A beautiful picture of the mother in the home.
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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.
Yes, you can change people’s lives every time you open your mouth!Have you thought much about salutations? They have power to affect people’s lives. What do you say when you greet your husband each morning? I am sure you start with the wonderful words, “I love you.” But you can certainly add more delicious words to delight his heart.
And what about your children? When you go out to the breakfast table, do you greet them with positive and loving words?
“Good morning, my most amazing and incredible children.”
“Good morning children. I love being your mother!”
“Good morning to my mighty world changers.”
And what about the people you meet? Paul wrote to the Colossian believers: “To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. . . Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 1:2. Do you notice that he called them “saints” and “faithful”? The word “saints” is “hagios” and means “holy, set apart, sanctified, consecrated, and pure.” He greeted them with the positive words: “holy and faithful.”
Why don’t we try to encourage people when we meet them? How lovely to greet friends in a way that will uplift their souls:
“So great to see you today, dear faithful friend. How are you?”
“What a joy to see your smiling face. You light up my day.”
“What a joy to see you. May you be blessed today.”
“I’m blessed every time I meet you.”
Change someone’s life every time you open your mouth.
Be encouraged and blessed,
Nancy Campbell
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One of the names of our God is the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Did you notice that He is the God of ALL comfort? We need God’s comfort in different ways as we face different situations in our lives. But there is nothing that is too painful for God’s comfort.He is also El Shaddai, the God of tender love and compassion. It is a beautiful word. “El” speaks of God’s might and power. The word “Shaddai” translates “the breast of God.” The root of “Shaddai” is “shad” and literally means “breast.”
It is a picture of God, who like a nursing mother, loves to gather us in His arms and tenderly comfort and nurture us. We see a little glimpse of this in Isaiah 40:31: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom and shall gently led those that are with young.”
The blessing God gives over Joseph says: “The God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty (Shaddai), who shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb” (Genesis 49:25).
The Hebrew word for “womb” is “racham.” This word means “compassion, mercy, tender love.” The amazing thing is that this word is used interchangeably in God’s Word to describe the mercies and compassion of God and also the womb of a woman! Same word!
God’s comfort comes from His breast (from His heart) and also from the very bowels of His womb of compassion and tender mercies. As a mother, you have much need of His comfort, counsel, and comfort. As you find your nourishment in Him, you then minister it to your precious children. As you seek Him to find Him as your solace and source of strength, stability, and comfort, He ministers into your life, so you can comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:3-6).
As mothers, our “others” are first our children God has given us. God has wondrously created us in His image to reveal His nurturing heart and His compassion and tender love. This anointing comes from God Himself and He has put it divinely within us. And even more! He created us physically to reveal these powerful attributes. He created us with the blessings of breasts and the womb. As we embrace the function of the breasts and the womb in childbearing we reveal the image of God. We become pourers forth of God’s nurture, compassion, and tender love.
How privileged we are. Embrace who God created you to be. Find God as your El Shaddai and then as a little “shad” pour out His love and nurture to your babies, children, and to the hurting around you.
In His love,
Nancy Campbell
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Do you love preparing meals for your family? Or do you find it a chore? Dearest wives and mothers, can I encourage you today that cooking and preparing meals for your family is not an insignificant task? It is a powerful part of your powerful mothering career. It holds families together. It keeps generations alive.A home is a true home when families sit around the table together eating and fellowshipping, laughing and debating, exchanging ideas and sharing new visions. It’s pulsating. It releases family members into great things. And most of all, it strengthens and cements the family unit.
But it rarely happens without food. Food paves the way for these life-changing and sometimes nation-changing moments to happen. And who does it come back to? The mother in the home. She is the one who prepares the atmosphere by lovingly preparing the food and graciously setting it on the table. It doesn’t have to be exotic food. It only needs to be simple food. But food is needed!
How Jesus loved to sit at the table and share divine truths. What was Jesus own testimony of himself? “The Son of man is come eating and drinking” (Luke 7:34). Robert Karris, the author of “Eating Your Way Through Luke’s Gospel” says: “In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.”
Proverbs 31:15 (NASB) says: “She (the mother in the home) rises also while it is still night and gives food to her household.” SHE is the one who prepares the food. SHE is the one who prepares the way for family togetherness. SHE is the one who sees beyond the work of cooking food to the great things that will happen as the family and others come to her table and food SHE has prepared.
Of course, it’s not always perfect. Especially when your children are little. It can be exhausting and hair-raising! But dear mothers, keep establishing the habit of family meals around the table. You are training your children. You are establishing godly and biblical habits. Eventually your work and training will be rewarded. Your children grow, and you will eventually have amazing times of conversation and discussion together.
In the meantime, if you are desperate for more intelligent fellowship, open your home in hospitality. Invite people to your home to sit around your table with you. This is normal Christianity. It is the extension of our mothering and homemaking ministry. It is the lifestyle of the kingdom of God. Acts 2:46, 47 (NET) says: “Every day they continued to gather together . . . breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.”
Have fun preparing meals in your home today.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Picture: 1942 poster by Mike Savad
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I read this morning Luke 6:40: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”Wow! That is a challenge to us parents, isn’t it? We as mothers are the primary and best teachers God has given to our children. Teaching and training our children are a huge part of motherhood.
The big question is: when our children are fully-trained and come forth out of our home, are they like us and walking in the principles and ways of God we have taught them or are they like the secular world?
It is so sad to see so many young people from Christian homes that are more like the world. Instead of being trained by their mothers, they are trained by all the junk and deception and worldly mindset on their iPhones.
The word “fully trained” in the Greek is “katartizo” and means “to complete thoroughly, repair, restore, adjust, frame, mend, prepare.” Do you notice that it is far more than teaching. We must constantly adjust, repair, and restore. Because we live in this world, we cannot help some of the influence of this world system touching our children. Therefore, we must constantly be checking their world view and adjusting and restoring them back to God’s ultimate truths.
Did you know this terrible statistic that only six percent of Christians have a biblical worldview today? I hope that’s not you. Because you must be strong in your biblical worldview in order to impress it into the hearts and minds of your children.
Did you notice that another meaning of the word is to mend? This is the word when that is used when Jesus found James and John “mending” their nets. It’s not only teaching and training but “mending” wrong ideas and hurts in their lives.
However, I do think that above all our teaching and training, the greatest way we impact out children is through our lifestyle. Do they see by our daily actions that we truly love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength? Do they see that we are lovers of God’s truth and His ways? Do they see that we love to pray? Do they see God is first and paramount in every part of our lives? If they don’t see this, all the things we say will not have much impact.
Many blessings to you,
Nancy Campbell
Scripture: Ezekiel 16:44
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Writing about parenthood, the great preacher and writer, J. R. Miller says: “Duties cannot be transferred.” I happen to agree with him although many modern Christians would not.Why do we think we know better than God? Why do we think that we have a better plan for our lives that the One who intricately, wonderfully, and marvelously created us?
God, in His perfect design, for “all His ways are perfect,” created a father and a mother to bring children into the world and to care for them in this world. He gave each one distinct roles to fulfil. Each brings their own strengths to the parenting career. Many want to change the roles because of convenience. The wife wants to take on the role of provider which means she must give her children to someone else to watch. And yet no guardian, no matter how loving, can ever be in tune to the innermost needs of her child like the mother.
Sometimes a mother can earn more money than her husband, so she goes to work while her husband stays home with the children. This is a role reversal and not planned by the God who created us.
But you say, “I know fathers who are great stay-at-home-dads to their children.” That may be so, but they cannot be a mother no matter how they try. God has put within women a maternal anointing that men don’t have. Yes, men love their children. They have a strong instinct to protect their children. They want to provide for their children but they cannot mother their children, especially babies and little ones.
Babies and toddlers need the comfort of their mother’s breasts. Breastfeeding is synymous with motherhood. Scientific studies reveal that the more frequently a mother breastfeeds her baby the motherlier and nurturing she becomes. The hormones release the mothering hormones and a man does not have the abundance of these hormones.
God has also put within women a love for home, unless of course it is brainwashed out of her by our education system, the media, and the deception of our progressive society. A man is not cut out for the finer touches of the home and to making a home feel like a home. He was created to go out and to provide and to work hard for his family.
To get back to our original statement, I do concede that men and women can transfer their roles to a certain extent, but only at the expense of God’s ultimate blessing for the family. God intends fathers and mothers to fully embrace the way He created them and to reveal these strengths to their children, so they pass them on from one generation to the next. Children who grow up in a family where the mother works outside the home and the husband stays home with the children will have a distorted understanding of God’s definitive plan. They will be confused and deceived. And what happens in the next generation? Will they think it normal to carry on this pattern until we have a society of men at home and women in the work force? God forbid.
Be blessed today in your God-given role of mothering,
Nancy Campbell
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How well-taught are your children? In answering this question many mothers refer to the school or college to which they send their children, perhaps the best private school they can find in their area. Parents like their children to go to the most prestigious school possible.God wants our children to be well-taught. But how does He want them to be taught? Isaiah 54:13 says: “All thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” The highest education our children can receive is to be “taught of the LORD.”
How does God teach them? Through His people, but the best teacher a child can have is a godly mother who teaches her children God’s words and ways--a mother whose highest aim is to richly fill her children with the knowledge and wisdom of God.
God shows us in His Word the way He wants us to do this (Deuteronomy 6:6-9 and Isaiah 28:10).
The word “taught” in Isaiah 54:13 is “limmud” and means “learned, trained, skilled, and accustomed. It also means to be a disciple.” Are your children “accustomed” to God’s Word? I find so many children and teens from Christian homes are not familiar with God’s Word. They know more about the spirit of the world than the Spirit of God. They are more familiar with the names of Hollywood stars and singers than God’s Word.
A wonderful blessing is to teach your children how to hear the voice of God speak to them personally. When you read God’s Word to your children (or when they read it themselves) encourage them to not only read the words, but to listen for the Holy Spirit speak to their hearts. When you read together, ask the children: “As we read, I want you to listen to what God is saying to your heart. When we have finished, I want you to tell us all what God said to you.”
You will be amazed at how God speaks to your children. We must get them into the habit of listening to the Holy Spirit. The greatest thing you can do is teach them to hear God speak to them personally from His precious Word. This way they will get to LOVE GOD’S WORD. It will become increasingly personal to them. It will become LIFE to them.
Be encouraged today,
Nancy Campbell
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I sometimes hear women use Proverbs 31 as an excuse to be career women. They say that this woman was in real estate because verse 16 says: “She considers a field and buys it.” To purchase land to plant a vineyard is not the same thing as being in a full-time career. Vineyards were part of home life in Israel. They were part of their survival. As this family grew, they needed land to plant another vineyard and so she needed to check out the most suitable land. It is still the lifestyle in Israel and European countries today. When ministering in different countries in Europe Colin and I have stayed with many families who own their own vineyards nearby to their homes.It’s much the same as going out looking for land or a new house for your family. I am sure you have done this. This is part of caring for your family, not a career outside the home!
Once this virtuous woman found the land for another vineyard to help feed their family, she didn’t continue to go out each day and buy and sell land for other families. This was part of her watching over the affairs of her own family. This is the whole theme of Proverbs 31. It reveals an industrious woman in her home, watching over it from morning until night.
Verse 27 says: “She looks well to the ways of her household.” The words “looks well” is the Hebrew word “tsaphah” and is the same word that is used of “watchmen” in the Bible. It describes the Proverbs 31 woman as a watchwoman over her home--hardworking and productive, guarding her home and her children, keeping watch on everything that happens. Nothing is hidden from her eyes.
It is impossible to be a watchman (a watchwoman) if you are not in the home. A watchman or guard stood at his post. He could not vacate his post while he was on duty. He had to be faithful to guard the city and watch out for enemies lurking around.
God told Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3:17: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman (“tsaphah” same as “looks well” to the ways of her household) unto the house of Israel.” In the same way, God makes each mother a watchwoman over her home and the children He gives to her. We cannot take our career of Watchmother lightly. We better not vacate our post.
Many blessings to you today from Nancy Campbell
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Not easy to do, especially in our marriages, but it works miracles. Let’s keep soft and humble hearts. Matthew 19:8 tells us that a hard heart leads to divorce.
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What a momentous job we have as mothers. It’s no ordinary job. It’s the most powerful in the nation. One of our many great tasks is to be the peacemakers and to keep unity in the home. Wow, that’s not easy, is it? Sometimes we ourselves can be the cause of disunity!But what did Jesus say? “No house divided against itself will stand” (Matthew 12:25 ESV).
Here ae a few more translations:
“A family splintered by feuding will fall apart” (NLT).
“Every household divided against itself will not survive” (CJB)
“Any household that is disunited cannot last” (Goodspeed).
Do we want our marriage to last? Do we want our home and family to stand together to the end? Well, we have the answers. We must keep the spirit of unity. We must cultivate togetherness. We must work toward harmony. In fact, Romans 12:16 tells us to “Live in harmony with one another” (most translations).
Now that doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything! Help! If that was the case, we would be in disarray. I have a very independent and outspoken family and we all have differing views on many things. But that doesn’t hinder our unty.
In fact, we love discussions and debates together, often having different views but enjoy the sharpening of one another’s minds. As my husband says, “We don’t have to agree with each other on everything as long as we love one another.”
Therefore, even in our differences, we seek to keep unity. We seek to keep a good attitude. We keep forgiving. We keep loving. We forbear with one another. And most of all, we keep the unity.
What is our challenge?
Build a marriage that will last.
Build a family that will survive the ups and downs and all the traumas and difficulties that we all face in life.
Build a home that will not fall apart!
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
P.S. A good way to do this is to put into practice all the ONE ANOTHER Scriptures that God gives us in His Word (41 of them!). You can find these in 100 DAYS OF BLESSING, Volume 4.
Available from www.aboverubies.org
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A dear friend shared with me today a beautiful understanding of God who is our El Shaddai which means "The Breasted One."
When a baby is born the mother instinctively longs to nurse and nourish her baby. Where does this instinct come from? Of course, it comes from God who is El Shaddai, "the Breasted One." The understanding of this name of God also means, "The God who is Enough." He longs to supply our every need and His wells are inexhaustible. He waits for us to come and feed from Him so we can grow and mature.
1 Peter 2:2 says: "As newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby."
Thinking of this I thought of the FAILURE TO THRIVE syndrome where a child has very low weight gain or low increase in weight gain. This is a serious condition for a baby. And yet so many are living in SPIRITUAL Failure to Thrive syndrome. Our El Shaddai waits and longs to pour out of His inexhaustible riches to satisfy and feed us. But often He waits in vain.
We do not come to Him. We do not come to His precious Word to feed. We take a little sip on Sunday when we go to church but starve during the week! We eat three meals a day to satisfy our physical body but except for a tiny crumb here and there, we starve our spirit!
What about our children? We wouldn't think of not feeding them three nutritious meals a day but how often do we feed their spirits? This is the most important part of our children. We must feed them God's Word at least every morning and evening, as we start and end the day. They can't grow "strong in spirit" on anything less (Luke 1:80).
May God save us from the "Failure to Thrive" diagnosis over our lives. And please, may God save mothers from being guilty of putting their children in a position of "Failure to Thrive" because we starve their spiritual beings.
As mothers, we are the feeders of the whole man-body, soul, and spirit.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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It is a very important aspect of parenting to build a hedge around our family and home. Truthfully, it is God who builds the hedge, but we have to do our part. God built a hedge around Job's home. Satan was not able to touch Job until God removed the protective hedge He put around him. Satan tells God in Job 1:10: "Hast not Thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?"
God was able to build a hedge around Job, his family, and everything he owned because:
1) He was blameless and upright (a man of integrity).
2) He feared the Lord.
3) He turned away from all evil. Even allowing a little compromise of sin in our home gives an opening for enemy to come through the hedge.
4) He rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings for his children. In other words, he interceded before God for his children.
Job 1:5 says he did this CONTINUALLY! He was most concerned that his children could have sinned and cursed God in their hearts and therefore He interceded continually on their behalf.
I believe that you can build a hedge around your family as you and your husband pray daily and earnestly for your children. We can't afford not to. If we don't pray for our home and children, who else will? There are so many areas where Satan can subtly creep into our homes.
Sadly, in many homes today, there is such a spirit of worldliness that the devil fits right in. In fact, he feels quite comfortable. There's not much chance for God to build a protective hedge around the home because the devil has already come in!
May you and your husband be protecting parents who daily pray the hedge of protection around your family.
Love from Nancy Campbell
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I love the different words God uses to describe our children. God loves to reveal His plans to us by pictures. Psalm 128:3 tells us that our children are like "olive plants" sitting all around our table. The Hebrew word for "olive" is "zayith" and means "an olive (as yielding illuminating oil)." Among many other uses the olive was used as oil for the lamps to light up their homes. It was also used to light the golden candlestick in the holy place of the tabernacle.
Think about it. God gives you your children to light up your home. John 1:9 says that Christ lights each one who comes into this world. As we feed this light with God's Word, our children will become more and more filled with light, not only to bring more light into our home, but to one day take the light of God to a dark and deceived world.
Every child you embrace from the loving hand of God is another illuminating light to light up this world. In fact, the only way God can bring His light into this world is through His people (Matthew 5:14-16). The more children we bring into the world, the more light of God we bring in to push back the darkness an deception of this world system. Don't deprive the world of God's light by saying No to His children.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Proverbs 26:8 tells us that to bind a stone in a sling is as bad as giving honor to a fool! A stone in a sling is not meant to be bound up but to go forth to hit the target. It goes forth to slay the enemy. In the same way, we are foolish to bind up God's truth and hide it. God intends His words to go out from our mouths to accomplish God's plans and purposes (Isaiah 55:11). The spoken word has great power. God created the world with His Word. Many times, we hold back divine miracles from happening in our lives because we are too shy, too afraid, or too lazy to speak out the word of the Lord.
Let's not hide the precious stones of God's truths in our slings of ignorance, intimidation, fear, and shyness. Read God's Words to your family daily. Speak the words God puts on your heart to your children and to those you come in contact with. Open your mouth and pray for your children and others when they are hurting, either emotionally or physically. Speak the powerful name of Jesus to resist the devil. Never hold back. Never keep these stones in your sling. Shoot them forth.
Psalm 107:20: "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." He didn't hide His word but SENT IT FORTH! Miracles happened when He sent forth His word. Miracles will happen to your family and to others when you open your mouth too!
God works in verbs, not nouns. Here are some of the things Psalm 147:2-20 tells us that God does:
He builds up Jerusalem,
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel,
He heals the broken-hearted,
He binds up their wounds,
He lifts up the meek,
He strengthens the bars of your gates,
He blesses your children in your home,
He makes peace in your home,
He sends forth His commandments upon the earth,
He sends out His word, and He declares His word to Israel.
He wants to do these beautiful healing works through you in your family too. He wants you to get out these God-given stones and send them out to bind up, strengthen, bless, make peace, and declare the words of the Lord.
Don't hold back divine miracles. Our children are also like stones to send forth from the sling to defeat the enemy. We must not bind them up but sharpen and polish them to prepare them for the day they will go forth from our home.
Many blessings, Nancy Campbell
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How can your husband value you more than precious jewels, when your life is One Big Complaint?
~ Serene Allison
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A mother wrote me, saying, "I love all the positivity about motherhood I read here, but it seems to outweigh the blurbs about loving wifehood. As a young mama who tries to keep my priorities of God, hubby, and children in that order, do you have any thoughts?"
It's a very good question so I will address it.
Yes, it is our privilege and responsibility to be a cheerful, encouraging, grateful, sweet, and submissive wife. However, it's hard to have this kind of an attitude if you are not happy about your role as a mother which takes up the biggest part of your day. If you have a negative attitude about every little problem, you are sighing and unhappy, and then complaining about everything as soon as your husband gets in the door, can you image how he feels? He'll be depressed and he won't want you to have any more children.
However, when you understand that you were created for this high calling, that you have been commissioned by the Ruler of the Universe to nurture these precious souls He has given into your hand, that you are employed in the greatest career in the nation, and you are embracing and loving motherhood, you'll have a different attitude.
Yes, you'll sometimes feel overwhelmed and wonder how you can get through the day. But, instead of sighing, you'll rejoice, and you'll confess, "Thank you, Lord, for this great task you have given me. I am working for You and for Eternity! I thank you that you are my Strength. You are my Joy. Hallelujah!"
You'll be absolutely amazed how your confession of truth changes your attitude. And when you have a smile on your face, your children will get a smile on their face, and guess what, your husband will get a smile on his face when he comes home! Praise the Lord!
Embracing motherhood is a pre-requisite to being a joyful and happy wife for your husband. Just do the best you can. You won't get everything done in a day you would like to do. Just do what you can with joy. All your husband wants is a happy, joyful, and smiling wife.
When you are happy, he'll be happy. And when he's happy, you'll be happy!
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Worry? Why worry? What can worry do?
It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you,
It gives you indigestion and sleepless hours at night,
And fills with gloom the days, however fair and bright.
It puts a frown upon the face and sharpness to the tone;
We're unfit to live with others and unfit to live alone.
Worry? Why worry? What can worry do?
It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you.
Pray? Why pray? What can praying do?
Praying really changes things, arranges life anew,
It's good for your digestion, gives peaceful sleep at night,
And fills the grayest, gloomiest day with rays of glowing light.
It puts a smile upon your face, the love note in your tone;
Makes you fit to live with others and fit to live alone.
Pray? Why pray? It brings God down from heaven
To live and work with you.
~Unknown
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Are you bold to speak the truth when deception and lies are being proclaimed? Or do you find it easy to stay silent because you feel too timid or you are concerned what people think of you?I believe it is a time to rise up in boldness.
Proverbs 28:1 says: “The righteous are as BOLD AS A LION.”
If we are not bold to speak the truth when we are not even facing persecution, how we will stand for truth in more difficult times? Our freedoms are quickly being taken away. Foundational truths are being lost. God’s timeless truths for marriage and family are trampled on. The NWO and the WEF along with the cabal want total tyranny of our lives.
Are you still silent? Or are you being a voice?
In a wedding ceremony the minister asks the question, “If anyone has any reason why these two should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.” If someone had a concern, it was their only chance to speak! I believe that this is our last opportunity. If we don’t speak now, we may not have another chance.
Imagine if ALL God-fearing families began to boldly speak the truth! Let’s start! Soak your children in God’s Word and His truth. Speak seeds of truth wherever you go. Never let a deception go unchallenged. Ever. Come on, let’s start being bold for God and His truth. Let’s hold up the banner. This may be our only chance.
Many blessings,
Nancy
Check out these Scriptures:
Acts 1:8; 4:13, 18-20, 29-31; 5:28-29; 9:27; 13:45-46 14:2-3; 2 Corinthians 4:13; Ephesians 5:11 and Philippians 1:14.
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The trying days, the sighing days, the days when things go wrong,
The hurry days, the worry days, the days when you’re off song,
The busy days, the dizzy days that you go rushing madly through –
Trying to catch up on all the jobs you have to do.
The trying days, the flying days– the clock goes twice its pace,
But when you start to feel you are competing in a race–
Slow down for a moment, let your tangled thoughts unwind.
You’ll get through in half the time if you’ve a quiet mind.
~ Patience Strong
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Many years ago I remember seeing this cartoon. The mother was sitting at the table with the newspaper spread out before her. The home was in a mess, the toys were all over the floor, and the children were running wild! The husband came in the door and said, "What on earth are you doing?""I'm looking for a job," she replied. "I need a vacation!"
I'm sure there are times when you felt just like that! It's not an easy career to be a mother and efficiently run a home. But that doesn't mean to say we give up on the job. It is challenging because it is the greatest career in the nation. You, dear mother, are determining the destiny of the nation. You are a military training institute, training arrows for God's army. It's a high priority job.
Paul, the apostle, faced constant afflictions, infirmities, persecutions, beatings, stonings, perils, weariness, painfulness, hunger, and the burden of the church. You are not facing all that. What did Paul do? Did he give up? No.
What was his confession? "We faint not" (2 Corinthians 4:1). Make this your confession too: "I will not give up."
Other translations say:
“We never give up.”
“We never lose heart.”
“We do not become discouraged.”
“We do not play the coward.”
“Nothing can daunt us.”
Choose which one you want to say as you go around your home today.
And I love Paul’s confession in 2 Corinthians 6:10 JBP): “Always ‘going through it’ yet never ‘going under.’”
Stick to your great career. You are doing the greatest job in the universe.
Have a wonderful day,
Love from Nancy Campbell
Painting: Joe Bowler, New York, 1928
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