Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

Through the weekly and daily devotionals you can be constantly encouraged in your great role of parenting, the highest career in the nation. You can also stay updated on what's happening with the Above Rubies ministry.

Strengthening Families Across the World through the encouragement of women in their high calling from God as wives, mothers and homemakers.

God’s promise to Israel.

GodsPromiseIsrael“Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought”
(Isaiah 41:11-12).
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HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE?

HowMuchLoveA modern trend in parenting is to make our children happy. Whatever we can do to make them happy is the aim, even if it’s giving in to their whims and wants.
 
I don’t believe this is the kind of parenting that works. Of course, it’s easy parenting. It takes effort and disciplined parenting to train children to become mature adults who are ready for life and ready for marriage and raising a family.
 
Our purpose should not just be to make them happy (although of course we want them to be happy) but to train them to be responsible, hard-working, honorable, trustworthy, reliable, unselfish, evil-hating, and God-loving people.
 
Some parents think that easy parenting is loving parenting. I don’t think this is true love. True love longs for our children to become all that God wants them to be. True love deals with the negative and selfish ways of our children. True love does not want our children to grow up taking bad habits into their adult life. When we allow our children to get into the habits of disobedience, rebellion, and moods, it shows we don’t care about them at all. We are not thinking of what it will be like when they get married one day.
 
The Bible tells us that God corrects those He loves. Actually, it’s stronger than that. Hebrews 12:6 says: “For whom the Lord LOVETH he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” That’s because He loves us and longs and yearns for us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).
 
Of course there is balance. We ultimately want our children to live in a home of happiness, joy, fun, and laughter! But in reality, this doesn’t work if we constantly face rebellion and moods and disobedience. That’s miserable parenting. No wonder some parents don’t want any more children.
When we train our children, we can then relax, and enjoy the atmosphere of a home of peace.
 
Proverbs 29:17 states: “Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.”
 
How much do you love your children?
 
Love from Nancy Campbell
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Israel promise for today:

IsrealyFlowers
“Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land ASSUREDLY with MY WHOLE HEART and with MY WHOLE SOUL
(Jeremiah 32:41).
Do you feel the heart of God in this Scripture?
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FULL TIME SERVICE

FullTimeService

The greatest mission work in the world is motherhood!

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Teach your children God’s promises for Israel:

IsrealgrapesAnd I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God” (Amos 9:14-15).
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MYRIADS OF REWARDS

MyriadsRewardsMany mothers find cooking for their families a chore. “Oh no, not another meal to cook for this hungry family.” “Here I go again, day after day with no let up!”
 
Dear mother, can I encourage you that preparing meals for your family is not insignificant? Do you remember what Jesus said in Mark 9:41? “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink IN MY NAME, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.”
 
These are the words of Jesus. They will never fail. If Jesus says that we will not lose our reward if we give a cup of water in His name, what about preparing a WHOLE MEAL?
 
Every time you prepare a meal for your family—breakfast, lunch, and supper, God is watching. When you do it with the right attitude, when you do it as unto Him, when you do it in His name, He promises that you will not lose your reward.
 
Oh, what a blessing to be a mother. Just think of how many rewards you are going to receive from cooking meals day after day and year after year! And especially as you prepare each meal “as unto the Lord” and with a joyful attitude. This attitude takes you to a whole new realm. Because you are doing it for the Lord, you will want to make each meal special, knowing that Jesus desires to sit with you at your meal.
 
Don’t you love these words?
Christ is the Head of this home,
The Unseen Guest at every meal,
The Silent Listener to every conversation.
 
Many people have these wonderful words hanging on their wall. It’s a great reminder, isn’t it? Jesus wants to be included at your meal table.
 
I hope you have a wonderful time at your meal table this evening as you sit down with your family.
 
Many blessings to you today,
 
Nancy Campbell
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SACRED AND SECULAR

SAcredSecularDid you notice I wrote the words, sacred AND secular, rather than sacred OR secular? God does not separate religious things with secular things. He wants everything in our lives to be touched with His divine presence. He wants everything in our homes—each person, each piece of furniture, and even all the pots and pans and utensils to be anointed with His presence (Zechariah 14:20, 21).
 
Everything that God created is holy. All His creation is holy. God doesn’t see a church building as holy and the trees and flowers as earthly. They are all holy unto Him. They all praise Him.
 
In Exodus chapter 30:22-33 God tells Moses how to make the anointing oil and what to do with it. They had to use a gallon of olive and oil and four different spices—pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia. It was well-balanced—two sweet spices along with myrrh which is bitter tasting. Myrrh and Cassia speaking of the fragrance of Christ through His suffering.
 
But most importantly, this oil was to be holy! It was called the HOLY ANOINTING OIL. Verse 32 states: “It is holy, and it shall be holy unto you.” And God commanded him to anoint every piece of furniture and every vessel in the whole place—and the high priest and his sons.
 
One of the pieces of furniture in the tabernacle was the table of shewbread. This table had to be anointed with this holy anointing oil too.
 
Everything in the tabernacle was a type for us today. He wants us to be anointed with this sweet and holy anointing oil which is presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He also wants every material thing in our homes to be anointed with His presence. He wants our tables to be anointed with His sweet and holy anointing.
 
You most probably feel that your dinner table is the opposite to sweet and holy! You are in the throes of raising and training children who are not robots. They don’t like their food. They complain. Some may argue. They cry. Sometimes its bedlam!
 
Please don’t despair dear mother. Keep training. Keep praying and asking God to pour out His sweet anointing on your family mealtimes. Pray for His holy anointing to come to you. You will reap what you sow. As you train your children and they grow older, you will move into such blessed and holy times together.
 
Without a vision nothing happens. But when we have a vision and understand that God wants to come to our tables and manifest His sweet and holy anointing, we will press toward this vision in our family lives.
 
Love from Nancy Campbell
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SO MANY MISSING

SoManyMissingI was arrested by a Scripture I read this morning in Isaiah 26:18 (NET): “We cannot produce deliverance on the earth, people to populate the earth are not born.” The NLT says: “We have not given salvation to the earth, nor brought life into the world.”
 
Wow, these words are very powerful, and yet true. There are so many hurt and broken people in this world and all around us. There are so many who need salvation, deliverance, and healing. God is waiting to show them His salvation and deliver them from all their bondages. But how does it happen? God uses His people. We are His body on the earth, and He works through us.
 
The sad thing is that thousands of people are missing from the earth. Men and women who God wanted on this earth to bring His deliverance and salvation. But they are not here because for the few decades or so God’s people have thrown away God’s plan and decided they had a better plan.
 
Instead of receiving the children God planned from them, they limited their families to the average two-child family in the nation today. Millions are missing. We have not populated the nation with the godly seed. We don’t even have a majority to vote for righteousness, let alone the army of God’s people who should be bringing salvation and deliverance to the lost and hurting.
 
Oh, that the eyes of God’s people will be opened to God’s ultimate plan. The more children God gives us to bring into this world, the more impact we have for the kingdom of God. God wants His salvation and glory to fill the earth. He wants His people to be “more and mightier” than the heathen (Exodus 1:7-12).
 
Psalm 105:24 tells us that God “increased his people greatly: and made them stronger than their enemies.” We become weaker when we diminish. We become stronger when we multiply. These are plain facts. Plus, they are Bible language.
 
I love the quote from Frank Boreham: "We fancy that God can only manage His world by big battalions abroad, when all the while He is doing it by beautiful babies at home. When a wrong wants righting, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants opening, GOD SENDS A BABY INTO THE WORLD TO DO IT. That is why long, long ago, a Babe was born in Bethlehem."
 
Let’s live God’s way,
 
Nancy Campbell
 
 
Painting by Franziska Schenkel
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ARE YOU COMMITTED TO THE TASK?

CommittedDon’t be swayed by the lies of feminism that degrade the role of wife and mother. Embrace who God created you to be.

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WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT A BIG FAMILY?

BigFamiliesGreatby Kathy Walker
1. You have more people loving and serving the Lord.
2. You get to see how God provides.
3. There's almost always someone around to visit with, play with, pray with, or read to.
4. You get lots of experience in sharing.
5. You get lots of experience in communicating.
6. Your hand-me-down clothes are often softer than new clothes.
7. You have your own cheering squad in whatever you do.
8. You get lots of constructive criticism.
9. You can have a big party without inviting anyone from outside your family.
10. You can have your own basketball, volleyball, baseball, or soccer teams
11. You see lots of different outlooks on the same things.
12. You experience the maximum "many hands make light work."
13. You get to see at close range how God uses people with different perspectives and spiritual gifts to accomplish His purposes.
14. You can have your own choir at home with all voice parts.
15. You can read or perform plays together and there is a different person for every part.
16. You can have your own orchestra.
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TRUE PRIVILEGE AND POWER...

EveryMotherPrivilegeIf only we could truly comprehend the privilege and power we have as mothers to bring into this world an eternal soul who will live forever! Without mothers this world would come to a halt and eternity would stop filling.

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THE GLORY OF MOTHERHOOD

MotherhoodGlory“O that God would give every mother a vision of the GLORY AND SPLENDOR of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse into the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God’s world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers and she would commit to no other hands the sacred and holy trust given to her.”
 
~ James Russell Miller (1840 – 1921).
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THE GOOD LIFE

mother daughter cookingOur God is a good God. And because He created us in His likeness and image, He wants us to reveal His goodness. He wants us to be good wives and mothers. Oh my, sometimes we feel as though we are “bad” wives and mothers. We can fail so often.
 
But it’s good to encourage one another, isn’t it? Our best encouragement comes from God’s Word itself. Did you know that the word “good” occurs 720 times in the Bible? It’s all about God being a good God and us doing good things. And many times this word is written especially to us as wives and mothers.
 
1 Timothy 5:10 tells us we must have a REPUTATION FOR GOOD WORKS. And what are these specific good works?
 
Embrace child rearing
Practice hospitality
Washe the saints’ feet
Help those in distress
Show forth all kinds of good works
 
This Scripture also tells us to DILIGENTLY fulfill all these good works. Acts 9:36-42 gives us the example of how we are to be FULL OF GOOD WORKS.
 
1 Timothy 2: 10 tells us to DRESS ourselves with good works. We should be more concerned about doing good works than worrying about what we wear.
 
Titus 2:3 exhorts the older women to be TEACHERS OF GOOD THINGS. And what are these specific good things? I now you know them but it’s good to remind ourselves, isn’t it?
 
To be self-controlled
To love our husbands
To love our children
To be discreet
To be pure
To be keepers at home
To be good and kind
To be submissive to our own husbands
 
Do you notice that all these things are to do with home and family? They are not only good things, but BEAUTIFUL things. The word also means “lovely and beautiful.” The Passion translation says the older women are to be “teachers of beautiful things.” God doesn’t want us to do them in a skimpy way. Grudgingly. Or survival mode. No, He wants us to do them exuberantly.
 
Dear mother, you are DOING A BEAUTIFUL WORK in your home as you pour out God’s nurturing heart to your children and to the needy around you.
 
Be encouraged and blessed today,
 
Nancy Campbell
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NEVER BE ASHAMED

ProudCalledMotherNever be ashamed of your great career of raising your children in your home. You are in the perfect will of God. You are fulfilling the biblical mandate. You have the most powerful career in the nation!

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A CHEERY GOOD MORNING

CheeryMorningChatting with a couple recently, the husband said to me, “I’m concerned about our teenage daughter. When she gets up in the morning, she is very uncommunicative and miserable. The wife spoke up on her behalf and said, “Oh I think she’s just tired.”
 
I couldn’t let it pass. “Just a moment,” I replied. You don’t allow her to get up with this attitude, do you? And if you think it’s tiredness, make sure she gets to bed earlier.”
 
There is no excuse for any member of the family to come to the family kitchen in the morning with a sour face and uncommunicative attitude. We must teach our children to come with a cheery Good Morning. Of course, as parents, we set the example.
 
As each one comes into your kitchen each morning, greet them with a smile and a cheery welcome such as, “Good morning, welcome to the day.” If they don’t give a cheery reply, keep saying it until they do. Get them into the habit.
 
Dear mothers, family life is where we prepare our children for marriage. Your children should never have to go to a marriage seminar to prepare for marriage. You are preparing them each day of their lives. You are training them in the right habits for their future lives.
 
What a terrible thing for a husband to wake up to a wife with a sour face and grumpy spirit. And non-communicative. That doesn’t build a marriage. It slowly pulls it down. Don’t ever let your children get into this habit in your home.
 
Don’t let them get into entitlement habits either. They will destroy their future marriage too. Deal with every negative habit in your children’s lives that would be detrimental to their future marriage, and the future success of their lives.
 
I cannot even believe how many parents allow their children to be a “wet rag” in the home, stay in their sour moods, or act selfishly.
 
Don’t allow it to continue for one minute! You are setting them up for heartache later on.
 
Blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell
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GOD BEGAN WITH THE TABLE

BeganAtTableDuring testimony time at an Above Rubies retreat, a mother shared how they had just moved into a new home. As she began to get everything into shape, she decided to begin at the center of her home. She said, “I began with my table, and then my dining room. I wanted to make them special and beautiful. I want to make them a place of wonderful memories for my children.”
 
This lovely mother was doing the right thing. When God told Moses how to build the tabernacle in the wilderness, He showed Moses where to specifically place the three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place.
 
The first piece of furniture was the table! God began with the table, which was called “the Table of Shewbread.” God said it was to be placed on the north side in the Holy Place. The Scriptures tell us that Heaven is in the north, and God wanted the table to point toward Heaven where He already has a table.
 
Did you know that God had tables in His heavenly kingdom before we ever had them on earth? God is the originator of the table. And the table in your home is important to Him. He wants to come and dwell with you at your table.
 
Make your table a place of beauty and a place that draws the family together.
 
He also wants it to be in order. Did you know that God loves order? In Exodus 40:4, 22, 23 God said: “And thou shalt bring in the table, and SET IN ORDER the things that are to be set in order upon it . . . And he (Moses) put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward . . . And he set the bread IN ORDER UPON IT before the LORD (in the presence of the Lord).”
 
Proverbs 9:2 tells us that the wise woman “furnishes her table.” She sets her table and makes it beautiful. There is something about preparing an orderly table. When you set an orderly table, it impacts those who come to the table. When your children see an orderly table, subconsciously they want to be orderly too.
 
We must care for every room in our home but remember to start with your table and dining room, because that’s where God starts. Make sure that this part of your home is lovely.
 
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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REAPING WHAT YOU SEW

HardWorkBlessingsMotherhood is hard work. Managing your home efficiently is hard work. Keeping your garden is hard work. But it is all with it. And hard work never killed anyone. It is good for your soul and good for your body. My father, the hardest working man I have ever known in my life, used to say, “There’s no fun like hard work.” He reveled in it.

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MOM IS WOW!

MomIsWowMothers are finders and keepers,
They are comforters of weepers,
They are luller-abye for sleepers,
Mum is WOW!
 
Mothers are good-manners makers,
They are temperature-takers,
They are the best of birthday bakers,
Mum is WOW!
 
Mothers are sick-bed sit-besiders,
They are hiding place providers,
They are pin-the-tail guiders,
Mum is WOW!
 
Mothers are prayer makers in the nights,
They are enders of quarrels and fights,
They are teachers of duties and rights,
Mum is Wow!
 
~ Julia Fields
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SOMETIMES IT GETS A LITTLE HAIR-RAISING

HairRaisingI love testimony time at our Above Rubies retreats when women share their stories. I love hearing about the little anecdotes too. One mother shared how she loves wearing her I LOVE MOTHERHOOD bracelet, but it went missing. Guess where she found it? In her toddler’s potty with the pee!
 
She washed it clean, and it was all ready to wear again!
 
She shared how this can be a little bit like motherhood. It’s certainly not all perfect. It can even get pretty dirty. And we as mothers are not perfect either. We can get angry and shout! Oh help! That’s spoilt our lovely mothering day.
 
But praise the Lord, we have an advocate. We can repent and ask forgiveness and our Savior is always ready to forgive and wash us clean.
 
When you lose your temper ,don’t give up. Come to Jesus. Ask His forgiveness and for His precious blood to wash you clean. 1 John 1:9 says: “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
 
Things may get dirty from time to time, but you don’t have to stay dirty, dear mother. Keep washed and clean in the precious blood of Jesus.
 
Have a wonderful mothering day.
 
Love to you,
 
Nancy Campbell
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WHAT’S IT LIKE IN YOUR HOME?

WhatsItLikeWhat kind of an atmosphere should be in our homes? Jesus showed us when He told us how to pray. Read the Lord’s Prayer again in Matthew 6:9-13. The Luke 11:2 passage says: “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth . . . ”
 
What a powerful statement: “as in heaven, so in earth.” Read this over and over. Let the amazingness of this truth sink into your mind and heart. Wow, I need to do this every day! Let it fill your being. Write it out in big letters and pin it up in your kitchen.
 
Can you believe it? God wants His will to be accomplished in our homes just as it is in Heaven, His home. God wants the atmosphere of heaven to be the atmosphere of your home. God’s wants His presence to fill your home. This is His perfect will for you. This is the prayer Jesus wants you to pray for your home every day. Start praying it today.
 
What’s the atmosphere like in heaven? We haven’t been there yet, but we know it is filled with harmony and unity. We know it is filled with light and glory. We know it is filled with love and joy. We know that it is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
 
We know that it embraces children. When the disciples tried to shoo the little children away from Jesus, He rebuked them and said: “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” Children are very much part of the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:13-16; and Luke 18:15 16).
 
We know that it involves eating together around the table for when Jesus spoke to His disciples, He loved to tell them about His table in His heavenly kingdom (Matthew 8:11; Luke 13:29; 22:29-30; and Revelation 19:9).
 
“Help, how can I make this happen?” you cry out. “This is beyond me! How can I have the atmosphere of heaven when I often scream and yell at the children?” “I’m tired of being a servant and I’m angry with my husband and he does nothing to help me,” another mother sighs.
 
Don’t worry, dear mother, you can’t do it on your own, so stop trying. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 says: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, THAT THE EXCELLENCY OF THE POWER MAY BE OF GOD, AND NOT OF US
 
God has shined in your heart so you can reveal His light to your children and to all you meet. You are just an “earthen vessel” with no power to do anything. It’s not your light, but God’s light that shines through you. It’s not your longsuffering, but God’s patience that flows through you. It’s not your love, but God’s love in you. Your love runs out easily, but God’s love never runs dry. Psalm 107:1 (Msg) says: “His love never runs out!”
 
Each new day you can come to Him and replenish from His inexhaustible well.
 
God wants to bring a bit of heaven to your home today. Yield yourself to Him so He can shine His attributes through you. Invite Him to come in and fill every room in your home. Invite Him to take His place at the table with you when you sit down to eat. Invite Him to fill you to overflowing so you will overflow with His love, His joy, His longsuffering, His patience, and His self-control.
 
And don’t forget to write these words and pin them up in your kitchen a daily reminder…
 
“As in God’s home, so in my home!”
 
Love from Nancy Campbell
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Above Rubies Address

AboveRubies
Email Nancy

PO Box 681687
Franklin, TN 37068-1687

Phone : 931-729-9861
Office Hrs 9am - 5pm, M - F, CTZ