Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission.
Today I am in one of those rare moods where I want to imagine what it would be like if through some positive change in circumstances, I was finally able to have my own bathroom. For years I have hoped and prayed that some day I would at least have a chance to have my own bathroom space that I could decorate. I would love to have a theme for each season to keep things from getting boring. But if not, my top pick would be the beach.
I love going to the beach. and listening to the soothing sound of the waves and feeling that refreshing breeze against my face. I used to look forward to those 2-3 days a year that we got to stay at the beach. In honor of those precious memories, if I ever had my own bathroom, at least part of the year I would decorate it with a beach theme. For starters I would pick out a piece or two of beach-themed wall art to help create a relaxing beach mood.
Come Soon and Rescue Us From Sin, is a poem that I wrote years ago. It would seem with the passing of the years that this longing would lose its power, but as I look upon the unsettled state of the world, as I behold the increasing tension between nations and people groups, as I watch in horror the open acts of lawlessness, and witness first hand how man’s hearts are growing cold to the rights and needs of their fellow man, it only grows stronger.
More than ever my heart cries out to God, come soon. Do not wait any longer. The earth indeed is reeling to and fro, and the people of the world are clasping their side and groaning like a woman in travail.
Yet at the same time, when I consider how far from the mark my life is, when I ponder the sad state of the loss, and when I think of how many precious souls have no real understanding of the battle between good and evil, I long for a little more time to pray and seek the lost.
Truly we live in strange times where the effects of sin are becoming so clear that our hearts desperately call out come now dear Lord and put an end to the cruel work of sin, yet there are still many hearts that are open to the calling of God, and as much as we long for the day of redemption, love for our fellow man bids us to wait a little longer.
But as hard as it is to wait, the signs around us are shouting that are wait is nearly at an end. And that today is the day to begin in earnest to prepare our hearts to meet our Savior and to work with all our might for the salvation of friends, family, neighbors, and foes.
It is becoming clear to one and all that something great is about to happen. For those of us who believe the words of Christ in Matthew chapter 24 it is clear that we are entering the last days of this earth’s history and the hour of the last great battle between good and evil is about to take place.
If we want to faithfully stand during this fearful time, we must hide the word of God in our hearts. This is not always easy as it seems our days are becoming more hectic. Fortunately some people have come up with the bright idea of putting the words of life to music, making it much easier for us to remember.
Here is a lovely and rather catchy example of why we should hide the word of God in our heart. I hope that this video will inspire you to begin to hide God’s word in your heart today.
Worn is usually the perfect expression for how I feel during the summer heat. There is something about the constant heat that leaves me feeling so tired. So I thought I would share a poem that expresses the feeling of the day, as I look forward to the relief of cooler weather.
Is it just me, or should the saying it never rains, but is pours should be changed to it never rains but it hurricanes. Because that is the way that it feels like right now. First it was a string of severe health set backs, and before I could catch my breath, it was six painful losses, one right after another.
Now, when it seemed like I might have time to catch my breath and finally begin to grieve, the bad news hits that it looks like my little puppy is following my Father’s footsteps. His sugar is high and his liver and kidneys are not doing so good. They are beginning to fail him. He has lost 8 or 9 pounds and that is a lot for a 28 pound little dog.
We have gotten the medicine and started treatment. Right now there may be hope, at least we hope that there is some hope. But it is too early to tell. For the next few weeks it will be a waiting game to see how Happy responds to the treatment.
During times like these it is so easy to get discouraged. To feel like all hope is lost and that joy is forever dead. Knocked down and tested to the point of breaking it seems like tears and sorrow are your undesired lot. In moments like these, where the pains and sorrows of life press down upon the heart seeking take away one’s breath, it is easy to forget that the pains of this life are for a moment. To forget that there is hope, because one day soon, sin will become a distant memory.
In the hour of darkness it may seem like sin is wining. That it is quickly going about swallowing up hope and happiness. But the good news is that the hour is quickly approaching when the tables will turn. Sin and its cruel companions, want, hunger, pain, sickness, and death, will be swallowed up. Truth, justice, hope, mercy, grace, and life everlasting will win the day.
Right now the enemy of soul’s is angry. He sees that his time is short, and like a roaring lion he is going about trying to turn the eyes of all from their only hope. He is trying to crush the hearts of men and keep them from looking up and through the eye of faith beholding the approaching promise of the great day of salvation.
He sees that final battle is getting ready to begin. He knows that it will not be long before the last decisions will be made, before the last heart will take their stand for or against God. And then the final crisis will begin, and just when it seems like he has gotten the victory, Jesus will appear and fill the heaven’s with His great glory.
Oh right now it is so easy to lose sight of that wonderful day. The pain and fears of this life seem like they are going to swallow us up, and there is no reason to smile anymore. But it is at this very moment that we need to look up. We need to look up with the eye of faith and behold the promised day of salvation. Because when we do our burdens will be lifted and our pain eased. Yes, the tears will flow and the heart will ache, but even in this fearful hour peace can and will fill our hearts as we set our sights not upon the darkness of the tomb, not upon the fearful uncertain of sickness and want, but upon the glorious day when this world will pass away and Heaven with its wondrous, unspoiled, and unfading glorious will be our home.
Hurray for the weekend! I am so glad that it is finally here. It has been a hard week of pushing myself through the fatigue to spend a few minutes here and there trying to get something accomplished. At times it seemed to take every ounce of strength I had to accomplish the smallest task. And for what?
Though I put forth my best effort, nothing I did seemed to workout. After spending hours pushing myself to the limit, even though I know the results will be hours of intense pain, I find myself still standing in the same unenviable place of total dependence upon my parents for my food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.
Some weeks are not so bad. The effort required takes a little less toll, and by God’s grace I enjoy a minuscule reward. But on weeks like this the effort exerted and the total lack of results rise up before me, and I cannot help but feel like my life has been a failure. As I consider the hours of sweat and tears, the times I pushed myself out of a warm bed at 4 AM, went 12 plus hours without food, all in the hopes of becoming a productive member of society, all in the hopes of one day proudly being able to turn around and take care of my parents like they had me. And see that despite my faithful hours of study, and persevering effort, I have yet to take one step forward, I cannot help but wonder, what was the worth? What was the reason for my existence? If every effort in my life was going to result in failure, why is that God created me?
It is because of frustrating and rather depressing weeks where I spent ten hours sweltering, and seemed to end up taking five steps backward, that this poem was written. As I looked back at my life of constant trying, and wondered, if something happened to me, what would my legacy be? What will the world and those whom I love remember? Is it possible that even though to human eyes my life may appear to be nothing but loss and failure, that one day, when I stand before the judgement throne, that seeming loss will actually be shown to be a success?
I hope that you enjoy this humble poem of contemplation. And that it causes you to examine your heart and life, to determine what your legacy will be. And to ask yourself if on the day of judgment your life will prove to be a success or failure.
For the past few months, the world as we know it has spun into chaos. Our eyes, our ears, and our hearts have been overwhelmed by words of fear and scenes most terrifying to behold. From the threat of an invisible killer to the hungering flames consuming homes and business’s our senses have been overwhelmed with the realization that our world is in danger of spinning out of control and descending into a heart stopping chaos.
At times is feels as if every pillar of our society, and every thread of the fabric that holds our society together is being torn apart. From the familiar rhythm of society, the comfort of the daily routine, to our favorite corner shop, all has been pulled out from under us. Leaving behind a sense of confusion as we blindly seek to inch our way around this unfamiliar world where every landmark has been or is in the process of being removed.
No matter what side you stand on, these times have a power to impress the heart with its deepening sense of uncertainty and humble us with the realization of how fragile is the framework of the world we like to believe is iron strong. Overnight our society went from reaching new heights, robust and seemingly unbreakable, to shuttered and broken. In a matter of days we tumbled from a financial pinnacle to a financial dump. Truly it can be said of the last few weeks that men’s hearts are failing them for fear and love of mankind for their fellow man, is indeed in the process of growing cold.
During theses trying times, it is worth taking a moment to be grateful for one bright spot. And that is that even during this nightmarish times, there are those who are willingly to lay their all on the line. That there are those who are willing to face the ire of the mob, to endure the scorn of the crowd, who are willing to endure threats, insults, and and to be pelted by rock and bricks, knowing that their very life is on the line.
Why? Just to save the lifeless bones of an ancient building or to keep a pile of bauble from becoming useless ruble? No, but to save that which is most important, the lives of their fellow man. To these heroes, who race towards the devouring flame, I dedicate these humble words of thanks.
Disclaimer: This article contains an affiliate link to Maze Crazy. If you should choose to purchase it, I would earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I have used this product for nearly a year before deciding that I liked this program, and becoming an affiliate.
About a year ago I learned about a program called Maze Craze. Maze Craze is a program that allows you to create square mazes and with or without a solution, that are simple enough for a very small child, to the extremely difficult.
Maze Crazy allows you to make very simple mazes that are perfect for very young children, to extremely difficult mazes that are perfect challenge for the serious puzzler.
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The nice thing about this program is that you keep the rights to the mazes that you make. This means that you can not only make mazes for your own personal enjoyment, but to sell as well. You can use your mazes to create maze or puzzle books, activity sheets, or designs for cups, pillows, t-shirts, and more.
Here is an example of an experimental maze book, where I took a poem about adventure, pictures of my adorable dog Happy, and some of the simpler mazes that I had created using Maze Crazy, to create a unique children’s book.
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The mazes are created as convenient PNG files that can easily be inserted as is, onto a pdf making file such as ADOBE, Smallpdf, or Sodapdf and transformed into a file and uploaded to KDP. If you would like to make the mazes more interesting, the PNG file can be uploaded to a program like Canva or affinity publisher where other elements can be added to make your puzzles more interesting.
With a bit of imagination, you can turn a simple square maze, into an exciting adventure.
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What really makes this program exciting is the fact that the creator of Maze Crazy is working to improve this program. Taking the maze crazy experience to the next level by giving the maze creator the option to turn the standard line maze into a maze made out of flowers or clouds.
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And an addition that has really improved the value of Maze Crazy, you now have the ability to alter the maze the shape and path of the maze. Giving you creative control over both the shape and style of your maze.
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Once again, if you want to increase the creativity of your puzzle, you can upload your maze as a PNG file in a program such as Canva or Affinity Publisher. Add a decorative background, insert some interesting elements such as numbers, letters, symbols, or pictures in or around your maze. And before you know it, you have created a unique maze that can tell a story, spread a message of love, or the adventure of your choice.
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With Maze Crazy, you have the power to tell the story you want.
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