Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

 

Analyzing psyco-social ata collected from 928 medical students, Hojat identifies a clear link between "perceived satisfaction with the mother in childhood" and later psychological well-being. A series of statistical tests reveal that having recollection of the mother as available and devoted predicted less loneliness, less depression, less anxiety, higher self-esteem and more resiliency in dealing with life events."

 

In contrast, those students who had "the lowest perceived satisfaction" with their childhood relations with their mothers not only scored higher on "the anxiety

scale" than students with better memories of their childhood ties to their mothers, but also "obtained the lowest scores on the self-esteem and peer-relationships measures." These results, insists Hojat, are "not trivial,” since "the statistical power was relatively high for all significant findings, except for the anxiety scale.''

~ Nancy Campbell

 

God created every woman with a womb. Our womb is our most distinguishing characteristic. The male does not have a womb. Because it makes us who we are as women, we should therefore embrace it with all our hearts. To despise and stop the function of our womb is to despise who God created us to be. It is counterproductive

 

However, the womb is more than physical, more than “a miracle haven” to conceive and grow a baby. The womb is the seat of our compassion. Even the Bible reveals this. There are four different Hebrew words for womb in the Bible, each with similar meanings. When we read the word womb the meaning interchanges. Sometimes it speaks of the physical womb of a woman; other times it speaks of God’s compassion and mercy.

 

In other words, we reveal a picture of God through our womb. When a baby begins to grow inside our womb, we inevitably become more compassionate and show to our family and to the world a little of God’s big compassionate heart.

 

In Exodus 33:18,19 Moses beseeches God to “show me thy glory.” We would think God would answer Him by demonstrating His mighty power through some great miracle, but instead He reveals “His goodness, His graciousness, and His mercy” (racham – womb). The wombness of God is part of His glory and He has given this to us as women.

 

Deuteronomy 7:13: “He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb . . . “

 

Deuteronomy 13:17 speaks of God showing “thee mercy (racham – womb, meaning the physical womb, compassion, tender love, pity), and have compassion (racham – womb) upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers.”

 

We also have the privilege to reveal another characteristic of God through our breasts which also differentiates us as women. You will often read God’s name, Almighty, in the Bible. It Is El Shaddai in the Hebrew. Shaddai literally means “the breasted one.” The picture of the breast reveals God’s nurturing heart. God is a nurturing being and He has chosen to reveal this beautiful anointing through His female creation. The word for breast in the Bible is “shad.” God is El Shaddai; we are little “shads” expressing something of His nurturing heart. What a privilege.

 

We have breasts to give life to our babies. They are nurturing and nourishing. Not only is the baby nourished but the mother is blessed. Genesis 49:25 speaks of the “blessings of the breast and of the womb.” Do you notice the word is plural?

 

When a mother nurses her baby God gives her the hormones of oxytocin and prolactin, such wonderful hormones that flood the mother with nurturing anointings. Oxytocin is the “stress free” hormone and prolactin is a powerful hormone that causes a mother to be very protective over her baby. And the more the mother nurses her baby, the motherly she becomes.

 

Although God is Spirit, He pictures who He is through the physical. Not only do we show this picture through our physical breasts and womb, but God has put these anointings strongly within us innately.

 

The are some women who do not marry and therefore will not have children. There are others who for some physical reason are not able to conceive. Are they any less a mother? No, they are still maternal beings. They have nurturing yearnings within their breast. They have compassion flowing innately from their womb as they reach out to mother the needy and hurting in this world. Some of the women whom we think of as great examples of mothers were never married or never had children. We think of Mother Theresa. She poured out her life in nurturing, compassion, and love and therefore revealed the picture of God’s love and fulfilled her own nurturing instinct.

 

It is within every female to nurture. Because of the brainwashing of feminism and humanism, many women turn away from motherhood. But they can’t get away from their nurturing instinct. Even if they reject their own flesh and blood babies, they will have a pet! They’ve got to mother something because that is how we were created.

 

Why don’t we simply embrace who we are? It’s time to proclaim the truth, ladies. Don’t be ashamed of wanting a baby (or many babies) and longing to stay home and raise them. This is what you were created to do. You are in the perfect will of God. Lift up your head. Embrace the way God made you. And instead of hiding your light under a bushel, let the world know that you are proud to be a mother. You have the most powerful career in the nation. You are determining the destiny of the nation.

 

Mothers who are open to receive the children God has for them and to come back to the home to raise them to be mighty sons and daughters for God will be part of strengthening and building a godly nation. The more mothers vacate the home the more we weaken the nation. A nation will eventually reveal the state of motherhood in the nation.

 

What are we showing to the world? Are we truly being the childbearing, nurturing, compassionate women God wants us to be, showing these pictures of God to the world? Or do we show an opposite picture? That’s why God uses very strong words in Titus 2 when the Scripture states that those who refuse childrearing and homemaking duties blaspheme the Word of God. Help. Don’t throw stones at me. I didn’t say that. The Scriptures state it!

 

And forgive me, but I do have to say that I am tired of hearing Christian women speak like feminists and react when we talk about the beautiful God-given, God-inspired, God-mandated career of child-rearing and homemaking. We are either true to the Scriptures or we are not.

 

Still love ya. Do you still love me?

 

Many blessings,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Purchase the manual, THE POWER OF MOTHERHOOD to learn more of what God says about your womb. Chapter 2 gives 18 points about the womb. Go to:

 

To read more about oxytocin, read LIVING STRESS FREE IN A STRESSFUL WORLD

 

Go to: Motherhood | Living Stress Free In A Stressful World (aboverubies.org)

 

Genesis 3:20: “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”

 

It’s not very difficult to understand who we are, is it? God created us to be life-givers. He created us physically for this task. He created us with a womb, a sacred place where we can conceive life and grow a baby to bring forth into the world.

 

He created us with breasts to nurture and give life to the babies He gives us. We are not even using our intelligence if we reject these basic facts. Instead of fulfilling who we are destined to be, we allow these organs to atrophy. No wonder we have an epidemic of female cancers in our modern society.

 

It is our greatest privilege to embrace life. We not only go against God’s direct command in Genesis 1:28 but deprive our bodies of the purpose for which God made them when we stop life. I wonder why it is that even Christian women who believe in God continue to be life-stoppers when God created them to be life-givers.

 

If we belong to the kingdom of God, we will be on the side of life, because God is life and the giver of life. There are only two kingdoms in this world—the kingdom of God which is a kingdom of life and the kingdom of Satan which is a kingdom of death and destruction. To which side do we belong?

 

Let’s delve a little further, shall we? The Hebrew for Eve is “chavvah” which literally means “the life-giving one” as we have discovered. It comes from some different root words which help us to gain more understating.

 

“Chavah” looks very like “Chavvah,” doesn’t it? This word means “to live, to declare (to speak), to show.” Eve was born speaking and hasn’t stopped!

 

Because we are created in the image of God, He wants us to reveal His image in the earth. He wants us to show our families and the world around us whom He created us to be. As we embrace, nurture, and bring forth life from the womb, we declare to the world that we are life-givers.

 

“Chayah” means “to live, give life, revive, preserve alive, nourish, recover, repair, restore, save alive, and to be whole.” These words describe the all-encompassing picture of motherhood.

 

Some commentators believe that “Chavvah” is abbreviated from the Hebrew word “Mechavvah” meaning, “the sustenance, the propagation of life.”

 

What about the Septuagint? When they translated the Old Testament into Greek, they changed “Chavvah” to “Zoë” meaning “life-giver, life-producer, life-preserver, and life-spring.”

 

It’s all about life, ladies. LIFE. LIFE. LIFE. As a mother, you not only bring life through your womb, but through your words, actions, and demeanor.

 

As you read the above you may have “ifs” and “buts.” Hang on. I haven’t finished yet. Many of your questions will be answered as I continue this subject for the next few days.

 

Be blessed today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Beautiful painting by Robert Coombs

 

Genesis 2:23: “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called WOMAN, because she was taken out of man.” The woman was the only creation that was not created from the dust of the earth. She was brought forth and built from an existing creation.

 

And then a new word comes in the next verse, verse 24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his MOTHER, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.”

 

The Hebrew word is “eym” and the Strong’s Concordance gives the meaning as “the bond of the family.” The amazing thing is that when God spoke these words, there was no mother to be seen. Adam had never seen a mother. He had never seen a woman before, let alone a mother give birth or suckle a babe. But God was establishing his plan of mother and father even before a mother and father existed. God was establishing and making known His plan for all generations.

 

We move on to Geneses 3:20: “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the MOTHER of all living.” At the very beginning God pronounced His purpose and plan for women, that they would be mothers. They would be the nurturers, nourishers, guiders, and guarders of the family. They would reveal His nurturing and compassionate heart to the world. This is the ultimate profession He has spoken over our lives.

 

Other Hebrew commentators explain the two Hebrew pictures for the two syllables of mother: “Aleph” is the picture of an ox meaning “first and strength.” God the Father and Christ are both the “alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.” But in a lesser way, we are the source and the beginning of life. The syllable “mem” is a picture of waves of water. It can mean either lifegiving waters or destructive waters.”

 

Oh, that is so powerful. Another meaning of mother is “the source.” As women, we have such influence. We have the power to influence, not only our children, but society and the nation. As a mother we have the anointing to bring life-giving waters to the world. Or destructive waters. What kind of waters are we giving to the world?

 

Proverbs 14:1 says: “Every wise woman buildeth her house; but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.” We are either builders of our marriage, our families, and consequently the nation, or we have the power to destruct.

 

Ezekiel 21:21 is an interesting Scripture where the word mother is used again for the source, the origin. The NET translation talks of the king of Babylon being at the “fork (mother) in the road, at the head of two routes.” The Young’s Literal Translation says “at the head of the way, at the top of the two ways.” As mothers give birth to each child, they have the power to influence them in the ways of God or down the road to destruction—and consequently determine the destiny of the nation.

 

Yesterday, I mentioned Matthew 19:4 where Jesus refers to women as “suckling mothers.” This Greek word is used only one other time in the New Testament in Romans 1:26: “For this cause God gave them up until vile affections: for even their women (thelus) did change the natural use (or the natural function) into that which is against nature.”

 

We then go on to read in verse 24 that when men saw women turning away from the natural function of how God created them as women, that they also turned away from “the natural use of the women” to homosexuality. And now we not only have homosexuality condoned by the law of the land, but we are being overpowered by transgender.

 

The power and influence of women is nation-impacting for good or evil.

 

Let’s realize who we are. As we embrace our mothering and nurturing anointing, we become the godly influencers of the world.

 

So much more tomorrow,

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

 

Painting by Italian painter, Bruno Di Maio

 

 

 

God doesn’t leave us guessing. The Bible tells us that we establish truth by two or three witnesses and God has given us three witnesses to know who we are as women.

 

1. Biblically

2. Biologically

3. Innately

 

As we look at the biblical texts, they will also take us into the biological because God, of course, is the originator of biology and science.

 

The first mention of the woman is in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; MALE AND FEMALE created he them.”

 

Isn’t it amazing? It is inherent. The first thing a woman does when she has birthed a baby is to ask with bated breath, “Is it a boy or a girl?” That’s the first thing we want to know. It’s one or the other. And how do we know? By their genitals.

 

We are either XX, the genetic marker of the female, or XY, the genetic marker of the male and these genetic markers are found in EVERY CELL OF THE HUMAN BODY INCLUDING THE BRAIN!

 

I think that Judge Jackson was too fearful to acknowledge that women are different than men. Such a basic fact and yet the liberals want to deny it. We could fill pages of the differences that have been discovered between male and female and yet we have not discovered them all.

 

Did you know that there are over 6500 shared genes that are expressed DIFFERENTLY In human males and females? Did you know that men have up to six million red blood cells while women only have four to five million?

 

The word “female” in Genesis 1:27 is “nqebah.” It means “opposite to male” and we see that the Hebrew word for male is quite different, “zakar.” The word female comes from a root word “naqab” to pierce.

 

To get to the nitty gritty, God created the women with an opening to be entered by the man’s penis. This is God’s plan for the continuing of the generations. We cannot “be fruitful and multiply” without male and female. We fit one another perfectly.

 

Because Satan hates everything God creates, he seeks to destroy it. Sadly, men have raped and depraved women but in the beauty of marriage God intends His plan to be the most beautiful, satiating, and glorious act.

 

We go to the New Testament and discover the word that is used for female in the Greek language. In Matthew chapter 19 the Pharisees came to Jesus to tempt him and asked Him about divorce. In verse 4, Jesus answers them: “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female.”

 

The most common Greek word for woman in the New Testament is “gune” which simply means "woman, wife." However, Jesus used a more specific word when He answered the Pharisees. He used the word “thelus” which comes from the root word “thele.” The noun means "the nipple of a woman’s breast from which a baby sucks to find sustenance and to thrive" and the verb means, "to suckle at the breast." In other words, Jesus described the female as a "suckling mother." This is how God made them in the beginning,” He reminded them. And God has not yet made a new model!

 

Oh my, Ketanji Brown Jackson would be scared of this description, wouldn’t she? It is a rare feminist who would like that description. And yet this is the word Jesus called women.

 

When we embrace babies and suckle them at the breast, we are doing what our female body was created to do. We live in the glory of our femaleness. We find our greatest beauty. We are not atrophying. And we wield a mighty power.

 

The mother who embraces life and suckles a babe at her breast is not wasting her time. She nourishes a child who potentially bears the image of God—a child who will come forth from her home one day to bring God’s love and salvation to many. Maybe this child will be a mighty voice to turn a nation to God. And she nurtures a child for everlasting eternity. It is still true that “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

 

Dear precious ladies, we have only begun to understand the meaning of the word woman. It is so vast and powerful and nation impacting. I will share more with you in the next few days. Keep checking each day to learn more.

 

Much love,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Sandra Kuck God's Gift Limited Edition Art Prints Posters and Framing by Prints.com

 

 

 

However, I don’t think that message is explicit enough for today. There are many young Christian men in the church who confess they are born again but who live worldly lives. How much do they even know of God’s Word? There are many who have never been taught God’s plan for family life. They are not ready to take the responsibility of providing for a wife (without the wife working) and would run at the thought of having a baby as soon as they are married!

 

I talk to so many wives who are desperate to have another baby, but their husband does not want any more. This is a difficult burden to bear as God has put within women an innate desire to bring forth life. It is vital that a young person checks out these important issues of life before embarking on a relationship. The Bible is true when it says that there are four things that never say “it is enough” and that are “never satisfied.” One is “the barren womb” (Proverbs 39:14, 15).

 

Amos 3:3 states: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” To have unity and oneness in marriage, we need to be agreed, especially on the most important and vital things of life. We won’t always agree on little things. There’s lots of things my husband and I don’t agree on, but they are not the important issues. And we don’t mind not agreeing. It’s quite fun to discuss our differences. We always say, “We don’t have to agree with one another; we just have to love one another.”

 

But back to our subject, conversely this also happens with young men. I know many young men who long for a godly wife, a young woman who is ready to be a mother and homemaker and have the children God planned for them. But often they can’t find these women. They find a lovely Christian girl in the church only to find that she wants to finish her college before getting married and then pursue her career rather than having children.

 

These things need to be sorted out before marriage.

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

 

I still remember sitting in that waiting room with him and feeling like maybe something wasn’t right with what we were doing but I was immature in my faith in the Lord at that time and I didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit’s prompting.

 

About seven years later I began to have such an intense desire for another child. It was so strong. I felt so awful that my husband and I had ruined our opportunity for the Lord to bless us with more children.

 

However, through a series of events a friend told me about a doctor that performed vasectomy reversals in St Louis. He had performed one on her husband and they went on to conceive two more children—they now have six!

 

So, we bit the bullet! In July 2019 we saw Dr Sommers, a wonderful doctor who also had a vasectomy and who went on to devote his entire career to providing low-cost reversals to couples desperate to undo their own poor decisions.

 

We conceived our third baby three months later! It was a miracle as I was 39 and my husband was 41 at the time and he had had his vasectomy for six years!

 

We are now waiting on God’s timing to see if he will bless us with another baby. We are so thankful that He is a God of mercy and that He chose to bless us again! God has been so kind to us.

 

JENNY JOHNSTON

Indiana, USA

 

 

BANNED

 

Praise God, the following states have banned it:

Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Florida.

 

INTRODUCED LEGISLATION TO BAN

 

The following state have introduced legislation to ban it. If you live in any of these states, please call, email, and write to your Governor, federal and state Senators, local commissioners, and school boards and urge them to say No to this deceptive brainwashing in the schools of your state.

Utah, Arizona, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maine, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

 

ALLOWING IT IN SCHOOLS

 

The following states are allowing it to happen in their schools. If you live in any of these states, please do something. Please call your governor, all your state and federal senators and congressmen, local commissioners, and school boards. And urge everyone else you know to do the same to tell them to please put forward legislation for this to stopped in the schools of your state.

 

Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

 

You will find all their phone numbers and emails by going online.

 

This nation belongs to WE THE PEOPLE. Let’s be the voice.

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

 

 

My bedspread is white which matches beautifully, purchased for us by our lovely daughter, Pearl (THM). I wonder what color your eiderdown is. If you happen to have a green one, you’d be quite biblical although it wouldn’t match our bedroom.

 

I was reading Song of Solomon 1:16 again the other day. The bride in Song of Songs says to the Bridegroom: “Our bed is green.” The Hebrew word means to be “verdant.” That means a vivid green. It reminds me of my home country of New Zealand where everything is so green. Sometimes the grass looks luminous green.

 

My fellow New Zealanders, you wouldn’t notice this because you take it for granted. But often when I return to New Zealand and go into a supermarket, I am shocked at the greenness of the vegetables. The richness of the green is dazzling.

 

But this word also means “flourishing.” This book of the Bible can also be read as the relationship of the husband and wife. And what is our bed to be like? It should be FLOURISHING. Never stagnant, cold, or boring. Nothing of God is stagnant. It is always lifegiving, growing, and flourishing.

 

If we are in Christ, this should be our experience in every facet of life. And yes, even in the bedroom, and in the bed. We spend a good part of our life in bed and so we should make it a delightful place.

 

Never let your bed relationship become dead and non-existent. Foster it. Think of ways to keep it beautiful. Life-giving. Intoxicating. Satiating. Captivating. Always fresh.

 

You may not have a green bedspread but seek to make your “bed” life-giving green and flourishing.

This is Bible language (Proverbs 5:15-19).

 

Be blessed all day and night,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Hebrew word ra’anan: Psalm 52:8; 92:10, 12-14; Song of Songs 1:16; Jeremiah 17:7, 8; and Hosea 14:8.

 

Hebrew word parach: Psalm 72:7; 92:12, 13; Proverbs 14:11; 66:14; and Ezekiel 17:24; and Hosea 14:5.

 

Why? I believe it's the "all about me" syndrome. What is my husband doing for me? How is my husband serving me? I have a right to be who I am and do my own thing. Soon the couple are living their own separate lives instead of being cemented together.

 

The very first marriage principle that God gave for marriage is oneness. Genesis 2:24 states that the married couple are to be "one flesh." We are not separate entities. We are one. We should think oneness. We should be yielded to one another to be "one flesh" as much as possible. We should be yielded to one another in one spirit, mind, and purpose to build our marriage and family.

 

Forget selfishness. It’s self-destructive. God has given us a mandate to build a family and establish His kingdom on earth TOGETHER! It’s a TOGETHER TASK! It needs the husband and the wife. The more we become one, the stronger we become. The more fragmented we become, the weaker we become.

 

May you be blessed as you build a “oneness” marriage,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

We are created in the image of God.

 

We are created to reveal the nurturing and mothering heart of God.

 

We are created with a womb to be a life-giver.

 

We are created with breasts to nurture and nourish life.

 

We are created to be a vessel of God to bring forth life into this world--a life that is planned before the beginning of time, a life with a God-given purpose to fulfill on this earth, and a life that is an eternal soul.

 

We are created to be the nurturers and trainers of God's children, the children He gives to us to train on His behalf.

 

We are created to be feminine.

 

We are created to be a divine helper to our husband, and we are blessed by God's plan to live under his covering and protection.

 

We are created for good works.

 

We are created to bring glory to God.

 

Thank you, Lord God. What a privilege. And thank you that we can live for Your divine purpose each new day. We are walking in the perfect will of God.

 

Have a great day,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

As soon as Eve opened her eyes to life she was in her home, the God-ordained place for women to make a holy sanctuary for God and a safe nest to raise and train their children. Micah 2:9 (GNT) talks about women being driven from the "HOMES THEY LOVE." It goes on to say, "You have ROBBED THEIR CHILDREN OF MY BLESSINGS forever."

 

The Amplified Classic version translates: “From their young children you take away My glory forever.” In other words, it is the glory of children to be raised in the home.

 

The Amplified states: “From her . . . children you take away My splendor and blessing forever (by putting them among the pagans, away from Me.)” Why do we send our children off to be taught by pagans?

 

It is God's blessing for children to be raised with their mother in the home—and especially when the mother LOVES BEING IN HER HOME WITH HER CHILDREN. Children are robbed from their God-given blessings when they are left with alternative caregivers and taken away from the home.

 

Enjoy your home and children today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

When we read this, we see that the greatest textbook we can use to educate our children is the Bible. The knowledge of God's Word should be foremost. The Bible must also be the foundation in teaching every subject for life.

 

Education is not only facts and knowledge but enlightening the eyes to understand. Psalm 19: 8 says: "The commandment of the Lord is pure, ENLIGHTENING THE EYES."

Do we want our children to be wise? Psalm 19:7 is the answer: "The testimony of the Lord is sure, MAKING WISE THE SIMPLE."

 

Our children can understand more than their teachers when they are filled with God’s Word. Psalm 119:99: ”I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.”

 

Education is also correcting the temper and attitudes to prepare them to face life. How do we do this? 2 Timothy 3:16-17: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, FOR INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

 

This conflicts with the current public education in this country which denies the wisdom of the Bible. It won't even allow God any room at all—in prayer, study, or even mentioning His name. Let's be honest. How can our children be "THOROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS" when they are denied the source of true wisdom? Yes, they will be educated, but in humanist, socialist, anti-God education. They will be prepped for a worldly lifestyle, but not for the destiny God has planned for them.

 

Handing our children over to a humanist and godless education only advances Satan's kingdom rather than God's kingdom.

 

I believe it is time for Bible-believing, God-fearing parents to make sure their children are receiving a godly and Word-inspired education. Anything less is apposite to God's plan for them. Can they receive this in the transgenderized, anti-Bible, progressive, public education system today? (Deuteronomy 6:6-9 and Psalm 1:1).

 

Blessings to you today,

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Painting: Simon Glucklich

 

Now we live in the New Covenant where God now dwells, not in a physical ark or temple, but in our hearts! Both 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 and 2 Corinthians 6:16 tell us that we are now the "temple" where God dwells. The word is actually "naos" which means we have now become the Holy of Holies for His dwelling. This is too amazing to contemplate. To think that God delights to dwell in us!

 

We are now His footstool here on earth. 1 John 4:17: "As he is, so are we in this world."

 

Dear mother, you are the footstool of God to your children as you reveal God to them through your daily attitude and actions. I love the quote by William Makepeace Thackeray which says, "Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children."

 

God wants His footstool to be glorious because He is glorious. May God save us from living sub-zero! May we understand the revelation of God's plan for us to be His glorious representation on earth, first to our husband and children, and then to everyone we meet.

 

As you get out of bed each morning, embrace your glorious commission. Realize that you are His footstool, revealing Christ to your children. You don't need any more motivation than that!

 

Be encouraged.

 

Nancy Campbell

 

Painting by Mary Cassatt

Today I am sending you a beautiful testimony by Janet Carlton.

 

WATCHING OVER YOUR FLOCK BY NIGHT

By Janet Carlton

 

Almost every mother discovers that her job description includes sleep deprivation. She may be awakened by a colicky infant, a teething toddler, a chronic bed wetter, a sick youngster, even a fearful teen.

 

After bearing nine children, I can honestly say that from the birth of our first child until two years after our last, I hardly ever slept through an entire night. That season of my life encompassed twenty-one years. Did I handle it graciously? Sometimes I was spiritually prepared and rose to minister to my child/children with gentleness and patience. For instance, nursing a baby at 3:00 AM often became a good opportunity to intercede for others or to worship without distraction. I tried to remember that since I was up anyway, I may as well be productive with prayer and praise. However, there were nights when I forsook some of that good perseverance. On one such night, the Lord arrested me with a few words that transformed my attitude and behavior.

 

I had settled into bed next to my husband for about the fourth time, exhausted after awakening and attending to multiple cries. Then - not again! I heard a whimper from our restless infant. "Pleeeeease, go back to sleep," I thought. "God, please make him go back to sleep." It was not to be. The whimper intensified. Aggressively, I swung my feet over the side of our bed, hoping John would be roused enough to feel guilty about his blanketed comfort. Yet what could he do? Nursing a baby was a job for Mom alone. Still, I wanted pity, so after rising and gruffly declining his nice, but useless offer of assistance, I stomped toward our door and opened and closed it noisily with frustration. My selfish flesh was manifesting, and I was headed for our baby’s room with mounting anger.

 

Upon entering the hallway, I was stopped. I heard a soundless voice. Out of my innermost being, in clear resonance, the Holy Spirit relayed the words of this short sentence:

 

"You’re watching over your flock by night."

 

Instantly, I melted.

 

How sweet of the Lord to encourage, rather than scold me, and how loving of Him to remind me that I wasn’t the only one awake. "He who keeps you will not slumber, Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:3-4). I thought of what the shepherds in Bethlehem experienced when they were watching over their flocks by night. They were awake to see and hear the angelic hosts of heaven declaring the birth of our Savior! What important spiritual messages or lessons might I miss if I harbor a negative attitude toward my duties as a mother.

 

My anger switched to tender communion. Not only did I experience God’s warm fellowship in that otherwise dark and lonesome hour, but also His assurance that my ministry to our growing children was utterly significant to His kingdom - significant enough for Him to send me a healing and empowering word: You’re watching over your flock by night.

 

JANET CARLTON

 

Painting by Mary Cassatt

Do you have a problem getting your children to the meal table? You are going to love this idea from Courtney . . .

 

OUR MEALTIME SONG

 

Some years ago, my friend told me she had come up with a creative way to let her children know it was time to come to the table to eat. When the meal was ready, she would sit down at her piano and play "Turkey in the Straw." One by one, her children would stop what they were doing as they heard it, and by the end of the song, they were all sitting at the table, ready to pray and eat.

 

I loved the idea, and having a musically creative husband, told him about it and asked if he would create a song. Thus, the Mealtime Song was born. But instead of me singing or playing something on the piano, I would turn on the CD!

 

On recording day, when my husband pulled the song together, he asked me and each of our children to do a line or two. My dad happened to stop by that day too, so even Grandpa's voice joined in, adding harmony.

 

My husband sings the main melody of the song while playing honky-tonk style on the piano as well as intertwining a trumpet solo. There's country-sounding banjo strumming in the background, lots of laughter, and happy voices sprinkled throughout as the children and I chime in with our lines.

 

Mealtime, mealtime, mealtime, mealtime,

Mealtime, mealtime, mealtime, mealtime!

It's time to eat when you hear this silly beat,

So moo-moo-move your feet,

It's time to eat!

 

Mama: Don't forget to wash your hands!"

Little brother: "Mealtime!"

The baby: "What's that?!"

A crowd cheering in the background: "Yay!"

Big brother: "Time to eat!"

Mama: "Who wants to eat?"

Big sister: "Y'all come and eat now!"

Mama: "Don't forget to wash up!"

Daddy: "Mmm-mmm! Better sit down!"

Mama and Daddy together: "Yummy!"

 

After a few plays, the results became like a reflex. When the children heard the song, they knew they had three minutes and twenty-three seconds to finish up what they were doing and make their way over to the table to be seated in time.

 

Over the years, as my little ones grew and became more capable, I gradually assigned them mealtime chores to complete by the song's ending, and so then by the end of the song—which happens to be the fun moo of a cow—the plates, napkins, and silverware are on the table, the baby is buckled into his high chair with his bib on, the drinks are passed out, and everyone is seated and ready to pray.

 

Through the years, as the next child in line became old enough to help, I would pass down an older sibling's chore to the younger and graduate the older ones to another chore. Twelve years have passed now since the creation of our Mealtime Song, and, if we're home, we still play it three times a day.

 

Now that we have seven children, the older two don't have any more mealtime preparation chores to graduate to and so it is in the hands of the younger ones, which works out well since the older ones are busier with online college and their small businesses. Still, whoever is home, by the end of The Mealtime Song, there they are ready and sitting down with the rest of us

 

What a delight it continues to be to press play (now on my cell phone!), hear my "dinner bell" tune and watch it do its work . . . seeing my children come out of the woodwork and piece-by-piece see my table, get prepared, and all the heads pop up, ready for another family meal.

 

COURTNEY SIRARD

Woodland, California

 

P.S. I have put the Mealtime Song and many other of my strategies into an online course that I am creating. I created this course because I am passionate about helping moms fulfill one of their mandates from God—to manage their home and children.

 

I love helping moms get their homes in order because when they are in order, we and our households can do so much more, whether it be small businesses, hosting small groups, having guests over, Bible studies, or even a home church. I love how having our houses in order enables our homes to be the action center for our own families and then beyond!

 

The course is called The Mom Acceleration and is a fast track for Christian moms to get their houses in order spiritually and naturally.

 

If you would like to be notified when the course is released, please email me: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

FROM NANCY

 

I love Courtney’s idea. You may think you couldn’t do it so professionally, but I am sure you could make up a simple song that would suit your family. Why not try?