kind and generous man that he was. I wonder if being a Dad to six little girls would help build those characteristics into a man.  He loved my mother , he could make my mom's eyes twinkle beautifully like nothing else except  his tender love ever could. He was fun to be around, joking around with us girls often times. But he was faithful to the calling of God on his life as a husband and father and a preacher of the gospel. We lived out in the country on a small farm milking cows and selling the cream and farming some land.
Now to start with a few special memories - I remember as a little girl oftentimes playing hair dressup with him. He would sit on the chair and allow me and my sister to give him a "hairdo".  We would comb his hair anyway we wanted and pin it up with bobby pins. Usually we would end off the hairdressing session by adorning him with a kerchief just like my mother would always wear. That was so much fun for us. Or he would sit on a chair in the kitchen and stretch out his legs and we would use his legs as a slide. - Climb up onto his lap and slide down over and over. Also very fun. One day I remember we had company over and my Dad and his guest were in the basement visiting.  I ( his little girl) decided to go downstairs also but I took a huge tumble down the stairs but guess what - Dad was right there at the bottom of the stairs ready to catch me before I got down too far and I didn't get hurt at all.  One time my Mom had her ironing board out and had been ironing clothes. I didn't know that the iron was still hot and I placed my whole hand flat on the iron. Why I would do such is beyond me but as I remember my Dad spent the rest of the evening tending to my hand, helping me to cool it and keep me comfortable. That is just the kind of man he was - always thinking of others.
His tender spirit would show up from time to time. I can still see him in my mind sitting on his favorite chair in the livingroom listening to a record on the old record player. ( Now we have CDs but back then we had records and eight track cassettes) I can see him sitting there listening to his record of Jim Reeves singing the song "Daddy, my Daddy teach me how to pray" The song was about a little boy coming and asking his Dad to teach him how to pray. The lines went something like -"........ You've taught me lots today, You brought me home a brand new kite and taught me how to fly, there ain't no other kid whose Dad can knock a ball so high, I want to thank God for you, but I don't know what to say - So Daddy, my Daddy, teach me how to pray......." It was a really nice gentle song and I saw my Dad fight back the tears every time he would hear that song play. It seemed that it touched his heart as a Father in a special way.
More to come on "Dad" another day but the song  sang by Jim Reeves holds true for me too as I think of my Dad -  "I want to thank God for you" 

Background thoughts and Hagar

My faith story is really quite simple. I came to personal faith in Jesus as my Savior in my early teen years largely due to the preaching of Billy Graham on the Hour of Decison radio program. But it all started in  a small country church where everyone knew everyone.  I went to Sundayschool there and we would hear the Bible stories told simply. We'd learn a memory verse and sing some songs. The memory verse that has stuck with me for all my years is from Genesis 16: 13  which I learned when I was about 4 or 5 years old - "..Thou God seest me.." spoken by Hagar.
In the story of Abraham and Sarah, Hagar is their servant girl. When Sarah is unable to bear children, she decides to use Hagar to bear a child for them and therefore gives her to Abraham as a wife also. After Hagar becomes pregnant Sarah begins to treat her harshly and Hagar runs away. This is where the angel of God finds her, confronts her for running away, and so the angel comforts her in verse 11 where the angel says " the LORD hath heard thy affliction".
This is actually a very interesting story because we see that  God cares for ordinary people. Hagar is not a celebrity or popular in any way - She is a servant girl. And when life becomes difficult for her God comes to find her, I believe it shows Hagar that she does matter to God. In God's eyes she is special and loved. This experience will also help her later in her life when Abraham and Sarah send her and her young son Ishmael away.
So we also can take comfort in our own situations. To the LORD God our Heavenly Father we do matter and He does love us and care for us. It matters not who you are - God sees you, He knows your situation, He comes to you to care for you.  " Thou God seest me"
Like the song says" His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me"