Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Shun the world's voices
That call you out the door,
To yield to prideful choices
That would little lives ignore.

You only have this season
To cherish and enjoy
This time when you are everything
To a little girl or boy.

Yes, some days grow weary;
You think you'll never win.
You think it's best to be away;
But I urge you, think again.

Your gifts can still find purpose;
Don't sacrifice what's best.
God will open avenues
As in His plan you rest.

Focus on this season
To give these children all.
He'll give you strength to rise again
Each time you trip or fall.

Find creative outlets
To serve outside your doors,
Without neglecting those inside.
Just for a blink they're yours.

For children are God's kingdom
And as you seek Him first.
He'll satisfy your longings
And fulfill your greatest thirst.

Souls will live forever;
But earthly things will pass.
Deny yourself; embrace this time;
It goes by oh, so fast.

2018, Val Halloran
www.valhalloran.com

Painting: Franziska Schenkel: “Mother with Child on a Meadow”

Rev. Edward Taylor Sullivan spoke these words in a sermon: “I walked down the furrow in the field,” said a humble mother who lived on a New Hampshire farm; “I walked down the furrow with the Governor of New Hampshire in my arms, and the Governor of Massachusetts clinging to my skirts.” She said that afterwards, long afterwards, in her old age. For she knew not then, and no one knew, that her two baby boys would be governors of two New England states.”

I love the words of this song, written by a friend of mine:
“Mothers of children, can you not see
The world of tomorrow asleep on your knee?”

You cannot even dream what God has ahead for your children as you are faithful to nurture and train them in God’s ways and His Word of truth. Psalm 22:30, 31 (NLT) says: “Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done.”

Be encouraged today,

Nancy Campbell

Painting: Victoria Kharchenko

But role reversing is even more subtle.

I WAS SHOCKED!

Yes, I was shocked as I recently read a commentary on 1 Timothy 2:15 that speaks of women being saved and delivered through embracing the lifestyle of motherhood. This commentary stated: “This deliverance was from some of the devastating effects of the ROLE REVERSAL that took place in Eden. The idea of childbearing, then is a metonymy of part for the whole that encompasses the woman’s submission again to the leadership of the man . . . “

I must confess that I had never thought of the sin in the Garden of Eden as a role reversal. It arrested me. But it is true. This was the first sin! Eve took charge! She did not discuss with Adam about the idea of taking the fruit or talk about it with him. She made the decision without him. Adam himself became a wimp and followed her instead of taking his leadership.

The devil continues to challenge and tempt every married couple the same way. He wants us to role reverse—in our marriage relationship and in the role God has given to us as as women and mothers. Satan hates every ordinance and plan of God and continually tries to subvert them and entice us in the opposite direction.

We must guard against it. 1 Peter 56:8 says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.”

This doesn’t mean that we can’t make a decision without talking to our husbands. God has given to women the management of their homes. We make decisions constantly in managing our homes and dealing with and teaching our children. However, in big decisions, we should not take charge without first checking with our husbands. God has placed him as the head of the home. It’s God’s plan and His plan is always best.

When we keep to God’s plan, we’ll have harmony and His blessings.

God be with you today,

Nancy Campbell

Do you notice that it is not optional to teach our children God's Word? We are not to make suggestions or recommendations about it. We to COMMAND them. We must diligently penetrate and implant God's Word into their hearts. It’s our life work.

Why did God pronounce great blessings upon Abraham? Genesis 18:17-19 tells us the answer. God said: “For I know him, that he will COMMAND HIS CHILDREN and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment."

It is not the responsibility of the church or the Sunday School. God charges the parents.

Dear mothers, it doesn’t automatically happen. I personally know a mother—a kind and loving mother who has her own personal relationship with God. However, she didn’t command her children to follow the Lord. She didn’t take them to church. She just hoped they would follow God. Now they are grown and some are in the devil's kingdom, one particularly walks in the depths of sin.

Let’s get serious about raising a generation of children who know God’s Word and know His ways. We are not suggesters. We are commanders!

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

Are we truly yielded?

Love from Nancy Campbell

We have been enjoying a great 4th July week with visiting families staying with us on our hilltop. Thursday night we had a potluck meal together followed by a Trivia Quiz and then Improv for everyone--84 of us all together. But that was small compared to all the families that joined with us for our barbecue and fireworks July 4th. We put in a volley ball court just before everyone arrived. They've played competition volley ball from morning 'til night! Now we look forward to a wonderful Sunday together.

One of the lovely young people staying with us shared this poem/prose with us that God inspired her to write. She has been on many mission trips across the world. She shared how that when she is on mission trips she makes sure she is at church at least half and hour to an hour before time to pray and prepare the way for God to move. But when she gets back to USA she said she became guilty of arriving at church late. God convicted her and she wrote this poem.

It's a good day to share it this Sunday and I trust it will be a blessing to you as you prepare to meet with believers wherever you live today.
~ Nancy

SIDE BY SIDE
By Becky Graham

Persecution! We know its coming for prophets have heard the drum.
Christians, be prepared.
You may become impaired
For simply following Jesus.
Persecution! It happens around the world.
In 52 countries it is illegal to declare the name of Jesus
Or gather with other believers.
This persecution is trying to make its way in America
Through deceivers.
Many have already fallen, their ears deaf to the calling.
But when it comes, will you stay strong?
Don’t tell me if persecution comes you won’t fall
If on Sunday mornings, you can’t get up and go to church to stand tall.

“It’s personal, my relationship with God is between me and God.
It’s my right, my freedom to stay at home.”
You’re right. It is your freedom to stay at home.
But when you enjoy your freedom to stay home Sunday mornings,
Pray for your brothers and sisters
Who walk miles through the jungle with feet covered in blisters
To join a group of other believers.
And when you remind others of your “right” to stay home,
Don’t forget the fight our fathers fought for your freedom to go.

In China, my sisters are willing to be arrested, beaten, and even killed
For the opportunity to stand in a church and hear the Scriptures read.
My brothers are murdered for the chance to sing a hymn with other believers.
What amazing value they have for the bride.
They are willing to risk their lives to stand side by side.

When you are hidden in your room, isolated from the body,
Remember to pray for your brothers and sisters lined up in a courtroom,
Ready to be judged for worshipping in a public place.
When you state your opinions and make your case
For why you don’t have to be involved in a local church,
Remember the hundreds being marched away, disappearing without a trace
For embracing their home church.

I pray we see this through God’s eyes.
His love for His church, His love for His bride.
This is more than you—it is worldwide.

While we sit in the comforts of our homes in America,
I pray we will remember how many in other nations wake up early
For a chance to be around fellow believers,
To sneak into a church, to hear God’s Word, even if persecution follows.
They are wiling to take the chance
Because they see the value of not being alone,
They will not conform and become the world’s clone.

Here in America, I pray our blinders will fall,
That we’ll leave our comfort places to answer the call—
The call to follow Jesus!
The call to be with His people.
The call to be part of the bride.
I pray we will not run away and hide.

You have the freedom to stay home and be alone.
You can isolate yourself from the body of Christ and have “church” on your phone.
But please, please remember your sisters and brothers
Who travel great distances to worship with others,
Please remember on Sunday mornings the little children
Singing a hymn in a forbidden home.
Their parents’ willing to risk everything
To bring them to unite with other believers.

As you sit in your room, don’t forget those risking their lives
As they eagerly await the return of the Groom.
United as the bride, they stand side by side.

But there is more. When we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen, God works His grace in us as we go through the trial. God promises that these trials produce heavenly rewards.
He uses five adjectives to describe the glory you will receive.

Your trials work for you a (1) FAR,
(2) MORE,
(3) EXCEEDING,
(4) ETERNAL
(5) WEIGHT OF GLORY!

The CEB translation says that when we allow God to do His work in us as we go through our trials that we are sending up to Heaven a STOCKPILE OF GLORY!

Your present trials will seem like nothing when you see them as God sees them. Remember, the things that are seen don’t last, but the things that cannot be seen last forever. They are eternal.

Love and blessings from Nancy Campbell

To keep a tender heart toward our husbands is the blessing of a good marriage. The Bible tells us that divorce happens through “hardness of heart” (Matthew 19:6-9). We must always guard against a hard heart.

To keep a tender heart is the blessing of a peaceful life.

To keep a tender heart leads us to righteousness. Hebrews 12:11 (HCSB) says: “No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

We train our children by instruction and discipline. But there is always more for us to learn and grow into also, and we are continually trained as we receive instruction and correction.

I love the TPT translation which says: “Now all discipline seems to be more pain than pleasure at the time, yet later it will produce a TRANSFORMATION OF CHARACTER, bringing a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who yield to it.”

Don’t you love those words? TRANSFORMATION OF CHARACTER! Do you want this for your own life? Do you want this for your children’s lives? I know we all do. It comes with YIELDING— yielding to the disciplines of life, instruction from the Word, and correction from people in our lives.

Let’s keep soft and tender hearts.

Love from Nancy Campbell

This is the same word that Jesus used when He often said: “Thy faith hath made thee WHOLE.” How do we receive these blessings for our body, soul, and spirit? By calling upon the name of the Lord. God promises that when we call upon Him that He will show us “great and mighty things which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). We can expect miracles! We can receive healing, protection, deliverance, and wholeness.

“The name of the LORD is a STRONG TOWER: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10).

Why do we forget to call upon Him? When we are desperate we call our friends, we call the doctor, we tell everyone we know, but do we call upon the Lord? Do we gather as a family and cry out to God who waits to hear our cries? God promises that when we call upon Him that He will answer and deliver (Psalm 91:15).

Let’s get into the habit of calling upon His name. Let’s be known as the people who call on His name

And one more thing. Did you know that this wonderful word “sozo” is also used to describe what God wants to do for us as mothers? 1 Timothy 2:15 (Williams) says: “Women will be saved through motherhood.” The NASB translations says that women will be “preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.”

As we embrace motherhood, we can also embrace the entirety of this promise that we will be saved, healed, preserved, delivered, and MADE WHOLE. You can call upon the Lord in childbirth and in every day-to-day challenge of motherhood.

We do not have to be a victim to our distresses and bodily afflictions. As mothers we do not call upon the Lord in vain, but according to His promises.

Be blessed,

Nancy Campbell

We keep on complaining and confessing our lack of trust in God. When the children of Israel faced the impossible—the sea in front of them and the Egyptians galloping behind them to wipe them out, God said: “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord . . . The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:13-14).

In other words, God told them to keep their mouths shut! When we can’t see a way out, or we can’t think of anything positive to say, the best thing is to say nothing! Your negative words bind you to your situation.

Shut your mouth and see what God will do.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Before Paul was converted, his whole passion was to bind for prison and destroy all those who called on the name of the Lord (Acts 9:14, 21). He knew which ones he wanted to throw in prison because they called on God’s name.

Is your family known as a family who call upon the name of the Lord? Would your neighbors consider you people who call upon the Lord? Do your friends think of you as a family who daily calls upon the Lord?

This is how we are meant to be known. Or perhaps we can’t be identified as people of the Lord after all. Jeremiah 10:25 always challenges me every time I read it: “Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name.” This Scripture reveals that the families who do not call upon the name of the Lord may as well be heathen families.

This reminds me of a powerful quote from James Russell Miller: “Christ must be our guest if our home is to be a fit place either for our children or for ourselves. If there is no sincere prayer in it, it is not a true home at all. It is only a heathen lodging-place!” It’s just as well this quote is not mine, or you might want to stone me! But if we are honest, we must admit it is true. How can we be known as God’s people if we don’t bother to call upon His name?

The early patriarchs all made altars as a place to call upon the name of the Lord. Check out Abram (Genesis 12:7, 8; 13:4, 18; and 21:33); Isaac (Genesis 26:25); and Jacob (Genesis 35:1-7).

Seek to make a time and place every morning and evening to gather your family together to call on God’s name. There is an unprecedented stirring of anger, hatred, and rebellion in this nation. It’s time for God’s people to pray--to really cry out to God. We are not fighting flesh and blood, but principalities and powers.

Will God’s people rise to be who they are meant to be? Will families arise to be “calling upon the Lord families”?

Will you be one of those families?

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

FURTHER EXHORTATIONS AND TESTIMONIES TO CALL UPON THE LORD
Genesis 4:26; Judges 16:28; 1 Samuel 12:17,18; 2 Samuel 22:4, 7; 1 Kings 18:24; 1 Chronicles 16:8; 2 Chronicles 7:14;
Psalm 4:1; 14:1 (53:4); 17:6; 18:3, 6; 27:7, 8; 28:1, 2; 31:17; 50:15; 55:16; 79:6; 80:18; 86:3-7; 88:9; 91:15, 16; 99:6; 105:1; 116:2-4, 13, 17; 118:5; 120:1; 145:18;
Isaiah 12:4; 43:22; 55:6; 58:8; 64:7; 65:24; Jeremiah 29:12; 33:3; Lamentations 3:55; Joel 3:32; Jonah 2:2; Zephaniah 3:9; Zechariah 13:9; Acts 2:21; 22:16; and Romans 10:13.

Love from Nancy Campbell

Painting by Puuung