PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 336: BOOTS ON THE GROUND

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 336: BOOTS ON THE GROUND

Courtney Kelly joins me today. She and her husband were not communicating but God showed her what to do? What did He tell her? What’s the secret?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Today I have Courtney Kelly with me again, so that’s going to be exciting. This morning Kelly would like to discuss with me about their family devotions time. She thought it would be good to discuss it together on this podcast. What do you actually call your time together, Courtney?

Courtney: We just call it Bible Time.

Nancy: Bible time.

Courtney: Bible Time. [laughter]

Nancy: That’s great! Everybody has their different names. It doesn’t really matter what you call it, as long as you do it! Some people call it “Bible Time,” some “Worship Time.” We call it “Family Devotions.

I think I may have told you before, the people in Holland have a very interesting name for it. I found that out as I was speaking one time at a family retreat in Belgium. I was being interpreted by a Dutch lady, because everyone speaks Dutch over there, so the interpretation was in Dutch. When we go to Europe, we always have to speak by interpretation.

I was speaking about family devotions, and the interpreter stopped. She was fumbling for a word. We eventually worked it out, but I asked my friend who had organized the retreat, afterwards I said, “Why was she having problems with that word? Because I know that you do family devotions. Many of the families do that.” She said, “Well, we don’t call it that. We call it “Finishing up the Meal.’” I had never heard of that before.

But I thought, “How true, and how amazing!” Because it really goes along with the vision God gave me so many years ago, that the table is the place where we feed the whole man, not just their hungry tummies. We feed our children’s bodies, souls, and spirits. So, we cook a wonderful, healthy meal. All the children come running because they’re hungry, and we feed their tummies.

But that’s not enough. We have to feed their souls, and that’s why I’m a great believer in having dialog and discussion at the table, so we can really get to the nitty gritty with our children, and we can all be involved. I’ve never been one who believes in that saying from the dim dark ages, where “Children should be seen but not heard.”

Well, I’m sorry. Our table was opposite to that. You could most probably hear us down the street with all my loud and very, very vocal children! As they got older, and this is one of the wonderful things, ladies, is that we talk about coming together for the family meal table, and coming together for devotions.

In the beginning, when your children are little, there’s lots of challenges. Children aren’t perfect. I can remember sometimes when I thought, “Wow! That was just impossible!” But you keep doing it, and you keep training. You get the reward. As your children get older, it’s the habit of their life!

So, you get to these most wonderful and amazing times when discussions around the table . . . I still miss them. In fact, I love it when we can get our whole family together because you can hardly hear yourself think. But it’s always so amazing, and so incredible. In fact, I remember when Evangeline went out on a mission trip. She went to India, and then she went to Israel. Then she went to Africa (Uganda).

I remember she was in Africa. I got this letter from her. Back then it was still mainly communicating by letters, not all the social media we have today. “Oh, Mom, oh, how I miss the family meal table! Could you just get a tape recorder and tape it, and send it to me?” Well, one night when all the children were home, because some were married by this time, I put the tape recorder on. Nobody knew it was on. It was discussion and hubbub of voices, and oh, goodness me! I sent it to her. Oh, she said, “It was like music to my ears!”

Then, of course, we feed the body. We feed the soul. But if we don’t feed the spirit, we send our children away from the table empty. The inner man, which is more important than the outer man is often starved! So, they had this incredible phrase. We are now finishing up the meal. They finish up the meal with the Word of God, feeding the spirits of their children, feeding their inner man. Isn’t that so great?

Of course, what people used to call it was “The Family Altar.” That’s died out. Now nobody even seems to know what that word means. But it actually comes from the Bible. It comes from Leviticus 6, where God told Moses to build the altar, and how that the fire upon the altar was to keep going. It was never, ever, ever to go out. Even when they traveled, they couldn’t let it go out. It was to be always burning.

God showed them how they could keep it burning, and that was coming to that altar, taking out the ashes, and putting on more wood every morning and every evening. It was a morning and evening principle. That’s where they got that phrase, “The Family Altar.” It was a place to meet with God, because God said, “At that altar, I will meet with you” (Exodus 29:42-45). That’s what a family altar is. We no longer build altars of stone or wood. We don’t do anything like that. But it’s a time and a place where we come to meet with God.

Anyway, tell us about what happened at your home.

Courtney: Well, I’ll just go back. My husband, and my parents, we didn’t grow up having any Bible time at home. Ever, really. My mom got saved when I was 11. She would put little Scriptures around the house for her to memorize. Of course, I memorized all of them, and they’re the Scriptures that I know best to this day.

But as far as just a Bible time, or a Bible reading, we really just depended on church services for it. It was not something that was shown to us when we were children. When we were even young parents, we didn’t know anything about this. It wasn’t until we saw the example in other people that we started doing it for ourselves.

Rob would gather the little toddlers at that time. He would use a story Bible with pictures. I remember they would always sit on the living room floor. All the little faces would be in the center. They would all be laying down. It was so adorable and heartwarming, as a mother, to see them doing that. Then they would pray at the end. Those little mumbled prayers that no one could understand. It really became the foundation of our evening way back then.

We realized that if they could memorize those pictures, then they could study their Bibles separately from us. Because like you said, they have a spirit that needs to be fed. If they’re not, they’re starving. You can see it come out in their behaviors and all of that. So, they need to be fed the Word.

Of course, they can’t do it for themselves when they’re really little. When they get older, they can. That was so important, because that’s one of our main responsibilities as parents is to get the Word into them, and to show them Who God is, and what God loves, and what God hates. We’re building faith. There are so many amazing things. That’s how we started out.

We had never done anything in the morning. For all of these years, really, we had our own private Bible time. But I even remember when Elias and Addison, my teenagers now, but when they got to be 11, I remember telling them, “I want you to start having a longer reading time in the morning. This is something that I want you to do. It’s a discipline I want you to form in your life.”

It was so amazing over the years, just to see them laying in their beds for an hour in the morning, just reading. I don’t set a time limit on it or anything. But it became something that they took on for themselves, and I was so blessed to see it. It was amazing. They continue that to this day.

I’m so thankful that I drew that line in the sand for them, because I know some parents maybe wouldn’t want to push that. They say, “Oh, it needs to be of their own.” But I wanted to catch that vision. I set rules in every other area in my family’s life, so something as important as the Word of God, I think it’s OK! Of course, they didn’t rebel against it. They loved it. There’s so much Word in them. As the other ones have come up now, they do their own private Bible time too. Then just recently . . . [music playing]

Nancy: You can just turn that off. Oh dear, so sorry about that. I didn’t realize I hadn’t done it.

Courtney: I think three months ago was when I started gathering my children for morning prayer and worship. It’s been so amazing. In the evening, we would do Bible time with Daddy. We would do prayer, but oftentimes it was just Daddy who would pray, and Daddy who would read.

We would do some singing, but then in the morning I really wanted to gather, especially my older ones, because Elias and Addison are going out to work every day now. I wanted to gather everybody before they got out the door. The only time to do that was at six, because we have cows, and we milk at 6:30.

I said, “We’re just going to do a half an hour. We’re going to start at six, and we’re going to do one worship song, and then we’re all going to go around and pray.” It has been so amazing, so amazing. It was meant to be small. I don’t know if there’s anybody else out there like me, but I know other people do so much more than this.

But for us, this was an amazing starting point. Just get up. Let’s just go into the living room. This is what it’s going to look like for right now. It has been such a blessing. My children have noticed the difference in the family. Josiah said recently, “And I remember when we started having our morning prayer time that you and Daddy started getting along.” That’s amazing! That’s great!

Of course, at first, everybody . . . they weren’t all really excited about getting up early, because they already have to get up and get out the door. There are so many things to do. But I would set the alarm and go around and wake everybody up. I never woke everyone up before. They all woke themselves up when they needed to get up. So, it was a new thing. It was harder for them to get out of bed.

I’m a driver. I tend to be a cut-and-dried commander sometimes! They would linger in bed, and we only had a half an hour! You have to get to the living room, and everybody has to use the two restrooms that we have and get in there. Actually, we only had one restroom for a while. So, it was, “We have got to get this done!”

One morning, they were all just lingering in their beds. We have two triple bunk beds, with five boys in that room. I said, “The last one in the living room has to do breakfast dishes!” All their feet hit the floor in an instant! [laughter] It was so just straight out of the military! It was hilarious! I thought, “Wow! There is a good discipline for them!” They really didn’t want to do those breakfast dishes. We had to work for it at first is what I’m saying. But everyone loves that time, and we’re thankful that we’re doing it.

Nancy: It just shows you that you have to make things happen. I love that little phrase. I coined it myself. “Things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen.” It is so true. I do believe also that, although it is the responsibility of the husband to lead his family in devotions, I do think that we, as wives, play a big part. Many times, we are the ones who get the vision for it. I’d always had that great vision for them.

When we began, years and years ago, of course, we’ve been pastoring all our years (Colin went fulltime for God when we were engaged). He was a godly man, and yet, he would forget, when we were just beginning in those early days, because men have a one-track mind. If they’re thinking about something else, well, that’s what they’re thinking about.

Whereas we as mothers, God has given us a different kind of mind. We can think about so many things at once, because we have to. We’ve got all these little ones we’re looking after. I would be disappointed if he didn’t remember, because I’m remembering!

Courtney: Of course, you remember!

Nancy: Then I thought, “Well, I don’t want to be, “OK, now you must do that!” Then I got this little idea. As we were coming to the end of our meal, I would get the Bible, or The Daily Light, whatever we were reading, and I would put it by his plate. That’s all it took; it was just that little reminder. I didn’t have to say anything. I wasn’t pushing him. I was just putting the Bible by his plate. That’s all it needed. He would pick it up and read it.

We play our part with the little things. People choose where they want to have their altar, their time, their place. We have always found it works so well at mealtimes, because that’s when you have the family together, especially as they get older. Children get involved in this and that. You’ve got older children in the home, and they’re going out to work, like you have now. The children have got jobs, but they’re still at home, so they’ve got a lot going on in their lives.

I have found that, “OK, you all come together to eat, so if we do our time with the Lord there, we’ve got them all!” If you decide, “Oh, we’ll do it later,” well, you can’t even find anybody. They’ve all gone here, there, and everywhere. I love to do it when you've got them there. I think we play a great part in preparing the meal, having meals on time, and bringing the family together. That helps to pave the way for your family devotions too.

Courtney: I completely relate to feeling like I wanted my husband to lead. I didn’t want to say anything, and I would wait, and “We’ll see if Bible time is important to him! I’ll just be quiet, because surely, he remembers, just like I would remember!” Oh, it’s such a terrible attitude! Honestly, he truly would just forget.

I remember asking him at other times, saying, “Is it important to you? Do you want to have Bible times in the evening? Would you rather I do it at a different time?” No, he did want to do it in the evening. He just honestly, truly would forget, which I couldn’t even relate to, because it was always on my mind.

Nancy: That’s right. But this is typical of most husbands. Often, I have ladies come to me and say, “I’m just waiting for him to take the lead, and he doesn’t!” The poor guy. All he needs is a little reminder. I think we can definitely do our part, not taking authority, but just in little ways.

Courtney: I found that it was OK for me to take that lead if I needed to. But it was important to have our children come together and read to them. There are maybe husbands that it’s not something they want to do at this time. I think it’s OK for the woman to read the Bible to her children. Somehow, we get stuck in our mind that, “It has to be the husband, and he’s not a leader over our family, or not a spiritual head if he’s not doing this right now the way I see it.”

Nancy: That’s right. Sometimes men have to leave very early for their jobs. Therefore, the mother can take it in his place in the morning. It’s good if he can do it for one time in the day. But sometimes he may be away for a few weeks at a time. Then the mother can do it. You don’t just forget about it, no! The mother, in his place, can then take on that role.

Courtney: Right. And you would never portray your husband as not wanting to be the leader to your children, of course! You don’t want them to disrespect him.

Nancy: I find also, even when Colin is reading the Word, he’s so great at asking questions. That is important. That keeps our children listening. All of us can get into a dream so easily. If we can, our children do. They need questions. They need things to wake them up. But even he sometimes forgets about asking questions, and he’s reading on.

So, I will say, “Oh, hey! What about this?” I’ll ask a question, and I’ll pop in a question, so it gets people wanting to answer, and gets them thinking again if they’ve gone off on some wavelength.

There are some really good Scriptures, and we can pop in and say, “Hey! Why don’t we all say this out loud together?” Because maybe husbands can get on a roll reading. They don’t realize, if they really looked around, they’d see their children lost in dreaming. Sometimes we’ve got to help keep them awake too. We can think of things to do. Of course, he’s not going to mind. “Yeah! That’s a great idea! Let’s all do it!”

Courtney: Right. And come with energy. I remember feeling like I didn’t want to train my children to be dull before the Lord. I didn’t know. In our prayer times, and in our worship, it seemed to grate on me to be in a situation where everyone’s half-asleep, praying half-hearted prayers, and singing half-heartedly. I can just burst if I’m in a church service like that! I think, “Doesn’t ANYBODY know the Lord??” [laughter] They should have an excitement about what we’re doing.

I think in our homes it can tend to naturally go that way, because you don’t have the enthusiasm of all your friends, and the other families around you. That’s something to work toward. In the morning, we say, “OK!” Everybody comes into the living room cold in our house because we have woodstove heat. You can relate to that! Everybody bundles up in the big blankets in the living room, and they get cozy right before we actually stand up.

But I say, “Come on! Stand up!” Sometimes I have to say it two or three times. “We’re going to stand up! Get on your feet!” And we stand for worship. I have to wake everybody up sometimes with a motivational “Come on! Aren’t you singing? Let’s sing!”

Nancy: I think that’s all encouraging and inspiring. I think it’s important. All of us, we see the fruit of what you're doing in your own home, because, oh, goodness me, when we come to prayer meetings, all your children are there. Your young sons are praying, and your little girls have their hands raised, praising the Lord, lost in the Lord!

I have never seen anything so beautiful! They’re not putting it on. They don’t know anyone’s watching. They’ll keep their hands raised for the whole worship time! I don’t know how they can keep them up that long! It’s so amazing!

Courtney: I can’t take any credit for that though, because I think our family really prays. We went to the Above Rubies Gulf Coast Retreat straight from Alaska. When we were in Alaska, we were going to a little country church. Everyone sat for worship. I think I was one of the only one who raised my hands. One of the elders shared one morning about how uncomfortable it made him! But he appreciated that I did it. [laughter]

But we were longing to be in a fellowship where people worshipped God freely and with affection. Then we went to the Gulf Coast Retreat, and it was like this flood of freedom for our children. It just freed them. They were so different from that point on.

I remember being there, talking to other families, and saying, “We don’t usually worship like this!” And they said, “We don’t either!” This is so powerful for us too. It has just stuck. It’s the Spirit of the Lord, I think from our corporate meetings that our children have caught. They love the presence of God, and they sense the presence of God. It’s so amazing. It’s so amazing.

Nancy: And it is the presence of God, because it’s not something that they’re trying to do. Oh, they’re just doing it because they love God! So beautiful.

Courtney: They inspire me. And I saw this guy down on Sunday, and they were pouring out prayers for him, because you know the Lord is touching them, and that He’s doing something. This could be the young man who grows up and says, “I was in a church service, and the Lord touched me, and I knew I was called.” Something like that. I see those moments, and it’s, “Oh, God! Touch them. They need to be Yours, for Your kingdom, and for Your glory forever. Have my children, have my generations. Have it all.”

Nancy: Yes. Amen! So wonderful. Tell me some other things where you've had to get ideas, or overcome, and make them happen in your home.

Courtney: Family devotions specifically? We’ve had difficulty during times of knowing where to read in the Bible, where you want something that’s going to really impact. You want to hear from the Lord, but you're not in a certain vein of things. So much of that just comes down to whether we’re in tune with the Lord, and if we’re recognizing that the Lord’s going to speak through us.

I hear the difference from when we’re just tired, and we just pick somewhere to read, or when the Lord is really moving through my husband and giving him utterance. He’s sharing, and he’s encouraging, and he’s asking questions. Sometimes that’s just a focus thing. Those are periods of our life where we have to push through sometimes in dryness. But it doesn’t mean we quit family devotions.

We’ve had to get through obstacles of our little ones not behaving. There have been months when Rob is just done with family devotions, where he has been over it, because the toddlers will not sit still. He’s stopping every ten minutes to spank them. Then we’re all grumpy. We’re all waiting, and we don’t enjoy listening to the spankings. Then everybody’s mad, and Rob says, “I quit!” [laughter] Those are real struggles that we have.

But I can recognize. Even last night, Addison came to us. I had an uncle from out of town. Addison said, “Our little ones were out of control, and I was so embarrassed!” He said, “We’ve got to do something!” Rob humbled himself and said, “You’re right.”

I realized that that’s something that I can do during the day that doesn’t have to happen at Bible time. That’s a blessing that I can give to my husband, because I’m here all day with the children, to sit them down and train them, so that when he comes home at night, they can sit. Because if you're doing something that’s already difficult, you're tired, and maybe there are other things you’re wanting to get to. If I can remove every obstacle that I can control, what a blessing to my children, to my husband, and to myself, and to our company.

Nancy: Oh yes, that is so true. I think our children, we do have to train them to sit. The table, the meal table, is a wonderful place where we train our children to sit. Often, when we have families come for a meal, I’m amazed that you notice that some children obviously aren’t trained in their own home, because they sit down, and they want to pop up. Then they want to pop up again. They haven’t even learned to sit for mealtimes, let alone to sit for the reading of the Word. That takes training. But we have to train them.

Courtney: That can be done.

Nancy: Parents ought to train their children. I think this is why . . . Today it is never like that. Back when I was growing up, we always had church together as a family. Nobody ever had separation of children. We all came to church together, and everyone sat. I must admit, I was often taken out in the middle of service and belted, [laughter] because I was a wild one.

Courtney: But look at you now! [laughter]

Nancy: But anyway . . . Many today, they say, “Oh, we could never have our children in church with us!” So, they send them off to the nursery, or the Sunday schools and everything. But often, they’re just babysitting places, because they’re never the same as being in the presence of the Lord.

In fact, I think the closer your children can get . . . when I was raising our children (of course Colin was pastoring) I would take the children right up the front because I found that when you sit at the back because “I’ve got all these little children,” it’s very distracting. You’re looking at everybody. You can see everything that’s going on. The children are being distracted, and then they get naughty. No wonder you're at the back, because they’re all misbehaving.

But then, if you go right down the front, and they’re under the eye of the preacher, they’re right there closest to the presence of the Lord . . .

Courtney: Wow!

Nancy: They change their behavior! It’s amazing! I often say to moms, “Why don’t you try it? Because it is amazing how their behavior will change when they’re up there in the front seat!”

Courtney: I always avoid the front seat, because I think they’ll be a distraction. You always try to get everybody to come closer. I’m going, “No, you don’t want us up there! We’ll have to leave and get up.”

Nancy: Oh, yes! Children are better up the front! Where they’ll behave. It’s so much easier to behave, because you’re not even distracted. You’re not distracted, your children are not distracted. If they really were, well, what would the speaker say? He might have to say something. [laughter] I think that’s something that’s worth a try.

Courtney: It is. And keeping your children in church with you is worth a try. I think we started keeping our children in church when we were visiting different churches. I would have so much anxiety when I would leave them with different nursery workers in different churches. I decided I’m just keeping them with me. We hadn’t been around anyone that did that.

All the churches we’d been to have all these youth programs. We had been in charge of youth programs ourselves, but it was one of the best things that we’ve ever done for our family. I realized very quickly that they were learning in the church service, because that was why I had sent them away, because I wanted them to learn the Bible!

I remember them sitting and drawing little pictures, and coloring, and the preacher saying, “Repeat after me! Faith!” Or something like that. And all my little ones went, “Faith!” I thought, “They’re listening!” It was this little revelation. I was so excited. We’ve never gone back, and it’s so amazing to have them in church with us. We don’t have to worry about their safety, or what movies they’re watching, or what they’re eating.

Nancy: And usually they’re given sweets, and full of sugar, and all that junk.

Courtney: They love being together! And then they’re used to being in church service. It’s not something they have to adjust to when they become 15, 16, 17 years old. They’re used to being programmed.

Nancy: They have been put out from the church service throughout their age groups. Then they get to that age where they need to come in. Well, they’re not even used to it. And statistics say that that’s when many of them just leave.

They do learn more, because often Sunday school can be just dumbing down. It’s just a little Bible story, a little activity, where here, in the main service, they are learning deep truths. They are going into them. Even though they may not fully understand them, the seeds of those truths are going into them.

I used to notice that with my own children. I would be amazed at the depth of things that they would come out with, having learned from really great Bible teachers. Whereas Sunday school . . . we’ve done all that stuff because we’ve been pastoring most of our lives.

We started off having Sunday school and youth group. Oh, goodness me, our children were the worst in the Sunday school because they always thought they knew more than the Sunday school teacher! [laughter] “She said the wrong thing!” We heard that they weren’t very well-behaved in Sunday school at all! They were the pastor’s children, and they were the worst! But when they were in the service, they were amazing! They were also learning real stuff.

It’s just a bit like when I started off schooling our children, I didn’t know about homeschooling all those 60 years ago. I can remember my oldest children, especially our eldest son, he wondered what school was for. It just did not relate to him.

In fact, I remember going to a parent-teacher interview. The teacher told me, “Your son is actually here, but he's not here. I see him looking out the window.” But she said, “He’s not daydreaming. I see his brow, his furrowed brow across his forehead. I don’t know what he’s thinking about, but he’s not here at school.”

I realized, he was obviously, he just went, because that’s what you had to do. I sent him to school. He was sitting there, and he was thinking how he was going to make this thing when he got home. The moment he got home from school, he began to create. So, his whole day at school was just thinking about how he was going to do it! It was a total waste of time because he just got on with the job at home.

Of course, when I heard about homeschooling, I really gravitated to it. But it’s that same thing. He was just getting taught stuff that didn’t relate to him at all. That can happen in Sunday School . . . they can get turned off Christianity, because it doesn’t relate. It’s not the real deep stuff. Even children can receive deep stuff, even though they may not fully understand it. They’re just getting the seeds of it. Of course, the seeds grow as they hear more and more until they get full revelation.

Courtney: And how many children’s Bible stories cut out the judgement of God, and the main point of the story? If you read Noah’s ark, I have to fill in that everyone perished, that they all drowned, that God killed them, because it’s left out in so many of the stories.

Nancy: Yes, in fact, a lot parents of little ones can just read Bible stories from books. As you say, they can be a little watered down.

Courtney: You just have to be very picky. When I find a children’s Bible story, I often look for those certain stories that I know I want to know, “What are they going to say about this story?” I always go to Pentecost because I want to read about the Holy Spirit being outpoured, and it’s often left out. Anyway, just getting really picky is a good idea.

Nancy: Yes, that’s very important. Very important. Children need to know the whole counsel of God, instead of just little things that kind of tickle their ears. We need the whole counsel of God. That’s why, in our devotions, in our Bible time every day, they’re little by little getting the whole counsel of God.

We have, at different times, we will take a book of the Bible and read a chapter each night. We still love to do this from time to time. But we usually revert back to our Daily Light on the Daily Path. We love it, because it’s only the Word of God. It’s always there; the morning and the evening reading are there for you. If you need something to help you like this, I have it available at Above Rubies. We find that helpful, and then we’ll break that every now and then by just getting into a book and reading it through. What do you do?

Courtney: In our Family Devotions? We have not used The Daily Light. I have it, but I wasn’t as crazy about it as just reading through a chapter. I have to admit it. I don’t know why that was hard for me to adjust to the way that it was written. We do just open up and read. I like to read Proverbs to the children. Rob usually reads a chapter of the Old Testament or the New Testament.

Nancy: Oh, I stayed with a family in Holland. We had come over on the overnight ferry from England, and we arrived in the early morning. It was breakfast time. They were having breakfast and then Family Devotions with their little children.

This husband was reading through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Well, the chapter they were up to when we were there was a chapter of the “begets.” He had all these little children, but he did not miss one word. We sat there, and we had to go through the whole chapter of “This one begat this one, and this one begat this one.” I thought, “Wow! That is something else!”

Courtney: You don’t skip them, right? I remember reading them with our children. One of our more analytical children was catching who begat who to know, “Oh! He was from this tribe, or he was from that tribe. Wasn’t that so-and-so that did this?” It really helped him draw lines in history, which I had never appreciated before.

Nancy: That is really amazing. In fact, I read somewhere this person wrote or said, “If your name was in the begats, you would be reading them every day!”

Courtney: Oh, right! Yes!

Nancy: Anyway, I think we’ve gone beyond time again. Thank you so much, Courtney, for sharing. I know the ladies love hearing you share from your life, and from your family. So down to earth!

“Lord, we do thank You again for all Your wonderful goodness to us. Thank You that You designed families. Lord, this is Your plan. This is way You plan for us to live, in families. You have no alternative plan. We thank You, Lord. Help us, Lord, to build strong families. Lord, families that are knitted together, families that are strong in Your Word. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Courtney: Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

DAILY LIGHT ON THE DAILY PATH

Plus

CREATIVE WAYS TO READ GOD’S WORD TO YOUR CHILDREN

The most popular Bible devotional for the last 150 years!

It’s your answer to Family Devotions with your Family! It has Scriptures compiled on a certain theme for every morning and every evening of the year. No more hassle! No more wondering where to read in the Bible! All you do is go to the date and the Scriptures are waiting for you to read.

Plus, this special copy of THE DAILY LIGHT has creative ideas for each month on how to make these Bible times with your children exciting and full of life.

They will keep your children “on their toes!”

Ears alert! No more bored faces.

Only eager, happy hearts, hearing and receiving God’s living Word that will change their lives and prepare them for life.

Bonus: At the beginning of each month you can read creative ideas on how to make your Family Devotions time exciting for your children. Children can get into a dream and turn off quickly. Instead, you will find ways to keep their attention and keep them enjoying the most important part of the day—Hearing God speak to them from His living Word!

If you already have this book yourself, you may like to purchase one to bless another family and encouraged them to get started reading God’s Word to their family.

Go to: http://tinyurl.com/CreativeIdeasToReadBible