Are you making it sweet? Have you said something very sweet to your husband today? Are you speaking sweetly to your children? You show the example for how your children willspeak. Build a sweet family, not a hedgehog family.
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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.
Are you making it sweet? Have you said something very sweet to your husband today? Are you speaking sweetly to your children? You show the example for how your children will
Save Me, Lord Jesus, from living in the flesh,
For when I do, my life gets in a mess!
Help me, instead, to look to You,
And live in the Spirit all the day through.
Save me, Lord Jesus, from speaking in the flesh,
For when I do, everyone is depressed!
Touch my lips with fire from Your altar,
Pour Your Spirit upon me; I don’t want to falter.
Save me, Lord Jesus, from wanting my way,
I want to obey Your voice each moment of the day,
I want to trust You fully with every decision,
And rather than mine, I want your vision!
Help me, Lord Jesus, to give up my will,
Instead of demanding my own rights still!
Help me to yield my body and my mind,
To You, my Savior, so loving and kind.
Save me from groveling with selfishness,
I want to think like you think and to confess,
That your ways and thoughts are higher than mine
And with your thoughts I want to get into line!
I confess You are with me in each battle I face,
I don’t have to worry, for You fight in my place,
As long as I trust You with all of my heart,
I know Your presence will never depart.
Thank you, dear Lord Jesus, Amen.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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I am so challenged. Hebrews 9:1 (JBP) says: “Now the first Agreement had certain rules for the service of God, and it had a Sanctuary, A HOLY PLACE IN THIS WORLD FOR THE ETERNAL GOD.” This Scripture speaks of the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in the wilderness. God dwelt in His Shekinah glory in the Holy of Holies. It is the holy place God chose to dwell on the earth. No man could enter this sacred place, except the High Priest once a year. And he dared not enter without carrying the blood.However, when Jesus died and shed His own spotless blood, the thick curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place tore from top to bottom. It is now open. Now in the New Covenant God wants to dwell in our hearts. Our lives are now the Holy of Holies for Him to dwell.
Is this true? Unbelievable! But yes. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says: “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and You are not your own?” The word “temple” is “naos” which is the word for the “Holy of Holies.” The word “hieron” is the word for the temple, but “naos” refers to the Holy of Holies.
Can you get this? God has chosen you to be His residence, a Holy of Holies where He can dwell.
Because God is a holy God, He looks for holy people in which to dwell in this world. We as the people of God are to be a holy people. A set apart people. A sanctified people. A suitable vessel for God’s holiness. We cannot afford to be friends with the world. James 4:4: says “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
God is a holy God. The Bible states “holy” three times because once is not enough to describe His holiness (Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8). Therefore, God wants holy people. holy parents, holy homes, and holy children—yes, God wants us to raise “godly” children (Malachi 2:15). The word is “elohim,” one of God’s names. He wants children in His likeness filling this world. He wants holy families.
Let’s answer honestly: Are we a worldly family? Or are we a holy family?
Be encouraged today,
Nancy Campbell
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“I don’t know how we are going to survive. My husband doesn’t earn enough money to even pay our bills.”“We couldn’t possibly have any more children. We only just make it with what we have already.”
And so, we continually make negative statements. I was very challenged as I read Hebrews 3:12 the other morning: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF, in departing from the living God.”
We tend to think it is a light thing not to trust God, don’t we? We are all guilty of not trusting. Well, I admit, I am. We worry, fret, and try to work out our problems with our own understanding. But God calls it wicked! Ouch!
Why is it so wicked? Because it belittles God. We make him into a little god of our own imagination, a god that can fit in with our finite thinking. But God is so much bigger. His ways are so much higher. His thoughts are beyond finding out.
In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus told us to pray “Deliver us from evil.” This is the exact same word (poneros) as the “evil” heart of unbelief. We must ask God to deliver us from this lack of trust.
Ephesians 6:16 encourages us to take up the shield of faith so we will be “able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked (poneros).” It’s the same Greek word again. With the shield of faith and the power of the name of Jesus we must quench these evil thoughts of unbelief. Evil? Yes, God calls them evil!
Let’s get to the nitty gritty in order understand the seriousness of our lack of trust in our God. Satan is called “the wicked one.” It’s the same word again. When we embrace belief, and make it part of our life instead of trusting God, we give access to the devil, who is the wicked one, and wants to keep us in unbelief.
Romans 12:9 tells us that attitude we must have to this evil: “Abhor that which is evil.” Same word again!
Let’s be like the women of old who “trusted in God” even I the most difficult circumstances (1 Peter 3:5).
Love from Nancy Campbell
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I have been thinking of the blessedness of motherhood. Yes, along with the blessedness is hard work and heartache. However, I believe that the devil robs mothers of the joys and glory of motherhood. Because God ordained motherhood and created us for this high purpose, the devil hates it. He hates what God mandates. He feeds us with lies to think we are wasting our lives when in fact, we are fulfilling the very perfect will of God. When we embrace motherhood, we are on Gods side.No other woman can compare with the highest favor that was ever given to a woman, a young teenager named Mary, who was privileged to carry the Son of God in her womb. The angel called her “highly favored” in Luke 1:28 and 30. This privilege was given to only one woman in the whole of history.
However, each time a new baby is conceived in a womb, it is also a God moment. It is God who gives the conception. It is God who creates this new, precious life in the womb—a life that has never lived before and there will never be anyone like this one again. And because God gives life and loves life, His favor is also upon every pregnant woman.
In the original Greek, the word for “highly favored” is “charitoo.” This word was never used before the New Testament! It means “to be accepted, to give grace to.” It was God’s grace to Mary to receive the privilege to carry Jesus in her womb. It is also God’s grace to us to carry a life in our womb.
Dear mother, don’t be deceived by the lies of the world and society around you. There is no higher mission you can do in your life than to carry a new human being, and more truthfully, an eternal soul in your womb.
Embrace the blessedness. Embrace the truth. Live in the joy of it. Live in the glory of it. Lift up your head for you are doing something eternal. Everything else you do in life will be left behind, but you will take this precious child into the eternal realm with you if you are faithful to lead him/her to salvation.
What an amazing assignment. You are giving a child the opportunity and privilege to experience the glory of eternity with Christ forever. It’s only in the “forever glory” that you will truly understand the enormity and power of carrying a child in your womb.
Be blessed,
Nancy Campbell
Painting “Waiting for the birth” by Marco Ortolan, Argentina (Oil on
Wood).
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When you hear about some who “walks with God” you imagine someone who walks a godly life and who does great things for God. You think, “I wish I could walk with God like that but I’m just mothering children in my home. I don’t have time to do anything special for God.”The opposite is true. To walk with God is to raise children. Two times the Bible says that “Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:21, 22). The full Scripture says: “Enoch walked with God . . . and begat sons and daughters.” Here is a man who had such a wonderful relationship with God that he didn’t even die. “God took him.” The NLT renders it: “Enoch lived 365 years, WALKING IN CLOSE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.”
Dear mother, God wants you to walk in close fellowship with Him as you mother your children. You are not doing this great job on your own. God is with you. Every moment. When you are doing the most mundane tasks. When you are doing the same tasks repeatedly each day. Not one chore is insignificant. Each one is sacred because He is with you and abides in you.
No matter how you feel. God is with you. He is Emmanuel, GOD WITH US! Your feelings are not facts. They come and go and change with the wind. But the real truth is that whatever is happening, good or bad, GOD IS WITH YOU!
Acknowledge His presence with you. Thank Him that He is with you. Thank Him that you are in His perfect will as you mother your children. Rejoice that He is with you. Thank Him for every little blessing that happens—a smile from one of your children, the adoring look of your baby as you nurse him at the breast, food to prepare for lunch and supper, your husband who provides for you, and on and on. Bring every little sigh to Him. Don’t take one burden on yourself because He is with you to carry your burdens and He is so much better at it that you. He is bigger than every problem you face.
God delights to be with you in your home. He created you for the home. He created you for motherhood. He planned each son and daughter He has given to you and He is with you to help you raise them for His glory. He wants to walk with you and He wants you to walk with Him in close relationship just like Enoch did, all the while you are raising sons and daughters.
Be encouraged today,
Nancy Campbell
Painting by William Sergeant Kendall.
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Dear Canadian readers,Forgive me. It has just come to my attention that the new email address for all Canadian changes is wrong in the current magazine. I was meant to change it and somehow omitted to do so. Naughty me!
Please make note of the change. The new address to add a new address, give a change of address, or to make a cancelation is as follows:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
If you have sent any changes to Marie at the old address, they will be lost! They will not have got to her. Can you please send them again? Make a note of this address for the future.
Marie Ferreira does an amazing job in upkeeping the Canadian data base and she wants to make sure she keeps it correct. Marie Ferreira has been faithfully doing this for years and I am so grateful for her love and faithfulness to the ministry of Above Rubies.
So, here it is again:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
P.S. To send donations for Above Rubies in Canada, contact Anita Johnson: PO BOX 68, KRONAU, SK, S0G 2T0 / E-transfer: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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We either yield to our flesh and our feelings or we yield to the life of Christ who dwells within in us. “It is no longer I that liveth, but Christ who liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Repost from my friend, Rosa Brandt.
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...a miserable atmosphere. Fill your home with joy, happiness, and a thankful heart instead. Show thankfulness to your husband. Be thankful for your children. Encourage a thankful and grateful spirit in the home, starting with yourself!
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Satisfying, supplying, succoring, serving, supporting, strengthening, sheltering, sustaining, showering, and saving from harm.
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“A woman’s glory is to reveal the motherly heart of God to watching world.”- D. Miller
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Good question, especially when our public schools are becoming more liberal by the day, promoting transgender, alternative lifestyles, Islam, and socialism. Why would Christian parents send their children to be brainwashed by deception and liberalism?
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There is a vast land of motherhood waiting for you to explore. Don’t hang around the edges. Embrace it all. And the more you pour into your marriage the more it will blossom.
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I wonder if we really understand the power of God’s words that He releases into the universe. He spoke, and the worlds came into being. All it took was for God to open His mouth and speak.And then we read the first words He spoke to the man and woman He created: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion . . ." These are not idle words. They are a divine mandate. They are an eternal law which progresses to a conclusion. The people who obey this law and are fruitful are the people who will take dominion.
Satan knows God’s plans and seeks to thwart them. God wants His people to be fruitful and take dominion for Him in the earth. He wants His image to be revealed in the earth. He wants the revelation of His name, His salvation, truth, love, compassion, and righteousness to fill the earth.
The easiest way for the devil to stop the image of God filling the earth is to subtly brainwash God’s people to stop having children. He has been very successful. Most Christians today think God’s first mandate are idle words. They have been deceived to think they don’t have to take any notice of them at all. They think they have a better way than God.
How can we be true believers In God’s infallible Word if we don’t think His words are important? We have become so deceived that we don’t even realize the state in which we are in. Instead of righteousness filling the land, we see the encroachment of evil. Most people in the church have the same small families as the world.
Most believers are so entrenched in this world system that they continue sending their children to public schools and colleges where they are propagandized in liberal doctrine, alternative lifestyles, transgenderism,, and antagonism to God and His Word.
When will God’s people start standing on God’s side instead of the devil’s side?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Painting by Abigale Palmer
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The following is an article from Katie LaPierre. I know you will be encouraged.
CHOOSING JOY
If we are constantly joyless and grumpy, why would our children want to have anything to do with Jesus?
If they don't know Him yet and we claim to know Him but grouch around the house, why would they think knowing Him makes a difference?
I must crucify my flesh hourly and CHOOSE joy.
Choose not to say that ugly thing I want to say.
Choose not to bark at my children.
Why?
Because I want to make Jesus attractive!
In a world full of attractive things to our children's flesh, we have to, with God's help, make Jesus more attractive.
If we show our children that life with Jesus means pouting and whining and discontentment, why would they choose Him over a world that looks like it creates fun and laughter and excitement?
Today when you are tempted to lose it or whine or complain, remind yourself that you represent Jesus to your children.
Remind yourself that you are called to die to self and live for Christ.
There's way too much at stake to constantly feed our flesh. Let's starve the flesh and feed the spirit today!
Let's point our children toward a wonderful, joy-giving Savior!
Abide in Him today and draw from His strength. We need His strength because our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak.
KATIE LAPIERRE
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Eternally Minded Mamas
Picture: Katie with her six reversal babies! Isn’t this so wonderful? Six beautiful children who would not be in this world and who would miss out on the glorious eternal world if she and her husband had not opened their hearts to God’s plan.
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We have such a responsibility to lead our children the right way, or we are “blind guides” and both we and our children will fall into the pit (Matthew 15:14).I am sure we’ll all concede that God’s ways are the best ways. That’s why we must constantly seek God’s Word to know if we are living in the truth or not. I believe this is especially necessary for us mothers.
Let me tell you about a very important principle I learned as a young mother. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says: “He (Jesus Christ) died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” These words are the opposite to the attitude that is prevalent today. Most Christian women confess they must have time for themselves, time to get away from their children, time to go out and relax, and so on. These things are nice, but they don’t always work out practically when we have little children.
Therefore, what should we do? Do we get into a state of self-pity because we don’t have all the time that we want for ourselves? Do we have an entitlement attitude of “I deserve to have my time and I deserve this and that?” Or do we embrace the principle that we are not meant to live unto ourselves, but unto Jesus who died for us. Jesus didn’t live His life to Himself but poured out His life for us.
Most people would like to be great and known for something important in their lives. That’s why some mothers are discontented with motherhood. They feel they should be out in their career, making a name for themselves. But what is God’s principle? If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, you must become the servant of all (Mark 10:42-45). “A servant,” did you say? Yes, that’s what Jesus was. And because He humbled himself to become a servant, God highly exalted Him (Philippians 2:5-11).
I’m always challenged by Jesus’ words in Mark 8:35: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” This is an eternal principle, and it works.
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
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Are you content in your home? Are you content in your soul? I think it starts in our soul, don’t you? If we don’t have rest and contentment in our soul, how will we have it in our home?But we must ask another question. How can we experience contentment? Is it dependent upon our feelings? No. “A thousand times No,” as my husband says. (It’s one of his favorite sayings regarding things that are wrong!). And when it comes to something that is right, he says, “Yes, a million times Yes!”
I believe everything begins with our will. I notice in Exodus 2:21 that “Moses was CONTENT TO DWELL with the man.” This man was Reuel, the priest of Midian who lived out in the desert. Wow, this was the opposite of the life he had known--one of luxury, servants waiting upon him, and the best this world could offer.
The word “content” in this Scripture is “ya’al” and means “to be willing, to make up one’s mind, to be determined, to resolve.” Now, that’s interesting, isn’t it? His contentment was not because it was a beautiful situation, one of ease and comfort, and just what he had been looking for years!
Instead, Moses had to determine in his heart that he would be content in this situation. He had to make up his mind to do it.
I believe we must apply the same resolve in our lives. It is God’s plan to give us a home to dwell in. It is God’s plan to raise the children He gives us in a home. It is God’s plan for us to make a sanctuary, firstly for God, and then for our husband and children. Therefore, we must come to that place in our minds where we know we are in the will of God. And therefore, because it is His plan, we forget feelings. We forget imagining another life outside the home. We cast aside all self-pity, grumbling, and groaning.
We make up our mind and determine to be content. We resolve to be content. And as we do, we find contentment. Everything in life is how you think in your mind and your attitude to your situation.
May you be blessed with a contented spirit today. There’s nothing like contentment to bring peace and calm to your soul. It’s great for your health. It’s great for the atmosphere of your home. It’s great for the blessing of everyone around you. And it’s great for you!
Be blessed,
Nancy Campbell
Painting by Richard T Pranke
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The devil wants our children. He will take the souls, minds, and hearts of our children if we let him. He wants to take them down his road of destruction. We cannot give him an inch, or he takes a mile. We must be fierce guarders of our homes and our children’s hearts.
Because the devil hates everything that God loves and has planned for His creation, he robs women of their God-given home and mothering by wooing them into their careers. He robs children of being raised in the home which is their inheritance. He robs families of more children that God has eternally destined for them by contraception, sterilization, and abortion. He robs marriages through pornography and adultery. He robs our silver and gold by tempting us to spend it on wasted material pleasures instead of God’s kingdom.
We see an example in the life of King Ahab. Ben-Hadad, king of Syria sent messengers to king Ahab of Israel: “Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.” And what did king Ahab answer? “My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.” He even stated: “I denied him not” (1 Kings 20: 2, 3, 7). Can you believe it? Because of the fear of man, or because he didn’t have the courage to stand up against king Ben-Hadad, he surrendered to him. He was prepared to give up everything that was precious to him.
How sad to read such a testimony? And yet we can so easily get caught. God gives us our children to raise for Him and for God’s destiny. And yet we give them to daycares and hand them over to the state education system.
Somehow, even Christian parents don’t mind that their children are now being taught that Islam is a peaceful religion while the Bible is outlawed in our schools.
Many children in state schools have been asked to draw posters of the Five Pillars of Islam and pictures of the Prophet Muhammad, sing Islamic songs, wear Islamic clothes, construct a 3-D model of a mosque, design an Islamic prayer rug, and do calligraphy for “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is His prophet.” Yes, this is in American schools.
Some parents don’t seem to mind that the gay agenda now pushes their lifestyle in our state schools through books and curriculums. One of their latest books available to schools is “It’s Perfectly Normal” which contains material so sexually explicit that, according to the American Life League, it has been ruled inappropriate for prisoners by a Washington State court.
How can Christian parents not be desperately concerned about the promotion of transgender to the children in our schools?
Let’s not give in like Ahab. Let’s have the courage to rise up and say No to the enemy! Say No to his robbing of all that God has given us.
Speak your confession out loud: “I will not give anything to the devil. He has no right over me. I am God’s possession. He has no right over my children, and I will not give him any authority over them. They are God’s possession.”
It’s time to say No.
Blessings to you today,
Nancy Campbell
Photo: Real life! An older brother homeschooling while watching over his adored little brother.
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Here is a wonderful idea from Katie LaPierre:
Each of my children that can read (six years and up) have their own dinner notebook. You can get these spiral bound notebooks for a dollar at Walmart. Each child puts their name on the front and every day during homeschooling they write in their dinner notebook their favorite things that they learned that day. At least four sentences.
When I call everyone to the table, I tell them: "Go to the bathroom, wash your hands, and grab your dinner notebook!" Each child comes to the table ready to share.
One of the things I love most about dinner notebooks is how it benefits all who are that are at the table.
• It blesses the one that is reading because as they speak it aloud, they are better able to cement into their minds what they learned and enjoyed that day.
• It helps them to practice their reading and speaking skills.
• It excites them to share with their family something they learned.
• It benefits all the hearers because we get to practice listening skills/showing interest in others.
• AND we get to learn with the reader!
Our dinner notebooks lead to many wonderful conversations.
KATIE LAPIERRE
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Woodland, Washington, USA
Scot and Katie with their nine children: Rhea (15), Ricky (14), John (13), Charis 10 (first—reversal baby), Chloe (
, Noah (6), Ruby (4), Lydia (3), George (1). Did you notice that they are blessed with six reversal babies? And reversal baby number 7 is due in October! What glorious blessings!
, Noah (6), Ruby (4), Lydia (3), George (1). Did you notice that they are blessed with six reversal babies? And reversal baby number 7 is due in October! What glorious blessings!
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